A titanic battle in store at the Rose Bowl in Southampton
Arguably the most controversial cricketing summer in recent years - and that includes the 2006 Oval fiasco, the 1996 and 1992 ball tampering shambles - is set to conclude at the Rose Bowl in Southampton as England and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755
aim to win the ODI series and restore their respective battered pride in the midst of the spot and match fixing scandal that emerged midway during the deciding test match of the series.
The ugly controversy raised its head again midway during the ODI series after the Pakistanis made an astonishing comeback in the series, winning the third match from the brink of a series defeat to set up an almighty clash
in the decider.
The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt, lashed out at the English and Wales Cricket Board and claimed that he was told by some bookies in
Dubai that the hosts had taken an enormous amount of money to lose the third match. At the Oval England lost their last five wickets for 17 runs in face of an outstanding spell of reverse swing bowling from Umar Gul.
The claims by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 almost meant the end of the tour on the eve of the fourth match at Lord’s as the two rival camps came close to blows when Jonathan Trott and Wahab Riaz clashed during the net sessions prior to the
game.
Meanwhile, the two camps have promised to keep their focus on the game at the Rose Bowl. The conditions are expected to be similar to Lord’s with the team winning the toss possessing the advantage, since the match is a day
and night affair.
Both camps are also expected to retain the same elevens that competed at Lord’s. This would mean that the hosts will persist with Paul Collingwood who looked woefully out of touch at Lord’s, stuttering to 4 runs before being
castled by Umar Gul.
However, there have been reports that the English think-tank might drop him if they feel that the Rose Bowl would offer an extra advantage to the batsmen considering the whiteness of the surface that was apparent today as
the two teams arrived at the venue.
For Pakistan, the good news is that their top order, especially the openers, have fired in three out of the four matches which have helped them in posting challenging totals in succession.
Although they lost out at Headingley in the second match of the series,
Pakistan had the ammunition in their bowling that led to victories at the Oval and at Lords.
Once again it is the much vaunted pace and spin attack led by Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal that would be crucial to their chances at the Rose Bowl.
On the other hand there is a renewed interest amongst cricket fans, especially in
Pakistan, after the wins in the last two ODI’s. The cricket mad nation is once again expected to be glued to the screen when the match starts tomorrow evening at
18:30 Pakistan Standard Time.
The fans feel rejuvenated after the great comeback by their national heroes in the series. The captain of the team http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 has vowed to go all out in the decider and win the series to cap off one of the greatest comebacks
in a bilateral series considering the extremely difficult circumstances under which the series was held.
Afridi told the media that his team had given their all in the series and would settle for nothing else than a win at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rose-c86842 Bowl.
"The boys really performed to the best of their ability, and this is what
Pakistan is really all about. We are here to play good cricket."
Tags: