WORCESTERSHIRE'S Kabir Ali fell agonisingly short of pulling off an improbable win as England lost their one-day series to Pakistan via a 13-run margin in Rawalpindi.

England gave themselves obvious prospects of success which would have levelled this five-match contest at 2-2.

Their bowlers put in a performance -- dramatically improved from the hammering they received in Karachi last week. They were countered only by Inzamam-ul-Haq (81no) in an apparently below-par total of 210.

But the tourists then had no-one of Inzamam's calibre to dig deep on an awkward surface after two top-order wickets had fallen in two balls to Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

But Kabir revived a flawed reply by sharing a 50-run stand with Ian Blackwell and then one of 33 for the last wicket with James Anderson.

Kabir's career-best one-day international score of 39 not out was just not enough in the final analysis. Home favourite Shoaib Akhtar struck the knock-out blow by having Anderson caught at slip by Younis Khan to see England off for 197 all out.

At 114-8, the tourists seemed sure to be well beaten. Kabir ought to have gone caught and bowled by Shoaib for 11, but England were causing a real flutter for the hosts by the time Blackwell was short of his ground when substitute fielder Mohammad Asif threw down the wickets from mid-on.

That was just the start of the tension, though, as Kabir and Anderson eked out the runs in what began to look like an uncanny reprise of England's 2004 Champions Trophy defeat against West Indies at The Oval.