Pakistan vs England - 3rd ODI

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Thread to discuss the third game of this series, with England leading 2-0. Today Pakistan have won the toss for the first time, and predictably chosen to bat. They make two changes with Younus Khan (unwell) replaced by Asad Shafiq and Adnan Akmal coming in for Rehman as they decide a proper wicket keeper isn't such a bad idea after all. England are once again unchanged.

Teams

Pakistan: Mohammed Hafeez, Imran Fahrat, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Misbah-Ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Aizaz Cheema
England: Cook, Pietersen, Trott, Bopara, Morgan, Kieswetter, Patel, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn

Once more, England's side looks better balanced to me, Pakistan's middle-over is talented but looks a little stodgy.

3-0.

Wasnt it. Doesn't make Up for the Tests but hopefully can carry this to sl.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:we missed you in the tests trebs, in fact I blame England's capitulation entirely on you

Im sorry.

I had pledged to quit,they hate me in the rugby forum..they take t all seriously and keep insulting me as a troll. Nobody gets the joke. Sadly.

But, if you guys don't mind too much,I might pop in some more now.

I was a bit Unwell during tests trust be told, not well at all so fingers crossed your mad mr baggins can keep the reverse curses for a yearor two more guys,

sorry to hear about that trebs, you're always welcome on here you know

Thank you Chelsea. We just need to ensure new folks know I am only kidding around.

Right - I know this might sound like sour grapes but all of the england players throw the bat at the ball. I think they should be reported to Icc but of course because its england nothing will get done about it.

On a serious note. Congrats gents. They owed you something like that after your staunch support through the tests.

THanks shahen.

Another good match to come.

Credit where credit is due, Kp was awesome today.

Let's hope we don't have to wait another 3 years for his next one day ton!

so where do Pakistan go from here?

I suspect Imran Fahrat's days may be numbered, played ok in the second ODI but his obvious frailties against the ball going across him (which England exploited ruthlessly last time in England) means that IMO he'll struggle to score runs against decent bowling attacks.

Hafeez needs to make his starts count.

Azhar Ali? needs to work on his ODI game the way Cook did, and work out how he can score runs in the shorter format.

Their middle-order looks really stodgy in general, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Younus Khan and Misbah are all a bit one-paced.

Adnan Akmal is a far superior keeper to his brother(s) but is his batting good enough? Particularly when you need to force the pace a bit. Are they any other options?

Gul hasn't done well this series, while Hafeez is wicketless so far, thus Ajmal and Afridi have been the only real threat for them with the ball.

I'd like them to go with something like this:
Hafeez
Ali (he's virtually opening anyway at the mo, and this way he can take the time to play himself in)
Younus Khan
Umar Akmal (talent in abundance, give him the responsibility, also breaks up the stodginess of Pakistan's middle-order)
Misbah
Asad Shafiq
Shahid Afridi
Adnan Akmal (or another if they have one)
Umar Gul
Saeed Ajmal
Wahab Riaz (give him a run, Pakistan's other seamers have been pretty ordinary all tour)

Immense bowling from England's bowlers on flat decks, not just today but all throughout the series. The stand out was Finn but all 3 seamers did very well as did the two spinners during the series.

Likewise, good batting from England through the series. Cook, 3 50s in a row, a wonderful effort and a big well done to KP for his ODI ton today.

This series doesn't banish the memories of the 0-3 in Tests - it doesn't come anywhere close - but its nice to see that our ODI team has lots of potential. We came into this series 6th in the rankings and expecting a beating, we come out of it with a possible 4-0 and fourth in the rankings so well done England!

Mad for Chelsea wrote:so where do Pakistan go from here?

I suspect Imran Fahrat's days may be numbered, played ok in the second ODI but his obvious frailties against the ball going across him (which England exploited ruthlessly last time in England) means that IMO he'll struggle to score runs against decent bowling attacks.

Hafeez needs to make his starts count.

Azhar Ali? needs to work on his ODI game the way Cook did, and work out how he can score runs in the shorter format.

Their middle-order looks really stodgy in general, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Younus Khan and Misbah are all a bit one-paced.

Adnan Akmal is a far superior keeper to his brother(s) but is his batting good enough? Particularly when you need to force the pace a bit. Are they any other options?

Gul hasn't done well this series, while Hafeez is wicketless so far, thus Ajmal and Afridi have been the only real threat for them with the ball.

I'd like them to go with something like this:
Hafeez
Ali (he's virtually opening anyway at the mo, and this way he can take the time to play himself in)
Younus Khan
Umar Akmal (talent in abundance, give him the responsibility, also breaks up the stodginess of Pakistan's middle-order)
Misbah
Asad Shafiq
Shahid Afridi
Adnan Akmal (or another if they have one)
Umar Gul
Saeed Ajmal
Wahab Riaz (give him a run, Pakistan's other seamers have been pretty ordinary all tour)

I've seen Farhat play quite a bit over quite a long period of time and he's always been pretty shocking, indicated by an ODI average of 31 and a strike rate of 70 along with a Test average of 32 and just 4 international 100s in 96 matches in all formats - I don't quite understand their persistence with him.

I largely agree with your team MFC

I too would give Azhar a go at the top but think he is dispensible if there are better players around. Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad have been going well at the BPL so could be due recalls sometime soon.

I also think Junaid Khan is very promising. He didn't do well in the only Test he played but he is good at the death, bowls with decent pace, has some nice variations and offers a left-arm angle.

My Pakistan ODI team would thus be 1 Hafeez 2 Azhar Ali/Shehzad/Jamshed 3 Younus Khan 4 U. Akmal 5 Misbah-ul-Haq 6 Shafiq 7 Afridi 8 A. Akmal 9 Gul 10 Ajmal 11 Junaid Khan

Tend to agree with both MfC and Shelsey about Farhat. Saw him for the first time in Australia back when Aus had all their superstars (around '03?) and thought that if you bowled enough balls accross him outside off he'd eventually nick one. Hasn't done anything in the time I've seen him since to covince me I was wrong. Seriously, today everytime Finn bowled it accross him he had a nibble and missed (until he eventually nicked it).

Also agree with the general consensus that Umar Akmal should bat higher, at least 4 or 5.

Aside from that you have to say:
- Finn is bowling really really well. Accurate, movement, pace and bounce, and seems to get "bite" off the wicket. Based on what I've seen in this series I'd put him in the test side, I think he's just about making himself undroppable.
- Broad did really well to switch to cross seam after his swing gave Hafeez too much width in his first over.
- Patel for me is still not a 10-over person at that level. Even Gul could knock him around for singles.
- I wasn't that enamoured with sending in Morgan at 3 (I thought the potential fall-out from another failure far outweighed the potential benefits if he stayed in until the end) which goes to show that Flower is a better judge of character than I.

Gregers wrote:Credit where credit is due, Kp was awesome today.

Let's hope we don't have to wait another 3 years for his next one day ton!

Can we have this one framed , Fists ?

well done - everyone played perfectly

performances getting better and better- bowlers taking the pressure of our batsmman and then they can shine