England vs Pakistan at the Oval - third Test preview
Two Tests down for the series, and when hostilities commence at The Oval tomorrow it’s hard to see Pakistan mounting a credible challenge against an England side that dominated the visitors to take a 354-run victory at Trent Bridge and a nine-wicket win at Edgbaston.
Perhaps emboldened by the magnitude of their victories in the opening matches of the series, England took the unusual step of releasing their playing XI on Sunday, leaving Pakistan with the best part of three days to dwell on the fact that the same XI that trounced them twice already this series will be fronting up for match three.
Not that the fact England has opted to stick with an unchanged line-up is any great surprise, although out-of-form opener Alastair Cook is one who will be looking to repay the selectors’ faith after a poor home summer at the top of the order.
With the Ashes looming ever larger on the horizon, the left-hander will surely be looking to consolidate his place on the plane to Australia, and he now has at least one more match to do so.
England’s struggling opponents, however, don’t have the same luxury as the home side and will be forced to make changes for this match, with injured duo Zulqarnain Haider (hairline fracture to his finger) and Umar Gul (hamstring) to miss the remainder of the series.
Gul’s absence is set to provide one of Pakistan’s back-up pacemen, Tanvir Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, with the opportunity to join teenage prodigy Mohammad Amir and fellow strike bowler Mohammad Asif in a pace attack that hasn’t been able to replicate the demolition job they carried out against Australia at Headingley (when they dismissed Ricky Ponting’s side for a paltry 88 in the first innings) with England’s batsmen at the crease.
With Haider, who made 88 runs in his second innings on debut as Pakistan’s Test wicketkeeper at Edgbaston, unavailable for the remaining two matches, Kamran Akmal (dumped after a woeful performance behind the stumps in Nottingham) is in line for a return here, with no replacement keeper requested for the squad at this stage.
Add those forced changes to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and with it ownership of the Ashes urn last summer.
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