England and Pakistan played out an excellent Test match to open their series in Manchester last week and much more of the same is expected when the two sides go at it in the second Test at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday.
England ended up winning that opening game so they will claim the series win should they go on and be victorious here in this match while Pakistan will start out knowing that if they are to have any chance of winning the series they must win here. We’re all set up for another cracking contest.
England
Once again you wouldn’t say it was a perfect performance by England by any means in that opening game but to concede a first innings deficit the size of the one they did and still win showed a great fighting spirit and determination to win from any position and that is likely to stand them in good stead. Things will be more difficult here but there is nothing like a win to bolster confidence and a fighting spirit.
Clearly if England are going to win this series they are likely to need to find more runs. They will also need to find a way to play spin effectively as there is going to be a lot of that coming their way over the remaining two matches. The positive is that with the ball they look to have the majority of bases covered so if they can find those runs there is every optimism to believe that they will win the series at some point.
Pakistan
To be fair to Pakistan, although they lost their opening match of the tour they put up a decent fight and there was more than enough from their exciting bowling attack to suggest that they shouldn’t be ruled out of the series just yet. They will need more of their top order to find some runs but a few individuals got starts and one player got a big hundred so there is reason to believe that big scores are not far away.
The really important thing for Pakistan now is that they show a consistent level in their performance rather than sulk because they lost from a winning position in that opening match. There is a good argument to be made that the last two Tests will be on pitches that will suit them even more than the one at Old Trafford did so if they can give of their best again, there is certainly a way back into the series for them.
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Team News
England will be forced into a significant change for this match with Ben Stokes ruled out of the rest of the series to attend a family matter in New Zealand. Ollie Robinson replaced him in the squad but it is expected to be Zak Crawley who comes into the side for Stokes. England could switch Jofra Archer and Mark Wood but have confirmed that Jimmy Anderson will play.
Although they lost the opening match, Pakistan are expected to go in unchanged here, with their only possible change being Fawad Alam for Shadab Khan but the leg spin of Shadab could be useful here so he is likely to stay in.
Ageas Bowl
There have been four matches at the Southampton venue including one earlier in the summer. That match between England and West Indies was the only one England have lost here in the four. They have a pair of wins and a draw from the other three. Pakistan play Test cricket here for the first time but I don’t think they will be disappointed with what they see when they look at the wicket in front of them.
That is because although the pitch is usually good for batting here initially, it will take turn and will probably do so quicker than usual with Hampshire employing the man responsible for turning wickets at Taunton to replace their groundsman who departed for the hallowed turf of Lord’s. 318 was the highest score in the match here earlier in the summer so you don’t need an abundance of runs to win.
Betting
I was hoping to get more deeper into betting in the matches having watched the first game but the absence of Ben Stokes brings a complete different dynamic to proceedings and makes me ease up on that plan a little. I’d rather watch and see how the action plays out in the absence of England’s superstar player before maybe targeting the last match of the series as the big betting one. There is however one bet I’m happy to be on.
That is the bet I won with in the opening match of the series which is Yasir Shah to take more than 3.5 wickets. He did this in the first innings at Old Trafford and on a wicket that is likely to spin even more than that one did I don’t really see why the line hasn’t changed and the price only dropped a little, especially when you consider that he ended up with eight of the 17 wickets that fell. Two others went to the other leg spin too so he could have had 10. England have brought a right hander into their side for a leftie which gives Yasir another outside edge to bowl at so I’m expecting at least four wickets from him again here.
Tips
Back Y.Shah – Over 3.5 wickets for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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