THE London 2012 Olympics had not got underway when England last won a one-day international at The Ageas Bowl.

England ended a miserable run of five successive West End defeats in the 50-over format, beating Pakistan in the opening match of the ODI series by 44 runs after chasing down a revised Duckworth/Lewis target last night.

They have won their most recent Test and T20 international matches at The Ageas Bowl, against India in 2014 and Sri Lanka seven weeks ago.

But until last night you had to go back to June 2012 for England’s last ODI victory at West End - a 114-run D/L success against the West Indies, writes Simon Walter.

Rain ensured another revised D/L target, but after two defeats against New Zealand and Australia and another by South Africa in the last four years, England rediscovered their Ageas Bowl mojo.

Hampshire’s Liam Dawson was left out on his home ground, having hoped to be given the chance of repeating his T20 success of seven weeks ago.

He may well feature later in the series but last night it was all about the power of Jason Roy and the guile of Joe Root after Pakistan had been restricted to 260-6 after winning the toss.

Roy overcame a dizzy spell to blitz a 56-ball 65 to ensure England were well ahead of the rate before the rain delays began after 34 overs of the home side’s reply.

After three fours in four balls against Umar Gul in the third over, Roy required treatment after trouble with his vision put down to the extreme temperatures.

Alex Hales was soon caught at slip, but Roy added 89 in 14 overs for the second wicket with Joe Root (61), hitting a six over backward square against Imad Wasim as well as six fours.

He was dropped by Sarfraz Ahmed on 26, the wicketkeeper getting his mitts on the ball at short fine leg after a top edge against Mohammad Amir.

It took an outstanding catch in the 19th over to dismiss him, Babar Azam holding on when Roy attempted to hit Mohammad Nawaz for a straight six.

Joe Root also departed to an excellent piece of fielding, run out by a direct hit from Pakistan captain Azhar Ali in the covers after a poor call from Eoin Morgan.

No matter. The England captain added a further 36 with the fit-again Ben Stokes (15no) to keep his side 43 runs ahead of the revised target.

The five-match series continues at Lord’s on Saturday. England are back at The Ageas Bowl three times next season, for ODIs against South Africa (May 27) and West Indies (September 29) either side of a T20 international against the Proteas (June 21).