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Friday, February 10, 2012

Pakistan vs England: ODI Statistics & Facts between the sides

As Pakistan sealed a historical 3-0 whitewash of the current No.1 ranked Test side, It was only hours later when England announced there ODI and T20 Squads which means there in business and are no way going to allow Pakistan on this tour to steal the headlines within the desrts of the UAE. 

England have won 38 out of the 68 matches they've played against Pakistan, Losing 28 and 2 ending up as no results. 
2010 was the last time Pakistan and England played an International one day game against each other, It was the 5th game in the five match natewst series at the Rose bowl, Southampton. England took the close fought series 3-2 after winning the game by 121 runs. Eion Morgan scored a magnificent 107* to take his side to 256 but 3 wickets each from Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann had Pakistan dismissed all out for 135 

18 Months later, Both sides have different captains are ranked 1 place further away from each other and would want to take momentum heading forward especially England as the No.6 ranked side have tours of Sri Lanka and India coming up where the conditions are relatively similar. On the other hand the Pakistan Cricket Board who are deciding on who to appoint as head coach must first think what more to ask for from there current one - Mohsin Khan who was actually appointed as a Interim coach since Waqar younis resigned after the 2011 Zimbabwe tour has helped them too Test ODI and T20 series win over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Dav whatmore is the man who seems likely to be appointed as head coach but Mohsin also made his claim of a full time job by adding a Test series whitewash victory over the No.1 test side onto his CV. Khan also stated his target is for Pakistan to be No.1 and gradullay in the top 3 for Tests and ODI's so another series win for the Pakistani's could possibly take them from 5th to 4th depnding on the outcome of the on-going tri series between Australia, Sri Lanka and India.

17 ODI games against the No.1 ranked Test side, Younis Khan has 433 runs at 28.86 with 1 hundred and 3 half centuries and a best of 101. Younis who started of the test series on a low scored a wonderful 127 for his country in there 2nd innings of the 3rd test that set the platform for a Pakistani win. As always he is a vital part of the side and will be a man to look out for.

225 runs in 5 matches, No half centuries 1 century at a spectacular average of 56.25 against Pakistan he is an upcoming sensation and is one of best One day batsmen at the moment. Had nothing but an absolute horrendous 6 innings where he was terrorized by Pakistan's spinners and averaged 13.66 with 82 runs to his name in the test series. Surprisingly, Eion Morgan leads this side with the most runs against Pakistan. Should be considered extremely lucky if he isn't dropped from the test squad but his elegant strokes with a blend of nous and power makes him a natural ODI finisher and a good finish from England in the series is required and it would  be essential of him to perform.

Sometimes you think will Pakistan ever be complete without this man, But for now let's just admire his 31 wickets in 22 matches with a best of 5/40 he'll bring plenty of smiles, heart touching feelings and charisma to the field. England struggled with Off spin throughout the test series but they better figure out Shahid Afridi's leg spinners too as he is as always been in the limited overs side and England better watch out for Boom Boom.

James Anderson would want to add on to his 25 wickets in 14 matches against Pakistan, With a best of 4/27 England's spear head of the attack had an ordinary test series too claiming 9 scalps - As always he is one of the main performers with the ball for his team and he's spoken his desire of also returning to the T20 side, If he does have a great One day series it is likely he'll be included in the current T20 World champions squad too.

Pakistan's GREENWASH not complete yet



The 3-0 mission accomplished in the most significant format
was monumentally, pleasantly surprising jubilance which no one could have
seriously thought about in terms of a series score-line along those lines, but
the job is not completed yet by any stretch of the imagination and there is
more dominance to follow and many more victories although they won’t quite be
as resounding as the test ones, but ODI cricket is Pakistan’s forte which they
take equally as seriously. Generally the ODI format in this part of the world
has higher viewership, crowd attendances and genuine excitement. Going by how
pessimistic some of the England supporters are about their team’s chances in
the one day internationals which start next week over winning even a single one
day international let alone draw or win the 4 match series, there is almost
every chance for Captain Misbah’s Team Pakistan to whitewash the visitors in
ALL formats and end up with a 10-0 score line once the whole tour concludes on
Monday 27th February in Abu Dhabi.

England have been woeful in sub continental conditions and
lost 5-0 in India last year whereas in the World Cup only managed 3 victories
in 7 encounters. They are below the men in green on the ICC ODI rankings by
some way. Last two ODI series they have played against the men in green away
from home have ended in defeats for them. Cook and Broad are inexperienced
captains and England is vulnerable to spin on the slow and low wickets.

For the hosts majority of the overs will be bowled by the
slower men who control the flow of runs, take wickets and are consistently
reliable performers. It’s a squeezing process to overcome for the batsmen and
each of the trio of spinners is different which never allows you to settle as a
batter. With anything even over 200 on the board batting first and Pakistan
will fancy their chances by turning to their spinners under lights, who get
through their overs quickly not allowing batsmen to think on their feet, build
pressure with dot deliveries, can come on early with the new ball to surprise
the top order and with varieties in repertoire can break partnerships and cause
panic in the dressing room at any moment. Lastly, they also have the skill,
experience and confidence of bowling in the batting power play and can be
extremely difficult to get hold of and subsequently trigger collapses courtesy
of Saeed Ajmal’s mesmerising mysteries.

