Pakistan v England - 2nd ODI

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Discussion thread for today's ODI. Can England go 2-0 up to ensure at least a draw from this series, or will Pakistan make it all square?

You think Ajmal would come on now?

Review against KP...

Is there any turn in pitch?

Survives. Pakistan lose their review.

Not sure, legend, I'm not watching.

Afridi is a bloody canny bowler isn't he? Very, very good.

Good start so far by England. Need to start trying to rotate the strike more by picking up the singles against the spinners

Let off for cook, dropped by the wk

Akmal drops Cook. Shock horror.

KP gone

KP gone lbw to Ajmal. That took long...3 balls.

Ajmal has had KP in his pocket all series. I think his problem has been that he has tried to be too busy in the crease and mis-reads the length as a result.

Poor KP, spin has been one hell of a nemesis.

Cook doing another great job of anchoring the innings, scoring at a decent rate as well.

Trott gone to Cheema, he will be disappointed with that. Let's see if Ravi can kick on from the 1st ODI.

Looks like England are relying on Cook yet again to score big...

A dropped catch. That's the 2nd one today. Bit sloppy from Pakistan.

Hopefully these two will build until about the 40th where it will be time for some shots to be played and reach 260ish? Or do we need more?

At this stage I'd be dissapointed to only get 260, some big hitters down the order so that has to be the minimum.

You know lads I'm starting to think I'm watching a replay of the first ODI here....serene progress, Cook anchoring the innings, easy singles and good placement. Lets hope we have a slightly better last 15 this time and post 260-290.

Powerplay time so here comes Ajmal...these next few overs should tell us a lot about the total we can expect to post.....

Comfortable progress today ... again

Cook in form (sort of goes without saying) and Ravi doing a job so far...

Hope the later batsmen can kick on a bit better this time as we probably shouldn't expect Pakistan to be skittled for 130 again ... another score of 260 would put plenty of pressure on but that might be hard to reach unless one of the hitters gets going.

270 would be a treat, and a winning total in my eyes.

I'd take 260, though. Be good if one of Morgan Kieswetter or Patel can get motoring.

Excellent from Cook, again.

Cook looking very good. Can't wait for the highlights. Good to see he has put the Test series behind him and playing into form in ODI's.

So far so good for the Batting Powerplay ...

Most Un-English

Ha, yeah alongside spin bowling it is our other nemesis!

Really enjoying this performance from "Captain Cook" showed what a class act he is. As you said Fists I'd like to see CK, Morgan or Patel get some runs if they get chance otherwise I'll still have the concern of who steps up if Cook doesn't score runs.

Cook to 99 ...

(260 plus looking good now)

Back on strike now : Another hundred?

Yes

another brilliant innings from Cook, wonder whether Botham (who didn't have him in the side) is feeling a bit silly by now...

Cook reaches another ton. What a player.

Cook gone as I write that, still a very good knock

well done cook, another Ton, why didnt he bat like this in the tests.

As i type he gets out ,

And Afridi gets the break ! Cook gone at last.

But he's done his job ... surely the others can push on to the required total now?

Would like to see Morgan fire today...

I think the Target would be about 260-270 from this point.

Good solid platform built by Cook, this time with adequate support from the other top order players. Can we push on towards 100 more in the final 10 overs, or is it now time for a typical England collapse?

Great knock from Cooky. Along with Trott he's one of those guys that always looks disappointed with himself for getting out...no matte how many he's scored!

Fingers crossed that the Morgan show gets into full swing now. Would still take 260 though.

Cook has built the innings. The middle order really need to build on this.

May end up a bit short of those targets - not that easy for new batsmen against the spinners .

I'm tipping 253 , which I think will be enough to win.

Morgan looks totally bereft of confidence right now :/

see us getting between 250 and 260

I think at 250 it'd be in the balance, 260+ makes us favourites.

Can't see Pakistan chasing down 250 under lights on this - few balls keeping low , won't be easy at all.

Of course England have some work to do to get 250 yet ...might be only 245.

Still be enough.

Nice lofted drive over extra cover from Morgan. Its stopped before the boundary but that'll give him a bit of a boost. He's on 15 now.

Said at the beginning of play that I would be happy with 250. After seeing this innings, and given that the ball should move around a bit more under the lights, I think that 250 will be more than enough to win the game.

250 should be plenty on this pitch, assuming theres a little movement under lights. Cheema has been bowling beautifully at the death here. Two very good overs making it hard for England to accelerate.

I think i was a bit optomistic for 260-270, looks more like its going to be around 250.

Think England could have done a bit better in these last ten overs, but a score of 250 would make us slight favourites with the the ball nipping about, with our bowling line up and Pakistan's frail batting.

Don't underestimate how well Pakistan bowled in those last ten overs. 250 is a good score on that pitch. There was a bit of turn for the spinners and some uneven bounce at times. 250 should be enough to defend if we bowl well.

Encouraging from Morgan at the end too, started to look much more like himself.

could definately done a bit better from 45 overs on as they really needed to up the SR to 8/9 an over and could have done that with wickets in hand.

250 is about par for the wicket though and so it will be interesting t see if pakistan implode again.

Imagine it will be tight. The start is important, a lot will depend on the score after 10 overs. 50-0 and Pakistan favourites, 40-2 and England are in the driving seat.

190-odd for 3 after 40 overs and only reaching 250-4, with the other wicket being the last ball of the innings - a bit too low risk or very well bowled and fielded?

Ajmaal went at 5 an over today, quite shocked when I saw that on Cricinfo. Good score but England need to bowl as well as Monday otherwise Pakistan will get very close.