Match Preview: England vs. Pakistan 5th ODI- decides the fate of the series
Both Pakistan and England know the importance of the final match of the ODI series as it will not only decide the fate of the series but also have an impact on the teams, who would be facing other world class teams in the near future, with Pakistan’s scheduled
series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 for the ashes. Cricket has seen much turmoil since the allegations of spot fixing first emerged and both teams would heave a sigh of relief at the end of the match.
However, their focus for now has to be on the game. Pakistan desperately need to win this match to effectively secure their first series win of what could be termed as a controversy ridden year for the side. During their series against Australia, Pakistan
team was completely whitewashed that followed suit with a spate of punishments handed out to the players by the PCB. These punishments included an indefinite ban on the veteran batsmen; Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousaf while some heavy fines for Rana Naved
and the Akmal brothers.
Only when one could have thought that Pakistan Cricket couldn’t plunge in deeper controversy, the tour to England arrived where during the fourth test at Lords, reports of spot fixing along with footage of the alleged bookie receiving money to make payments
to the Pakistan players appeared in the media that caught everyone by storm. ICC acted swiftly and suspended Pakistan players, while just when everything seemed to be going wrong for Pakistan, the side came back brilliantly in the third ODI mainly to the heroics
of Umar Gul. However, the win was overshadowed by reports of Pakistan players allegedly providing the scoring patterns for the match. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that scoring rates are not very hard to predict anyways in a http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 match.
Before the fourth ODI, a spat between Wahab Riaz and Jonathan Trott resulted in the latter grabbing Wahab Riaz by the throat and the series in itself was under jeopardy, however, the team managements tried to play down the event.
In the face of so much controversy off the field, both the teams would be h**l bent to end the series on a positive note. The England captain has been in tremendous form and would be one player to look out for. Ian Bell looked in good form too, and if the
England middle order performs well, Pakistan will also have to put up a special performance. Pakistan, on the contrary, has bounced back into the last two games in tremendous style and has certainly shown the character to pose as a formidable opponent for
the Englishmen.
Another aspect of significant importance will be England’s ability to cope with pressure and keep their calm and focus since they found it hard to do so in the last game. Afridi and Abdul Razzaq have shown hints of their form, and if they could play one
of their firecracker innings Pakistan could have a very close chance to win the match.
Umar Gul’s performance and his ability to reverse swing so late in the innings will be an important factor too that would probably decide the fate of Pakistan. Shoaib Akhtar’s form and fitness will also play a crucial role.
Paul Collingwood has been a shade out of form, and it is likely that Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara would be pushed up the middle order. England need to finish strongly for them to have a chance to win this match. Pakistan tends to be an unpredictable side
as well and it remains to be seen what sort of a show they put up. However, the side needs to put in all their efforts, since they have everything at stake going in to the last match of the series.
Tags: