The second part of the double header at the ICC Cricket World Cup on Saturday is effectively a dead rubber in terms of this competition when England and Pakistan battle it out in the last group game at Eden Gardens.
Pakistan technically can still reach the semi-final of the competition but the margin of victory it would take to do it is near enough impossible so that thought can’t really come into the equation. England will just hope to complete their qualification for the Champions Trophy here.
England
The fallout from the dismal England title defence has slowly been burning throughout the duration of what has been a pathetic campaign from the current 50 over champions but they did manage to salvage something from the wreckage with an emphatic win over the Netherlands earlier in the week, which should at least ensure they qualify for the Champions Trophy. They will do that should they avoid a tonking here unless the Netherlands pull off what would be a real shock in beating India on Sunday.
England still haven’t really batted very well in this tournament. They managed to post 300 against a pretty ordinary Bangladesh attack at the beginning of the competition but since then they have flattered to deceive. Even when they made 339 against the Netherlands they were in real trouble until Ben Stokes got them out of the mire, like he so often does. England have improved with the ball throughout this competition but that won’t count for much if their batting fails again.
Pakistan
This clearly hasn’t been the tournament that Pakistan would have wanted. You just knew watching it that their inability to finish South Africa off when they had them on toast three matches ago would come back to bite them and that appears like it will be the case. To be fair to Pakistan, they have bounced back from that disappointment with a pair of wins but such was the margin of the New Zealand win over Sri Lanka on Thursday that a last four spot looks beyond the Asian side.
Nevertheless, there is a T20 World Cup next year which Pakistan can lay a bit of a marker down for in this match and then the year after they host the Champions Trophy and they will be keen to perform well in that on home soil so this is certainly anything but a match with nothing on it, especially for those who will still be around in a couple of years. Pakistan haven’t really put in a complete performance in this tournament. This would be a good time for it to come along.
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Team News
England probably put in their best performance of the competition last time out so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for them to change too much, although not much of what they have done in this event has made a lot of sense. It could be the final ODI for the likes of Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow.
Pakistan are in a good vein of form but their bowling went the distance in the last game so they might decide to bring one of the mystery spinners back for this game with Shabad Khan probably the most likely to return.
Betting
I don’t really get why Pakistan are odds against to come out on top in this match. If it is in case they go mad to try and qualify for the semi-final that could be taken out of their hands if England bat first but I’m not trusting this England side to deliver the goods. They might have beaten the Netherlands last time out but they were teetering on the edge of a hole at 192-6 and if they are in that position again I would back this Pakistan attack to finish them off. If you take Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes out you wonder where the England runs are going to come from here.
Aside from that win over the Netherlands, the only other England win has come against a substandard Bangladesh side and both wins were on good pitches. Pakistan have been a touch unlucky in this tournament. If they had beaten South Africa, which they should have done, they would be playing here for a spot in the semi-final but they have won their last two matches and were well on course to chase down 400 in the second of those. India made 300 here in the last game but in the main the pitches have been tricky to bat on and that never suits England. I think Pakistan are the bet at the prices.
Tips
Back Pakistan to beat England for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Betway