 The off spinners Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez are ranked at 1 and 2 on the ICC ODI bowling
rankings which just shows how impressively they have delivery in ODI colours
over the last year whereas the multi talented leg spinner Shahid Afridi was the
2nd leading ODI wicket taker last year with 45 scalps in 27 outings
including 4 5 wicket hauls with his canny flattish sharp drifting leg spinners,
sliders and top spinners. The talismanic leg spinning all rounder has kept him
busy by playing for the Melbourne Renegades down under while the national test
team were up against Bangladesh and England and had a decent time of it over
there from a personal point of view. How well England can negotiate and tackle
these gifted, accurate and unorthodox spinners will be the deciding factor in
the brief ODI series. The Men in Green are firm favourites, looking forward to
the contests and the tourists will be up against it. We shouldn’t be surprised
to see Pakistan win this series 4-0.  It will be a challenging ride for Cook’s side and even harder than what they were
up against during the test series which they’ll want to put behind them as
quick as possible after suffering the humiliation of a clean sweep.

 The visitors will be taking on their Lions squad for a warm up fixture on Friday who have just
beaten the Sri Lankan A team 3-2 in a 5 match unofficial ODI series whereas
Misbah and company they will be heading to Sharjah for a one day international
against Afghanistan on the same day where they will be looking to dominate and
perhaps experiment.

Only 2 of 8 KP writers had The Asian Side definitely claiming the series in the preview which was published on the 3rd of
January titled: “England will be put through a tough Pakistan test”and that too
by only a 1 match margin with a 1-0 scoreline. 1 of our writers hesitatingly
sat on the fence at 1-0 either way, 2 said 1-1 including myself, 2 said 0-0
whereas one thought England would bag the series 1-0. Few of us expected
Pakistan to win the series, compete and draw respectably perhaps yes, but
winning it was not what we expected in all honesty. None of us said we would
win the series by a 2 match margin, but it turned out to be by a 3 match
margin. In the preview I also mentioned that 2 results was pushing it and 3
results was close to impossible, but as it stands the Greens have won all 3
tests with all 3 tests having results. We expected docile tracks, high scoring
draws and uneventful action, but it was nothing but fast paced test cricket with
wickets falling in clusters and tests continuously progressing forward towards
an outcome with every session and none of the 3 tests went into day 5 believe
it or not. 110 wickets fell in 11 days with over 3 wickets falling per session.


There were several reasons for this –

a)      Highquality bowling, both teams bowled exceptionally and it was refreshing to see
some top class spin bowling in particular from both of the sides because as
Nasser mentioned we had seen some ordinary, average, mediocre spinners for some
time in world cricket, but here we had talented finger spinners from both sides
and a mystery bowler from Pakistan in the form of Ajmal who injected fear in
batsmen and posed some serious questions

b)      DRS and batsmen being paranoid as a result of getting struck on the pad with a
record number of LBWs falling for a 3 match series in this tour

c)      Out of form batsmen who were short of runs and confidence

d)      England’s batsmen struggling to adapt to the slow paced nature of scoring rates in this
part of the world and lacking patience and application to play long old
fashioned dogged test match innings

e)      Ajmal’spre series talk  really playing in theminds of England’s batters

f)       England’s preparation not being up to scratch while Pakistan were playing the Sri Lankans
and Bangladeshis as I incidentally said in my preview for why they had a slight
advantage over England coming into this series


g)      England Not being able to lift themselves after losing 5 wickets in the opening session
of the series of their top 5 batsmen without 60 on the board at the lunch
interval with Ajmal bagging 3 wickets in his first 10 deliveries he sent down.
Starting a series well is so often so important for what goes to happen at the
end of it all


h)      Underestimating the Pakistan team after the spot fixing scandal and how far they had come under
Misbah ul Haq and talking of underestimating they also did so for the Pakistani
bowler Rehman and Gul whereas they were taken a bit by suprirse by Hafeez who
got 5 left handers dismissed at just 16 as all the talk was surrounding Saeed
Ajmal

Combined Series 11

1) Mohammad Hafeez
2) Alastair Cook
3) Azhar Ali
4) Younis Khan
5) Misbah ul Haq (C)
6) Asad Shafiq
7) Matt Prior (WK)
8) Stuart Broad
9) Abdur Rehman
10) Saeed Ajmal
11) James Anderson

Pakistan’s ODI Squad

Batsmen

Misbah ul Haq (C)
Younis Khan
Azhar Ali
Asad Shafiq
Imran Farhat
Shoaib Malik (added on the request of Misbah ul Haq)

