Nottingham, September 9 :

Andrew Strauss survived an early scare to score 78 and Ian Bell hammered an unbeaten 86 to guide England over Pakistan by eight wickets and its first limited-overs triumph in 11 games on Friday.

The England captain shared a century partnership with Bell as England easily passed Pakistan’s 235-8 with 22 balls to spare at Trent Bridge. Kevin Pietersen made 41 not out as England shrugged off its poor early form by hitting 237-2.

Strauss was on 5 when Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was convinced he caught him at first slip. Strauss refused to move, however, convinced the ball had not carried to him and the umpires, having seen TV replays, gave him not out.

Having escaped, Strauss went on to hit 10 fours in his 88-ball innings although he lost opening partner Ed Joyce (13) with England on 38.

Bell struck and Strauss had few scares as they compiled a partnership of 110 in 20 overs. It was finally broken when Mohammad Hafeez bowled Strauss round his legs with England on 148. By the time Strauss was out, his team needed 88 off 20.1 overs.

Earlier, Razzaq hit five sixes in an unbeaten 75 to lift Pakistan from 117-6 to post a challenging score. Leftarm spinner Michael Yardy marked his debut with 3-24 to spark a mid-innings Pakistan collapse. But Razzaq attacked the England bowling in the closing overs scoring his runs off only 72 balls. His five sixes all came in the last two overs as he and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (9) shared an unbroken ninth-wicket partnership of 70.

A fourth-wicket stand of 74 between Inzamam (47) and Mohammed Yousuf (29) enabled Pakistan to recover from 17-2 and 41-3. But three wickets fell for only two runs in two overs from spinners Yardy and James Dalrymple as Pakistan then slipped to 117-6.