England have the first of two chances to win their ODI series with Pakistan on Friday when the two sides meet for the fourth match at Trent Bridge. England lead 2-0 after two wonderfully high scoring matches and will go three up with one to play with a win here.
Although the series outcome isn’t exactly the biggest priority for Pakistan, they will want to get some sort of confidence from the final two matches of the series so they will be hoping to pick up a win in Nottingham to keep the series alive.
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England
I had the feeling that at some point in this series England were going to put a marker down for the upcoming World Cup and boy did they do that in Bristol. I wasn’t completely sure I fancied them to chase down the better part of 360 under lights but they made me look stupid by doing it with five overs to spare against a good attack, which they made to look like cannon fodder.
If the style of victory wasn’t impressive enough, to do it without their most fearsome batsman just elevated their favouritism for the World Cup to a whole new level. There are still plenty of concerns about the bowling attack but when you are scoring at eight an over across 45 overs that obvious weakness doesn’t look like derailing them. Even so I’m sure they would like some solidity with the ball.
Pakistan
All eyes will be on this Pakistan side to see if they can revert back to type of if this high scoring bandwagon is going to continue to roll. I think many people expected Pakistan to arrive in England and be hit or miss with the bat but make up for it with the ball. That hasn’t been the case though. They have been marvellous with the bat but pretty ordinary with the ball.
The latter issue clearly needs to be addressed over the next couple of weeks and they have two full ODIs to get some rhythm and consistency going in that department. The plus side if that if they can overcome their issues with the ball, and they have bowlers good enough to get the job done, then their batting looks in mighty fine nick to produce a decent run in the World Cup.
Team News
England will be without captain Eoin Morgan as he has been suspended for a poor over rate in the previous match. There was thought that he would be rested here anyway. Jos Buttler is set to replace him and Mark Wood and Jofra Archer are set to come in.
It appears that despite putting up 350+ in both innings in this series so far Pakistan are going to bring Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez into their side. One of them would make sense to utilise their spin options but unless they are just trying to get everyone into form ahead of the World Cup it would seem a little harsh on Haris Sohail and Asif Ali. Shaheen Afridi could be left out after his horror last game.
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Betting
I’ll go with a few bets for this match because I expect an extremely high scoring contest here. There have already been three scores of 400 posted on this ground this year and that doesn’t surprise me. Trent Bridge is now the best batting track in the country in white ball cricket. The pitch is blinding and the boundaries are much shorter especially for left-handers to that newest stand. Even straight they are a lot shorter than they were. With the World Cup taking in this ground early in the tournament we may not be right in the middle of the square but it doesn’t matter if we are. England have scores of 350/3, 444/3 and 481/6 on this ground since the last World Cup. All four completed innings in this series have had more than 350 runs in them so the 605.5 runs line should be battered here. I’ll on the over.
That short boundary has me playing batsmen sixes here too. Somehow we can get 10/11 on Fakhar Zaman hitting a six in this match. He smoked four on a ground twice as big in Southampton on Saturday. If he gets himself in then that short boundary is going to be screaming at him here. I’ll back him to clear it at some point in his innings. I’ll also jump on the 5/4 that Jos Buttler hits two or more of them. I lost count of how many he walloped out of the park in Southampton and the last time these two sides met here he belted seven sixes. This ground definitely isn’t big enough for Buttler so I’m on his over too.
There is all kinds of suggestions that Jonny Bairstow is going to be rested in this match so I wonder if Joe Denly will go up the order and open the batting to ensure that he gets a go out in the middle ahead of the World Cup. If he does then at double figures he will be a blinding price to top score. Roy has ridden his luck in this series and England could mix and match below Root which would bring Denly’s chances even higher. We’re probably toast if he doesn’t open but just in case he does the 10/1 is worth a play.
Tips
WON – Back Over 605.5 runs for a 5/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
WON – Back F.Zaman – Over 0.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back J.Buttler – Over 1.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
Back J.Denly Top England Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Coral
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