Wicket Keepers

Umar Akmal

Adnan Akmal

All Rounders

Mohammad Hafeez
Shahid Afridi
Hammad Azam

Fast Bowlers

Umar Gul
Wahab Riaz
Aizaz Cheema
Junaid Khan

Specialist Spinners

Saeed Ajmal
Abdur Rehman


Sessions WON

Pak 21
Eng 12

1st test: 6-3 Pak
2nd test: 6-6

3rd test: 9-3 Pak


Pakistan's cricket captain Misbah-ul Haq gestures as he holds the trophy after victory in the third and final Test match between Pakistan and England - AFP

Pakistan's cricket captain Misbah-ul Haq gestures as he holds
the trophy after victory in the third and final Test match between Pakistan and
England - AFP

Pakistan team road to glory for no.1 side



Pakistan’s love affair with the Arabian venues continued when they yet again returned victorious on their new hunting ground:The Ring of Fire. When Pakistan took the field on 4th day at the DSC, there was skepticism amid an air of positivism that has engulfed this Pakistan outfit.

Helped by some inauspicious shot selection by England’s batsmen but with conditions not as conducive as expected, the bowlers put in a Herculean effort for Pakistan to make history.

Pakistan’s first series whitewash against England is not just a whitewash. What it meant to a nation stricken by innumerable problems was evident when people took it to the streets, dancing in mirth, exchanging sweets, overwhelmed by the fact that their heroes had beaten an adversary ranked much higher than them, not to mention the No.1 Test side in the world.

The momentous victory has come at, hopefully, an end of a turbulent period for Pakistan cricket. A torment that started in 2010 ended in the most incredible of manner for Pakistan, who have now stretched their unbeaten series run to six.The most perplexing aspect of their upward curve has been their consistency, a rarity in preceding Pakistan outfits.

With this lustrous performance, not only have they exceeded the most optimistic of predictions but have re-enchanted many erstwhile fans. Though, how much this victory serves in bringing cricket back to Pakistan remains to be seen. With the Bangladesh series just around the corner, Pakistan can well afford to dream of a seventh consecutive series without facing a defeat.

Since the team’s inception, it has been classified as unpredictable. Misbah’s men, however, seem to have altered that impression with a string of persistent performances.The spellbinding sight of Pakistani bowlers banging it in short, turning it miles, bamboozling the batsmen with doosras, reversing the ball mercurially, the batsmen grinding in for runs, show glimpses of the past, a past which was erratic yet better in many ways than the horrors of 2010.

They say the night is darkest just before the dawn. Misbah and Co. have proved that an obdurate draw against South Africa wasn’t a false dawn. It has only gotten brighter since then for Pakistan cricket. Moreover, they’ve clung to their title of being the ‘cornered tigers’ of world cricket. Every time an adversity has hit them, they’ve come out roaring.

For people unfamiliar with Pakistan cricket’s peculiar history, this whole scenario is nothing short of madness. Success of this Pakistan team surely supports the notion that Pakistan is back into international cricket as a force to reckon with. They might rise to fall again and fall to rise again but this victory will go down in history as one of cricket’s most epic battles for honor.

Fabio Capello Quits amid Terry saga

Fabio Capello has reacted strongly after FA stripped Terry off captaincy as proceedings against him continue for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.



The Football Association, in my opinion was within its rights and principally correct to remove the controversial captain as grave allegations overshadowed him. But on the other hand, Capello's reaction is also apprendible as a man of such authority was apparently not consulted when such a critical decision was being made about his team.

So lets take a look on reactions by a few English players followed by unreserved remarks by me:

Wayne Rooney

Gutted Capello has quit. Good guy and top coach. Got to be English to replace him. Harry Redknapp for me.

My Comment: Spot on Wayne. This guy never fails to speak up and says what he feels is right.

Rio Ferdinand
So Capello resigns....what now....

My Comment: Rio might see this as an opportunity to cement a permanent place in the team once again. But I doubt that he will be able to do this keeping in view his lingering back problem, new blood deserve a chance and should be allowed to play. Rio should be taken to the Euros as a sub. (This is coming from a United Fan)

Jack Wilshere
People have their own judgement on Capello but for a young player who was given the chance to play for my country at such a young age he has shown great belief and trust in me so I can only thank him.

My Comment: Wilshere is rightly thankful to Capello as he gave him the chance to show his mettle on the top level.

Kyle Walker
Gutted to see Fabio Capello go, he put a lot of trust in me and gave me my first cap. just want to say a big thanks really.

My Comment: Walker is rightly thankful to Capello as he gave him the chance to show his mettle on the top level.

Glen Johnson
Sad news to see Capello step down. Good man and a Good manager.

My Comment: Capello might be a good man Johnson, but his departure may endanger your position. I think Micah Richard deserves a chance for his consistent performances and should be used against attacking teams.

Michael Owen
Don't know if was just me but it never felt right in the first place knowing the England manager was heading off after the Euros regardless.

My Comment: Dont be silly Owen, I know you will welcome the next manager by saying that he is the best for this job. But you still dont deserve a chance in the England team again, so start looking for a pundti's vacancy in a sports channel as you are well past your prime.

Quotes Courtesy: BBC