Captain Alastair Cook delighted in his record-breaking feat and Steven Finn's second four-wicket haul on the trot after England wrapped up a 20-run win over Pakistan for an unassailable two-nil lead in their four-match ODI series in Abu Dhabi.

Brimming with confidence on the back of a career-best 137 in the series opener, Cook scored 102 on Wednesday to become the first England skipper to fetch back-to-back ODI centuries.

The English amassed 250 for four thanks largely to their leader's 121-ball, 10 boundaries included, stay at the crease. Pakistan's reply, although better than their dismal 130 all out in the first match, ended at 230 all out. Fast bowler Finn, again, was the chief destroyer in welcoming his best ODI figures of four for 34.

Not picked for the Twenty20 International series against the same opposition later this month, the left-handed Cook will hand the reins to Stuart Broad. A large school of thought, however, remain adamant that the ODI captain's superb run of form should earn him a belated call up to the T20I squad.

"I've changed the way I play one-day cricket. I knew I had to improve and score quicker," insisted Cook. "I'd love to be in the Twenty20 side. But it's a totally different format. They've already picked the squad and they've had a lot of success.

"As for Steven, he has got two four-fors, doing exactly the right thing - bowling very quickly, running in and bowling 90 miles per hour and landing it on a sixpence.

"I thought Steven was outstanding. I think his first five overs only went for seven runs. We got ahead of the game then. I thought we also fielded outstandingly well. We saved a lot of runs. It was a really good team performance. We'll enjoy it. It's nice go two-nil up in the series and hopefully we can finish it in Dubai."

Very economical in his first spell and later back into the attack for the final throes of the Pakistan innings, Finn showed no mercy to the tail-enders. With the key scalp of wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal in the bag, the right-armer proceeded to bowl Abdur Rehman and remove Umar Gul lbw before castling Aizaz Cheema to drive the final nail into the opposition's coffin.

The 22-year-old, down the pecking order in the five-day team for the time being, hoped that his sound performances in limited-overs competition will offer the selectors food for thought when next they choose the Test unit.

"Every game I get to play for England it's an honour to put the jersey on," enthused Finn. "Obviously in the Test team the bowlers ahead of me are better than me at the moment.

"It was good to get out there and use the reverse swing. You don't get as many chance to do it in pressure situations so it was nice to be able to do that.

"If the England selectors are sitting back and thinking I might be good for Test selection, then that's good too."

The third ODI gets underway in Dubai on Saturday.