Pakistan totally controlled the opening ODI of four in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday so England will be looking to level the series when the two sides battle again on Friday.
If Eoin Morgan’s men don’t win the second match the best they will be able to do is share the series so there is a lot for England to play for here. Pakistan will be eager to secure a share of the series and give themselves two chances of winning it and getting the ranking points that go with it so an intriguing match awaits us.
This second match is to be played at the same Sheikh Zayed Stadium ground that the first ODI was played at. I didn’t see a second wicket being prepared so I am assuming this match will be played on the same wicket as game one which means we are likely to see plenty more turn in the track and it will probably be a bit slower as a result too.
Pakistan will be forced into one change for this match at the very least. That is because Younis Khan retired from ODI cricket after the opening match. Ahmed Shehzad sat out the opening game so he is a batsman who could come in as could Mohammad Rizwan.
England will either need more from their top order or they will need to change the make up of it because their top three need to score to keep them competitive in the series. With the bowling attack they possess at the minute even a par score is unlikely to be good enough for them.
England have many concerns in the one day environment but perhaps the most immediate of those is the fact that it was the seamers who did the damage to their batting in the first game. With their fallacy against spin with the bat it is imperative that they don’t let the seamers do the same damage here.
Pakistan won that opening match at a canter and yet they’ve still got so much more to give. That is a concern for an England fan but for us punters it is a good thing because amazingly we can still get Pakistan at 8/11 here.
The likes of Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Wahab Riaz and to a large extent Yasir Shah still have a lot more to offer in this series. I don’t think all four will go the entire series without contributing so I’m with Pakistan here.
We shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking England won’t improve but even if they do with what Pakistan still have to come they should still have England under control on a turning track which should really suit the home side.
I know Mohammad Hafeez made a century in the opening ODI and has been in good form ever since England landed in the UAE but even so a performance line of 44 still seems a little high for a man who only averages 32.22 with the bat in this format of the game.
In his last 30 ODI knocks Hafeez has failed to make 44 on 19 occasions so that’s almost 66% of the time he’ll fail to get this total with the bat. With him not allowed to bowl at the minute his only other scoring method in this match is going to be catches which never come guaranteed on these slow and low wickets so purely playing the percentage this line looks too high.
Back Pakistan to win 2nd ODI for a 5/10 stake at 1.73 with Stan James
Back M.Hafeez’s Performance – Under 44pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
