England beats Pakistan by 4 wickets in 2nd ODI

LEEDS, England (AP) Andrew Strauss scored his fifth one-day century on Sunday to help steer England to a four-wicket win over Pakistan in the final over and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

England's captain was dropped on 23 but went on to score 126, guiding his team to 295-6 after a vital second wicket partnership of 146 with Jonathan Trott (53).

"It was a tough chase," Strauss said. "Chasing 294 is always difficult, although it was a very good wicket. There were some areas we weren't particularly pleased with. Our fielding was really poor today. That's an area we pride ourselves on, so we're very disappointed with that.

"But they might have gone on to get 320 or 330, so the bowlers did a good job to drag it back. Then it was important someone batted through the majority of the innings in reply."

England required six runs off the final over bowled by Umar Gul, and reached its target with three balls remaining. Tim Bresnan, who finished 10 not out, edged the penultimate ball over the wicketkeeper's head for four and then scrambled a single to mid-off.

Pakistan earlier exploited the sunny conditions and a flat batting pitch in compiling a challenging 294-8 from its 50 overs.

Opener Kamran Akmal hit 74 from just 72 deliveries while Stuart Broad claimed 4-81 from 10 expensive overs.

"I'm quite happy, the boys put in some effort and I think the crowd enjoyed it," Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said. "We have three more games and definitely we will get a result (win).

"The way we started, I thought maybe we would touch around 320 but 285, 290 was a good total on this track, especially with a good bowling attack. But like before, we missed opportunities in the field."

Set a demanding total, left-handed opener Strauss plotted a well-constructed innings that spanned 134 deliveries and included 10 boundaries and a six. He was finally lbw to Saeed Ajmal.

Strauss has sometimes been criticised for being too defensive.

"All I can do is do my talking with the bat and help England to win cricket matches," Strauss told reporters. "People can talk as much as they like but it is pretty irrelevant for me ... We're trying to play positive cricket with the bat, so it's important I can lead by example.

"When you're in form, you don't feel as pressurised to hit the big shots - they tend to come a bit more naturally. I'm very happy with my game at the moment, and even happier we're continuing to win."

At 50-1 Strauss escaped when he flicked pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar to Mohammed Irfan at short fine-leg, but the 7-foot-1 fielder spilled the chance.

Irfan also made several misfields and allowed 40 runs from his seven overs before being forced off early with cramp for the second straight match. The bowler was later singled out for criticism from his captain.

"I'm really disappointed from this guy," Afridi said. "Cricket is not all about just batting and bowling, nowadays fielding is very important. Maybe if he is good in the field I will give him a chance but otherwise I am not happy."

Strauss' best spell was three consecutive boundaries off Irfan to go to 95, including an edge through the vacant slip region, a square drive and a pull. Trott supported him well in another solid if not entertaining 71-ball innings.

Pakistan was given the perfect platform by openers Akmal and Mohammed Hafeez (43) with a stand of 122 amid unusually ill-disciplined bowling and fielding by England. Tim Bresnan's first three overs cost 25 runs as Akmal scored five boundaries in seven deliveries.

Paul Collingwood struck with his second ball, trapping Akmal lbw as he attempted a sweep to a ball that struck him in line of the off stump. It was the first ball Akmal received from the medium-pacer, and he exited after scoring 12 fours.

Asad Shafiq (50) and Mohammed Yousuf (46) helped to rebuild the Pakistan innings after the openers departed with a stand of 74.

England followed a 3-1 test series win and a 2-0 Twenty20 series victory with a 24-run win at Durham in the first one-day international on Friday. The third match is at The Oval on Friday.