A thrilling finish to a low-scoring match brought the season's international action to a close and England's win sent their supporters home smiling.
 | England's summer ended on a high note |
I have often seen teams lose their focus as one eye inevitably turns to the plane home and when England were 102-3, the game seemed to be all but over for a Pakistan side that appeared to have run out of steam.
But helped by an injudicious stroke or two, they reduced England to 118-7, with the last three wickets needing to add 37 more runs to win.
Sajid Mahmood then completed an excellent game, following his two wickets in Pakistan's innings with a first real glimpse that he can handle a bat.
He scored 22 not out as he and Michael Yardy completed the task, and this game might have quite an impact on sealing his selection for the winter tours.
Pakistan's batting was lacklustre both at Trent Bridge - with the notable exception of Abdul Razzaq - and here.
Inzamam's shuffle in front of his stumps to a gentle delivery from Paul Collingwood was symptomatic of their decline and the decision to send Shahid Afridi in at number three failed.
So England's summer ended on a high note, a far cry from the depressed mood that gripped the nation mid-summer after a mauling by Sri Lanka.
 Dalrymple did enough to keep his name in the selectors' thoughts |
Tuesday will be an anxious day for many, with the prospect of England naming both their Ashes team and Champions Trophy squad at the same time.
Jon Lewis has advanced his claims for both, and although James Dalrymple failed with the bat at Edgbaston, he has looked increasingly at home in this one day series.
He could find himself placed in Australia as injury cover for the Tests and Stuart Broad might be an outside bet for a berth on the Ashes trip.
But the main talking point remains the captaincy.
There is even a view that the selectors have still to make up their minds about returning the reins to Andrew Flintoff or continue with Andrew Strauss.
If they really are still undecided, it seems remarkable, and one wonders at this late stage what possibly remains to sway a mind or two.
We know the arguments on both sides, and England are lucky to have two such strong candidates.
At the moment, the wise money appears to be on Flintoff.
