England in Pakistan: Harry Brook and Ben Duckett star in convincing win in third T20

England went up in the Twenty20 series against Pakistan with a 63-run win in Karachi, thanks to an 81-run knock from Harry brook.

England's joint-fifth highest score in T20 cricket was posted by the Yorkshire batter, who showed a dazzling array of shots.

He was supported by Ben Duckett, who made 70 from 42 deliveries, and Will Jacks, who hit 40 from 22 balls to help England get off to a flyer.

Pakistan struggled early in their reply and were reduced to 28-4 during the powerplay, thanks to the return of Mark Wood.

The Durham fast bowler, playing his first international since March after two rounds of elbow surgery, took 3-24, including the Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who scored a century in the second T20.

In their first match of the series, Pakistan were all out for 158, despite a spirited half-century from Masood.

The fourth T20 in this seven match series takes place on Sunday.

Brook and Duckett stake claims

It has been a breakthrough year for Brook, who made his T20 international debut against West Indies in January and earned his first Test cap against South Africa this month.

With the T20 World Cup quickly approaching, the young man gave a demonstration of his class to press his claims for a spot in the World Cup side.

He had eight fours and five huge sixes, two of which came off the same bowler.

The left-hand, right-hand partnership with Duckett appeared to bamboozle Babar.

Duckett was able to pick out the gaps in the field with eight fours and one six, even though he relied almost exclusively on the sweep or reverse sweep to score.

The run-rate barely dropped below 10-an-over despite the early dismissals of Phil Salt and Dawid Malan, thanks to the steady batting of Jacks.

The return of Wood gave England cause for optimism as he was 97mph despite his six-month injury absence.

With the World Cup less than a month away, England have a lot of selection issues to contend with.

Poor start curbs Pakistan hopes

In the second T20, Babar and Mohammad Rizwan led Pakistan to a record-breaking 10-wicket win, but they only managed 16 as a poor powerplay ended the hosts' hopes.

Babar top-edged a bouncer from Wood straight to Topley on the third boundary after surviving a leading edge.

The leg stump of Rizwan was demolished by a Topley delivery, followed by a vicious short delivery from Wood to Adil Rashid.

The short ball was effective for Sam as he got Iftikhar to play a shot straight to Topley to silence the home crowd.

Masood made 65 from 40 balls to bolster his case for a permanent place in the Pakistan middle order, but only two other Pakistan players reached double figures, as well.

The game ended with a flurry of late wickets compared to the fireworks that took place the previous day.

'We were ruthless' - reaction

The player of the match was England batter Harry brook.

Ben Duckett is so good at sweeping that I was trying to get him on strike. He hits the gap every now and then. It was quite successful.

It was a great win by England. The bat was one of the things that made us ruthless.

With the players we have coming through, the future is great for England cricket.

Mark Wood was very fast. He's a huge part of the team. We need him to fire like that.

Pakistan tried to get a good start again, but the early wickets put pressure on them.

We try and use the best bowlers, but we were not up to the mark and England did a great job.

It has been a long time since Mark Wood last spoke. I was tired at the end of the game but I will be fine to go again.

Now is the time to back it up. It's important that I don't go too hard now because I'm not prepared for the World Cup. I have to be at my best.