IF THE first two one day internationals had been strolls in the park for England, with Pakistan finding neither the will nor energy to raise their game in the aftermath of a twin in the Test series, then the final international match of the summer turned into altogether more dramatic fare at Trent Bridge yesterday.

Stung perhaps by their ineptitude at Old Trafford and Edgbaston, Pakistan, with an experimental young side, took the final match yesterday by two wickets with just two balls of the game remaining.

Such had been their collective spirit that Tom Graveney, in one of the more bizarre decisions of its type, gave the Man of the Match award to all 11 Pakistan players.

The conclusion to the day had been a frenetic half an hour of missed runouts, scampered runs, and batsmen sending up clouds of dust as they dived into the crease. At the end of it all, it was the wicketkeeper Rashid Latif who carried the day when he chipped the fourth ball of Adam Hollioakes final over into the vacant space over mid offs head.

Although with the scores level, Latif could have blocked the last three deliveries to give his side victory by virtue of having lost fewer wickets, he chose to hurtle through like a missile, and after a leap and punch of the air, carried straight through to a celebrating dressing room.

To win the match, Latif and the young off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq had been required to take six runs from the final over and they did not make the best of starts as Saqlain swung at the first ball and Matthew Maynard took a studious catch at long on. It left Latif on strike however, and he reduced the target by two when he clipped the next hall to long leg and beat Mulally's throw, which was too high.

Immediately, Atherton sent Nick Knight to patrol that area, instead. Too late however, for the next ball sealed the game. Hollioake had responded exceptionally well to the pressures created by limited overs cricket and with eight wickets in two days, demonstrated an aptitude for subtle variety in his bowling. This, ball went wrong though, a sumptuous long hop outside off stump which Latif, scarcely believing his luck, lacerated square to an unprotected boundary.

He had already had cause to believe that this must be his day, for 11 balls previously had seen him to all intents and purposes give himself run out. Playing the ball short to the off side, he set off for a sharp single only to be sent back by Saqlain. With Atherton's swoop and direct hit from extra cover, Latif's flying dive was always going to be a close thing. David Shepherd called for the third umpire's adjudication, but while awaiting it Latif began to trail soulfully off.

Pictures seemed to confirm the dismissal, but Latif had almost reached the pavilion when the green light came on and he returned to the crease. On such close calls are matches won and lost.

Thanks to Nick Knight's superb unbeaten 125, England were able to reach 246, the final wicket falling to the last delivery of their quota. It was, perhaps, 25 runs fewer than it might have been given, in particular, that Pakistan had decided to go into the game without Mushtaq Ahmed's wrist spin. But on a slow wicket where timing was never easy, it remained competitive.

Pakistan, however, got off to a flyer with an opening partnership of 93 inside 17 overs between the unrelated Anwars Saeed, brilliant all summer, and the newly capped Shahid, an opener with a similarly uncomplicated approach to that of the West Indian batsman Phil Simmons.

But when it looked as if the game could run away from England, Peter Martin's steadiness, during which he removed Shahid for 37 and Saeed for 61 (from just 59 balls) pegged them back. The Pakistan order, minus both the power of Inzamam, and Salim Malik's flair, had a fragile look, and England took further advantage, chipping away, with Robert Croft getting rid of Aamir Sohail, and Hollioake claiming the wickets of Shadab Khabir, Asif Mujtaba and Wasim Akram in quick succession.

All the time though, Ijaz Ahmed, Pakistan's man of the series, had kept things ticking over, and by the time he drilled Darren Gough to Graham Lloyd on the extra cover boundary, he had made 59 and taken his side to within striking distance.

For the second day running, Knight had batted his socks off, playing an innings that his captain described as every bit as good as his 113 at Edgbaston. This 145 ball effort had a more measured tread to it, with his half century reached from 58 balls with eight boundaries, just one more four in his century and no more thereafter. Knight made Pakistan pay for a miss, by Ijaz, at square leg, when he had just 23. His response was to hit Waqar for three boundaries in the next four deliveries.

But England and Knight suffered from a lack of really substantial support, the best of it coming from Matthew Maynard, who made 24, and Mike Atherton, with 30, although Atherton had troubles of his own.

Coming in at the fall of the first wicket, he felt Shahid Nazir's second ball in international cricket squash his right thumb against the bat handle and after extensive treatment, he was forced to leave the field.