Moeen Ali stars with bat and ball as England crush Pakistan in second T20

Hosts level series with 45-run victory at Leeds on Sunday

England's Moeen Ali, centre, picked up two wickets and hit a quickfire 36 to set up a thumping win over Pakistan in the second T20 in Leeds on Sunday, July 18.

Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman is bowled.

England's Saqib Mahmood celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Babar Azam during the second T20 in Leeds on Sunday

Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan plays a shot during the second T20 against England at the Headingley Stadium.

Jos Buttler top-scored for England with 59 in the second T20 against Pakistan.

Fans in the stand react during the second T20 in Headingley, Leeds.

Liam Livingstone played another cameo for England.

England's Liam Livingstone dives to save his wicket but is run out by Pakistan's Haris Rauf.

Pakistan's Babar Azam takes a catch to dismiss England's Moeen Ali.

England got back on track after the setback in the opening match of the T20 series by thrashing Pakistan by 45 runs in the second match in Leeds on Sunday.

Jos Buttler, returning to the side as captain in place of the rested Eoin Morgan, top-scored for with 59 as England posted 200. Liam Livingstone (38 off 23 balls) and all-rounder Moeen Ali (36 from 16) made sizeable contributions to hand the visitors a target of 10 runs an over.

In reply, Pakistan seemed on track at 71-1 in the ninth over before losing five wickets for 34 runs. They eventually screeched to a halt at 155-9.

Moeen delivered with ball, picking up the scalps of Mohammad Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman in the middle over to finish with 2-32. Seamer Saqib Mahmood (3-33) and spinner Adil Rashid (2-30) did the rest in a clinical win. Leg-spinner Matt Parkinson was the most economical bowler on display, picking up 1-25 from his four overs.

Captain Buttler was particularly pleased with the way his spinners controlled the innings.

"Rashid's been fantastic for a long time and Parky has earned his chance, they bowled fantastically well in tandem," Buttler said.

"It was great to be back and nice to contribute. We asked a lot of the guys and they improved on the other night. Two great games and I'm sure the decider will be as well."

Pakistan started the chase started steadily, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan adding 50 inside six overs.

Moeen's introduction in the sixth over cost England 14 and when he was quickly shuffled for Rashid, the Yorkshireman struck at the first attempt. Tossing it up and turning it past Sohaib Maqsood's outside edge, he allowed Buttler to complete the stumping.

Rashid and Parkinson proceeded to strangle the run-rate, killing the tempo as their first six overs allowed a stingy 35.

Pakistan captain Babar said his team gave away too many runs. "We gave away too many runs, perhaps 30 too many, and weren't able to carry through the momentum we built at the top," Azam said.

"Lost my wicket at a crucial time, but we back our ability to chase down a total because we've done it in the past."

Earlier, after the hosts lost Jason Roy and Dawid Malan in the opening three overs, Buttler and Ali restored order with a quick 67-run partnership.

Ali eventually fell for 36, scooping fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain to mid-off, but Buttler accelerated the England run rate alongside the hero of the last match Livingstone.

Buttler picked out mid-off for Hasnain's second wicket of the innings, but Livingstone, fresh from scoring England's fastest ever hundred, went on to produce another entertaining innings.

Livingstone managed the biggest hit of the day, hitting Haris Rauf's delivery straight over the newly built Football Stand.

The right-handed batsman was run out for 38 off 23 balls before the lower order added another 35 off the last four overs to take England's score to 200 for the second consecutive game - this time to secure victory.

Both teams now head to Manchester for the series decider on Tuesday.