A crucial match is on the cards as Pakistan play England in the third One-Day International (ODI) of the series. The match, scheduled to be played at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, comes with a do-or-die situation for the touring party as England have a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Earlier, the Test series between the two team ended without any result following a close competition between these two teams. But Pakistan have failed to tame England since the start of the limited-overs in the tour. England, after a cent percent win rate so far, will surely look forward for a 3-0 lead to pocket the series without anymore fuss. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England 2016, 3rd ODI at Trent Bridge
Pakistan had impressed with their all-round performance in Tests but have fallen flat in the ODIs. In both the occasions, Pakistan batted first but failed to reach a safe total and England easily chased down to win. Again, looking at the low total, the bowlers also failed to act accordingly and scalp wickets and restrict the English batsmen from scoring.
Pakistan legend Wasim Akram criticised team’s performance recently. “Our psyche is that of the 90s. We have to realise that a score of 260-270 just isn’t good enough. If it hadn’t been for Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan would have collapsed before scoring 125. Even a 290-run target is easily achievable these days,” Akram said to Geo News.
Mickey Arthur stated, “I said to the players that nobody is safe. I’m telling no secrets, nobody is 10 per cent safe in the ODI side and the guys know that. Everybody knows they’re on notice. We’re going to build a team we think that can compete in a year or two’s time. The invitation is there to every player, step up or we’ll find somebody else who can step up, it’s as simple as that.”
Pakistan will have to up their game in both batting and bowling to ensure a victory in the third ODI to stay alive in the series. The batting line-up needs to click as a unit while bowlers must bowl with more discipline. As the teams lock horn for the contest, here are the key battles that can be expected.
England’s confidence vs Pakistan’s nerve: Quite naturally, with two victories in pocket, England will walk out with a lot of confidence. The English top and middle-order has lived up to expectations while bowlers have not let Pakistan batsmen have a good time at the pitch. Pakistan did put up a better performance than the first ODI but require more. Sarfraz proved he has nerves of steel as he scored a century after the top-order collapsed while Imad Wasim scored a half-century—two performances which must be praised. It will be a good fight between England’s confidence and Pakistan’s handling of nerves, like displayed by Sarfraz and Wasim.
Chris Woakes vs Sami Aslam: Bowling towards the start of the innings, Woakes will look to do some early damage to Pakistan’s batting. While England’s batting is strong towards the top, Pakistan’s batting is weak in the top-order. Woakes has been in a good form recently, and will look to utilise whatever the Trent Bridge pitch has to offer. Aslam, who failed to contribute in the last ODI will not like to miss this chance.
Azhar Ali vs Eoin Morgan: Captain is one who leads from front setting examples by his own work. Both Morgan and Azhar are quite fitting looking at this aspect. While Azhar delivered a standout 82 in the first ODI, Morgan’s 68 in the second match ensured England did not lose the competition. It will be interesting to see who utilises his men in the third match the best besides scoring crucial runs.
Sarfraz Ahmed vs Adil Rashid: Trent Bridge pitch may have something to offer to the spinners and that is where Rashid’s importance lies. Rashid was the bowler to get Sarfraz in the last ODI after his brilliant century. Coming out to bat in the middle-order when the pitch will already have a lot of cricket played on it, it will assist the spinner a bit more. Sarfraz is also in a good form and will not be easy to beat. This will be one good contest to watch out for in the match.
Ben stokes vs Imad Wasim: Stokes recently expressed a lot of interest in playing in the third ODI and said he is looking forward to bowl in the match.
“It’s so boring. Honestly, it makes the fielding innings seem a lot longer because if you bowl 10 overs it kind of takes 20 overs out of the game for you. But I pride myself on my fielding as well and one thing that keeps me switched on the whole time is that I don’t want to give away any runs,” he said about not bowling in the last match.
Stokes is also a handy middle-order batsman who have saved England from defeats earlier.
He said, “I want to try and stop as many as possible – and applying myself to that has got me through the fact I am not bowling. But it’s nice to get that confidence from your captain and coach saying ‘we want you to play as a specialist batsman’ – so I have wanted to make sure I make some runs in these first two matches.”
Talking about all-rounders, Pakistan’s Wasim pulled off a good job in the second ODI, as he scored a crucial 63 to push Pakistan’s score past 250 while bagged 2 wickets. The contest between these two all-rounders will be crucial as the one with better performance will be the key to success for their respective teams.
(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)
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