Pakistan Vs England: 1st ODI - Match Preview
After suffering a 3-0 Test series humiliation at the hands of Pakistan, a fresh and young England side is all set to take on the Men in Green in the opening One Day International of the four-match series starting at Abu Dhabi today, February 13, 2012.
For the Poms it is about regaining some lost pride by bouncing back in the one day leg of the ongoing UAE tour. On the other hand, Misbah-ul-Haq and his Men in Green would be looking forward to extending their victorious streak by emulating their Test series
performance.
After a tumultuous 2010 season - maligned by a number of on and off field controversies, spot-fixing being at the top – the Men in Green have made a stunning comeback in the 2011 season. Pakistan has not lost a single series across all three-formats over
the past 12 months and they will look to add to their win tally when they take on England in the one-day series.
Since January 2011, the Pakistan team has played 33 One Day Internationals, winning 26 of those matches, losing only 7. The 2011 cricketing season saw the Men in Green securing an ODI series win against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045, Sri Lanka
and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758. They also sealed a comfortable
seven wicket victory over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 in the lead-up to the England series.
Spin has been the main threat to the English team and the return of Shahid Afridi will further boost the spin department. However, batting is a cause for concern for the Pakistan skipper.
"Our bowling is top class we have quality pacers and top spinners. Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal are outstanding ODI bowlers,” said Misbah ahead of the series opener.
"But against a top side like England our batsmen need to click more consistency. Most of them have been playing in the UAE conditions for sometime now. They should be better adjusted to score runs consistently," he added further.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in October resulted in a 5-0 whitewash. The English skipper Alastair Cook was in good spirits and hoped for a turnaround.
"We've got a good record against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and have had success against these bowlers before in one-day cricket so hopefully, we won't banish memories of what happened in the Test matches, but you get to free up a little bit and attack," said Cook.
Squads:
Pakistan (Probable XI) 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wahab-Riaz-c95839
England (Probable XI) 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566
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