England took a sweet revenge of its 3-0 defeat in the Test series by outplaying Pakistan by 4-0 in the four-match ODI series which ended in Dubai on Tuesday. While doing so, England has moved ahead of Pakistan in fifth place on the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table. Alastair Cook’s side wrapped up the ODI series by beating Misbah-ul-Haq’s men by five wickets in the last ODI in Dubai after having won the earlier matches by 130 runs, 20 runs (both in Abu Dhabi) and nine wickets (in the third in Dubai). For this superb achievement, England has earned five ratings points which has put it on 111 ratings points while Pakistan has dropped to 104 ratings points after conceding five ratings points. It is also the first time since 1987-88 when England has won all the matches of an ODI series against Pakistan. Nearly 25 years ago in Pakistan, Mike Gatting’s side had defeated Abdul Qadir’s men 3-0 in a three-match series. England, in the series which was played immediately after the ICC Cricket World Cup 1987, won matches in Lahore (by two wickets), Karachi (by 23 runs) and Peshawar (by 98 runs). England, after blanking out Pakistan, now has fourth-ranked Sri Lanka firmly within its sights. Sri Lanka is two ratings points ahead of England with a minimum of three matches remaining in the three-nation tournament Down Under where the other participating sides are host Australia and India.
