After clinching the recent morale booster victory over Australia at Headingley, a confident Pakistan is now facing host England in the first of the four-match test series starting from 29 July at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Time
The match begins at 10:00 GMT and 11:00 BST (British Summer Time). In Pakistan, cricket fans can watch the match from 15:00. In the US, the match starts in New York time at 06:00 and California time at 03:00.
Live Score
To get the live score of the match, visit the following link:
http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/scores/live.html
While Pakistan is looking to continue the momentum they got through the win over Australia, England is looking to gain some confidence ahead of their Ashes trip to Australia.
Pakistan is definitely confident after pulling off the vital win over Australia at a crucial time when the team was going through a bad patch. However, the word ‘unpredictable’ goes very well with Pakistan and that is what a big concern for Pakistan team. Captain Salman Butt, who led Pakistan to clinch that remarkable victory in his first match as captain, has asked his teammates to work hard and capitalize on what the condition offers.
Trent Bridge wicket generally helps swing bowlers. Naturally, it is good news for Pakistani pacers who have been in impressive form recently. Pakistan would most probably feature three pacers: Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif. Experienced leg spinner Danish Kaneria would take the spinner’s slot ahead of Saeed Ajmal.
England selectors would consider the performance of this series to select the Ashes squad. Naturally, English players who have not yet cemented their places in the test squad would like to strengthen their claims by showing some impressive performances in this series.
Given their recent performance, Pakistani pacers are expected to give a tough challenge to the English batsmen. There are a number of England batsmen including Eoin Morgan, Jonathan Trott and Alastair Cook who would like to perform well, keeping an eye on the Ashes series.
Eoin Morgan may have already secured a place in England’s limited overs teams, but the Dublin-born batsman is yet to prove himself in the longest version of the game. Jonathan Trott has a very good average, but few poor shows against Pakistan could lead him to be dropped from the Ashes tour. Opener Alastair Cook would also like to get back his form ahead of the Ashes series.
England is also expected to play four bowlers including three pacers and spinner Graeme Swann who has been in good form recently. Their pace attack would most probably feature James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn. Anderson is under pressure to perform, while Finn, who started off the Summer very well against Bangladesh, has returned after missing the limited overs series against Australia and Bangladesh.
Inexperienced batting line up is a matter of big worry for Pakistan. Their batting performance was not even up to the mark in their recent victory over Australia. The likes of Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal and Umar Amin all have potential, but yet to prove themselves in the longest format of the game.
Overall, Pakistani bowlers would expect their batsmen to perform sensibly, while England batsmen would have to be at their top to win the challenge thrown by the Pakistani bowlers, specially their pacers. Both sides would like to have a winning start in the series with cricket fans expecting some lively performances.
No comments:
Post a Comment