Duckett's 163* powers England Lions to victory

England Lions 248 for 3 (Duckett 163*) beat Pakistan A 244 (Sharjeel 125, Curran 4-39, Wood 3-27) by seven wickets
Scorecard

Ben Duckett, the Northamptonshire batsman, hit a List A career-best of 163 off 104 balls to power England Lions to a seven-wicket victory against Pakistan A in their tri-series encounter in Cheltenham.

Duckett, a powerful left hander, reached his hundred from 65 balls and overall struck 24 fours and four sixes as the Lions raced to their target of 245 with more than 13 overs to spare.

He shared in a third-wicket stand of 117 in 17 overs with Worcestershire's Joe Clarke before Sam Billings, one of three full internationals in the side, helped finish off the chase. Duckett hit the winning runs with a swept six off Babar Azam.

Sharjeel Khan, who has played 11 ODIs and 11 T20s, had earlier led a Pakistan A recovery from 39 for 3 and 89 for 4 with 125 off 101 balls which included seven sixes.

But Tom Curran and Mark Wood, the latter who was drafted into the Lions squad as he continues his return to action after ankle surgery, shared seven wickets.

Curran struck twice in his fourth over and Wood removed Azam for a second-ball duck to leave Pakistan A in early trouble before Sharjeel and Saud Shakeel added fifty for fourth wicket.

Sharjeel, who reached his century from 88 balls, and Mohammad Nawaz then took the total to 191 in the 35th over from where Pakistan A would have had visions of 300 only for the last six wickets to fall for 53 in 11 overs meaning they had four overs unused.

Curran broke the fifth-wicket stand of 102 when he had Nawaz caught behind while Wood took two more to help run through the tail and Sussex's George Garton claimed his first Lions wicket.