Cook shines again for England

Two days after his career-best 137, Cook (102) became the 10th England batsman - and first since Paul Collingwood five years ago - to make back-to-back ODI centuries.

The captain had to work a little harder this time, and was dropped by wicketkeeper Umar Akmal on 28, having chosen to bat first on a slow pitch. But he belied his characteristically functional style by manufacturing some memorable shots among his 10 fours in a 118-ball hundred.

Ravi Bopara (58), who shared a crucial century stand with Cook on Monday, was a sturdy ally again - bagging a well-deserved second consecutive 50 for himself and rotating the strike cleverly to push a run-a-ball tempo.

Early progress was patchy for Cook and fellow opener Kevin Pietersen, and England were indebted to two leg-side wides from Aizaz Cheema - one of which beat the wicketkeeper and went to the boundary - to get them under way.

Cook, who played out a maiden to Umar Gul's first over of the match, needed 10 balls to get off the mark but did so with an especially well-timed back-foot drive wide of mid-off for four off Cheema, and soon afterwards beat the same fielder with a drive on the up at Mohammad Hafeez for the second of two successive fours off the off-spinner.

Shahid Afridi used up Pakistan's DRS for an lbw against Pietersen which vindicated the umpire and spared the batsman, who could add only three more runs before Saeed Ajmal hit him in front anyway in his first over with an off-break that beat the forward poke.

Cook survived when Akmal dropped a faint edge from an attempted cut at Afridi, but the wicketkeeper did manage to hold a routine catch to see off Jonathan Trott via a flat-footed waft at a wide ball from Cheema.

Much therefore depended on Cook and Bopara again, and the Essex pair duly served their country well in a stand of 78. Their accumulation peaked with 38 runs in the batting powerplay, only for Cook to go immediately afterwards when he poked a googly straight back to Afridi.

But Bopara kept his cool, despite managing only four boundaries, and Eoin Morgan (25 not out) weighed in with the first six of the series in a partnership of 56 inside the last 10 overs.