Pakistan v England: Misbah-ul-Haq urges Pakistani players not to rely on conditions – Cricket News Update
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972, the Pakistani skipper, has urged his players to bring their A-game in the first match of the Test series against England, as familiarity with the conditions solely won’t win them the match.
Misbah is aware of the threat posed by the number one team in International Cricket Council's (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625) Test rankings, and believes that the only way Pakistan can uproot England is by performing at their optimum best.
The first match of the series between the two sides begins on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 and will be played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Lately, Dubai has been the Green Shirts' favourite hunting ground. It is the same venue where http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 by nine wickets in October 2011.
The pitches in Dubai are slow and keep low, it is believed that the match between Pakistan and England will be an epic battle of spin, however, Misbah begs to differ.
According to the Pakistani skipper, “In Dubai whichever team bats well gets an edge and it's not only the game of spinners - I think fast bowlers also play a very important role.”
Misbah continued, “The wicket looks much better than the last Test we played here and the conditions favour us, but at the same time it's important to play good cricket against England. They are the top side in the world so we
just can't rely on the fact that we know the conditions well. We still have to play good cricket to beat them."
England came into the series as clear favourites, as they haven’t suffered a defeat in nine games. The tourists also have Pakistan’s number in head to head clashes, with 22 wins and 13 defeats from 71 matches. The Poms also came
on top in the last encounter, when Pakistan toured England in 2010.
England (probable) 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JM-Anderson-c1705, 11 Chris Tremlett
Pakistan (probable) 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wahab-Riaz-c95839
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