http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597 urges not to take Pakistan as an easy opposition - Cricket News Update
The prolific middle order batsman of England, Ian Bell, has urged his team not to take Pakistan as an easy opposition saying the men in green are in quite fine touch and pose a big challenge.
England had dethroned http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 as world number one Test side with a 4-0 Test series drubbing at home last summer and Bell is no mood to let the numero uno Test status slip due to complacency.
"The need to avoid complacency is huge. We worked really hard to get to No.1 and it does not stop there," said the 29-year-old right-handed batsman while speaking to the media reporters ahead of England's opening three-day practice match against ICC Combined
XI starting in Dubai from Saturday, January 7, 2012.
The just to start Test series between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 following unsatisfactory security situation in the country. The terrorism hit Pakistan has not hosted an international
match since militant attacks on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in March 2009. The country was also deprived of hosting rights of ICC World Cup 2011 last year due to security concerns.
This would be England’s first Test series since rising to the top spot on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625’s Test rankings table in August. Bell said that being the number one Test side in the world was not their ultimate goal, there is still a lot to achieve while maintaining the status.
"There are more things for us to achieve but for us we are hungry enough,” said England’s middle order mainstay who averaged almost 50 in the Test cricket. "We have had a nice break and the guys are looking forward to playing cricket now and we enjoy playing
as a team and this is a big series for us," he added further.
England is scheduled to play another tour game against Pakistan Cricket Board XI from January 11 to 13 at the same Dubai cricket stadium.
Andrew Strauss’ brigade will formally start the UAE tour on January 17 with a Test match against Pakistan in Dubai which will be followed by two more Tests, four One Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals.
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