England 142-1 beat
Pakistan 141 by nine wicketsBen Stokes leads inexperienced side to comprehensive winWhen Australia A made the final of the World Series Cup in 1994-95, nudging out
England and Zimbabwe in the group stage before finishing runners-up to their first XI, one of the local newspapers asked whether they were the second-best team on the planet.
It would be premature to suggest the same about England’s reserves. But the way they dispensed with Pakistan in the first one-day international here in Cardiff, rolling the tourists for 141 in 35.2 overs before knocking off the runs with 169 balls to spare, confirmed the widely held belief that, in the white-ball form at least, the depth in English
Cricket is hugely impressive.