BRISTOL - England's batsmen made light work of chasing down a whopping 359-run target to win by six wickets and take a 2-0 series lead against Pakistan in Bristol on Tuesday.

In scoring 358-8 on a flat pitch under blue skies Pakistan looked to have given themselves a fair chance of victory but it proved woefully inadequate as Jonny Bairstow's magnificent century set up a comfortable England win.

England could easily have chased down a total of 400 plus as they sealed the win with 5.1 overs remaining.

World Cup hosts England had made 373 in their victory at Southampton at the weekend and once again showed why they will be the team to beat when the tournament starts on home soil.

Openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow began tucking into the Pakistan attack with relish, racking up 74 from the first 10 overs and putting on 159 for the first wicket in 17.3 overs.

Roy struck four sixes in his 76 while Bairstow, making batting look ridiculously easy, made 128, belting 15 fours and five sixes before he was eventually bowled by Junaid Khan.

Joe Root made a breezy 43 before Ben Stokes was joined by Moeen Ali to accelerate England towards victory.

Stokes was run out for 37 but it was already a lost cause for Pakistan's dispirited attack as England romped to the joint fifth-highest successful ODI run chase.

England quick Chris Woakes had earlier reduced Pakistan to 27-2 with the wickets of Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam but opener Imam-ul-Haq hit a superb 151 to enable the visitors to post a big score for the second match in a row.

They scored 361 in a losing cause at Southampton.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis) ((martyn.herman@thomsonreuters.com; +442075427933; Reuters Messaging: martyn.herman@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))