Below-par Pakistan hope to show spine in must-win game

NOTTINGHAM, England: Pakistan were hoping that their below-par batters will finally fire in the must-win third One-day International (ODI) here on what looks like a batting paradise at Trent Bridge on Tuesday (today).

With the sun shining bright, the track looked dry and flat on Monday indicating a high-scoring encounter in which rampaging England, 2-0 up, will be looking to wrap up the series.

There weren’t any demons in the wickets at the Ageas Bowl and Lord’s either, but Pakistan failed to score big after opting to bat first in both those games.

They need to score in the vicinity of 300 to have any chance of taming England, which has so far been unbeaten this season.

“It’s difficult to win against such a strong England team and in such good batting conditions unless you score somewhere around 300 runs,” Intikhab Alam, Pakistan’s team manager told ‘The News’.

“You have to give your bowlers a good target to defend or set a good target yourself because these days you can’t win with 250 or so, on the board.”

Pakistan carried out an extensive training session here at Trent Bridge on Monday. There were indications that Pakistan won’t be making any changes to their playing eleven.

A source in the Pakistan team said that coach Mickey Arthur and captain Azhar Ali were looking forward to retaining the same line-up that played at Lord’s despite losing the game there.

There was some talk about the role of Yasir Shah as the leggie failed to impress much after brought in the playing eleven at Lord’s.

“The thing is that Yasir didn’t bowl well at Lord’s. He didn’t bowl in the right areas but it was his first one-day game and hopefully he will improve,” said the source.

Yasir bowled almost non-stop in the nets which meant that Pakistan will play him as specialist spinner.

There is also pressure on veteran batsman Shoaib Malik to perform after failing to capitalize on starts in the first two games.

Agencies add: In the first match, no one really got going barring Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed. So good was England’s bowling that even the in-form duo, who made more than 50 percent of the team total of 260 for 6, could not really accelerate at the right time. Azhar got out in the 36th over after adding 65 runs with Sarfraz, and then Sarfraz lost momentum.

In the second game, Sarfraz made a century that was true to his character — coming after Pakistan had been reduced to 3 for 2. One Pakistan cricket’s best performers in the recent past, Sarfraz soaked in the pressure and focussed on stitching partnerships with Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik and Imad Wasim.

So true have been the pitches in the ODI series that England has hardly broken sweat to record two successive successful chases.

As much as Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy have been attractive to watch, it has been England’s bowling that has been the icing on the cake. Mark Wood’s return, almost a year after undergoing two operations on his left ankle, has been nothing less than inspiring. The first glimpse of how threatening he could be was visible on the Finals Day of the Natwest Twenty20 competition. Chasing 157 against Durham, Yorkshire was comfortably placed at 86 for 3 in 11 overs when Paul Collingwood brought back Wood for his second spell and put a slip in place.

Cranking up good pace, Wood struck with his first and third balls to change the complexion of the game. Then with 23 needed in two overs, Yorkshire again failed to see off Wood as he picked up two more wickets in the 19th over and finished with career-best figures of 4 for 25 to seal a spot for Durham in the final.

Wood took time to find his rhythm in the first ODI against Pakistan, but in the second game he struck thrice at different times in the innings to peg the visiting team back. Wood has been well supported by Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett, and England’s attack will now be strengthened further by the return of Ben Stokes as a bowler.

Teams (from):

Pakistan: Azhar Ali (captain), Sharjeel Khan, Sami Aslam, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Nawaz.

England: Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Jake Ball, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Today’s match

Pakistan vs England 06:00pm (PST)