Pakistan vs. England 4th ODI at Lords, will the past come back to haunt them?
Pakistan’s cricket team is all set to take on England in what will most certainly be a decisive match between both the sides. Given the recent spot fixing controversy, which has most certainly haunted the Pakistan side, now the PCB chairman has come out
with another oxymoronic statement. Overshadowing the whimsical decision of the ICC for a pre-emptive disclosure of the inquiry into the Oval ODI match, which was based on a news published in a British Tabloid, “The Sun”.
No one really had any high expectations from the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, however, for him to have made such an incredulous disclosure comes as no surprise. It came at the cost of demoralizing his own team, who have been struggling to find
their focus, given the extent of negative media publicity the team has been getting.
The spot fixing allegations came during Pakistan’s final Test match against England at Lords. Cricket fans caught a glimpse of the absolute majesty of Mohammad Amir’s bowling and a brilliant display of batting by Stuart Broad, who led England to one of their
biggest victories against Pakistan. However, the win was clouded by an eerie silence in the midst of spot fixing revelations with Michael Holding reduced to tears as he found out that the young Amir found himself in the midst of it.
Despite the easy win by England in the first one day match the cricket fans turned up in large numbers at Headingley, which was a very close contest between the two sides and yet more support for the two teams at Oval. The audience was certainly treated
to the finest display of cricket this summer, with Umar Gul snatching victory from the jaws of the Englishmen, who seemed ready to crush the Pakistan side once again.
However, just when the cricket fans thought that good old fashioned cricket was finally making its way back through the murky alleyways of fixing allegations, another English tabloid delivered another blow to the world of cricket. The Sun alleged that bookies
were aware of certain scoring patterns of the Pakistan cricket team during their innings played at Oval.
It was desperately hoped by the fans that the series would end on a positive note with some hard fought contests against the two teams, however, the recent allegations seem to be the icing on the cake for this bitter series, that has been rather controversy
prone.
The morale of the Pakistan team might have also taken a serious bashing especially in the face of the allegations levelled by the chairman against the English players, where the ECB is contemplating taking legal action against the Pakistan Cricket Board.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 have won 2 out of their last six contests, and the team did not get enough time to recuperate from the loss of the best bowling combination Pakistan had seen after Wasim and Waqar, the two M’s Mohammad Amir and Asif.
Meanwhile, Andrew Strauss was of the opinion that the matches were hard fought contests, and both the teams played with complete motivation and commitment.
"They've been three very hard-fought cricket matches. There certainly seems to be passion on both sides, they've been high intensity affairs”, Strauss claimed.
Meanwhile, there is good news for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, who showed glimpses of form at The Oval with a quick 30 and if he can find his dynamic and destructive form, he could be a very strong motivating factor for the entire team.
England will be playing with one very significant change. Ian Bell has been brought back to the side, and his inclusion could strengthen the English middle order, since he is an expert at playing spin bowling and scored a century in Warwickshire’s victory
over Somerset at Lords.
"It's fantastic to have him back in the squad," Andrew Strauss, the England captain, said. "He wasn't in originally because we weren't sure about where he was in his recovery and he needed some cricket for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Warwickshire-c862. He's played very well and strengthens
are squad to give us more options batting wise."
Tags: