England captain Andrew Strauss keen to secure series
Strauss has led England to 22 wins in 45 one-day internationals
Captain Andrew Strauss urged England to wrap up the one-day series after they took a 2-0 lead in the five-game series with a four-wicket win over Pakistan.
Strauss, who hit 126, said: "We chased down the score pretty professionally. There was a little wobble but it's not that often you chase in excess of 290."
England are now second in the world rankings, one place behind Australia.
"We've got to sharpen up in the field for Friday's game but hopefully we can win the series there," he added.
The skipper explained that teams were no longer intimidated by large totals in one-day matches, as England reached their target of 295 with three balls remaining at Headingley.
"Guys are playing with more freedom now, they're willing to take on shots more often and if you're going to set a total, you've got to be up around the 300 mark, especially on a wicket like this," he said.
"It's a thankless task for the bowlers on wickets like that so you have to remain patient and they have to realise they are going to go for the odd boundary.
"Our fielding was really poor, I'm not quite sure why that was, but there were a couple of really good bowling performances, Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson were excellent again, and we kept them to a manageable target at a time when they looked as though they were going to get 320 or 330."
The England captain was dropped on 23 but struck his fifth one-day century, sharing 146 for the second wicket with Jonathan Trott.
"The partnership with Trotty was quite an important one to lay the foundations and we just needed to finish it off at the end, we lost a few wickets but we got over the line so we're delighted with that," he said.
"We've had two pretty tough run outs in this series which proves you can't underestimate Pakistan, because they were pretty good today."
Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi looked forward to better times for his team after they posted a useful 294-8.
"I'm pretty happy compared to the last game," Afridi said. "We dropped the skipper and that was the turning point, he played a great knock, I have not seen many better innings.
"Putting some effort in is very important, there are three games left and me and my boys will come back."
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