A blistering performance in Nottingham gave England the ODI series win against Pakistan with two matches left and when the two sides head to Leeds for the fourth match of the five England will be looking to move nearer to completing a series whitewash while Pakistan will be looking to save face after an almighty beating at Trent Bridge.
England
The contrast in England’s one day play prior to the World Cup last year and since has been remarkable and that has never been more in evidence than on Tuesday when they made the highest ever ODI score and set a whole load of records in the process.
With the series in the bag and the freedom that comes with that you would think England might only be more dangerous over the course of these two matches. With their bowling looking in excellent condition as well you wouldn’t rule out a whitewash from this position especially if the weather stays as good as it has been.
Pakistan
When you think it couldn’t get any worse for Pakistan it did and it did it badly. Their fielding effort was abysmal from the first over onwards at Trent Bridge, their bowling was taken to the cleaners and their batting had the odd high moment but in the main wasn’t much better than anything else so it was a real day to forget.
The only problem with that is the fact they have only had a little over 36hrs between that mauling ending and this match starting so they have had no time to address anything and it is hard to believe that the defeat will be out of their system. If England get away from them early on in this match it could be carnage again.
Team News
If England are going to be as ruthless as they have spoken about in the lead up to the series then they might decide to be unchanged here but with one or two players having had a heavy workload changes might be imminent. David Willey and Jonny Bairstow are waiting in the wings with Mark Wood one to potentially sit out.
Pakistan can’t go in with the same team in this match that is for sure. Mohammad Irfan is in the country and waiting for a go in the side and with Wahab Riaz going for over a ton without reward in the previous match he could well be the one to make way. Imad Wasim could be considered if he has recovered from his knee injury.
Headingley
There have been 37 previous matches here with England featuring in 28 of them. They have won 17 of those matches and lost just 10 with one no result. Pakistan have played seven times here and they have a winning record too. They have four wins to three losses.
Although the scores here in domestic cricket this season have been on the lower side of what we would expect in today’s world the last seven ODIs have been totally different. Each first innings score in that time have seen the side batting score at least 290 with scores over 300 becoming more and more regular. Another good wicket should be produced here and this should be a run fest if Pakistan’s batsmen turn up.
Betting
I’m not a huge punter in dead rubbers and even less so when Pakistan are involved as their interest and focus can be patchy at the best of times but there are a couple of bets that I like here although they don’t involve the match outcome. That said I fully expect England to win and probably win well.
The first bet I like is over 58.5 boundaries. This is a high scoring ground and in the big matches the wicket does tend to play well. We know the boundaries here aren’t the longest anyway and the situation of the series should ensure that both sides bat with freedom and look to entertain.
We’ve seen England find the boundary throughout the series and if they bat first they will take off a serious portion of this total which would be ideal but even if Pakistan bat first I’m expecting them to come out firing and looking to fight fire with fire. England might rest a bowler or two as well to help them in that quest so I like the idea of plenty of boundaries.
I also like the performance of Joe Root. He is in incredible form in ODIs at the minute. His last five knocks have been 65, 93, 61, 89 and 85 so he is in sensational form. He now plays on his home ground where he has scored 113 in his only ODI here. His batting stats suggest he should cover a line of 40.5 but if he doesn’t he may well bowl and he’s always in the game with the ball too so the overs look good to me here.
Tips
Back Over 58.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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Back J.Root’s Performance – Over 40.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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