After a tepid and strange performance from Pakistan in the second ODI on Friday, England were able to level their ODI series and both sides head to Sharjah on Tuesday knowing whoever wins the 3rd ODI will guarantee at least a share of the series.
So far we’ve had two one sided matches in the series but now that the action has moved from Abu Dhabi we’re due a couple of close finishes to decide the series over the course of this week.
Pakistan looked to have all the momentum at the halfway stage of the last match having dragged England back from a runaway position with the ball but their batting effort never got going and there wasn’t any point in the run chase that they were ever on track to chase a moderate total down.
England captain Eoin Morgan gave his batsmen a bit of criticism after the first game but they rebounded in the right way in the second match. They know they still have a little more to give but they are on the right track which is a positive for them. England bowled better in the second game too.
The Sharjah Cricket Ground is one of the homes of ODI cricket. This will be the 219th time an ODI will have been held on this ground and Pakistan will be chuffed to be here as the have a 79-39 winning record at this venue. England won’t be too fazed though. They are 7-6 on this ground although they’ve not played here since 1999.
We saw in the Test match on this ground that the wicket is going to be slow. England played three spinners in that Test and the wicket did turn so the slower bowlers are likely to come into play. The boundaries aren’t the biggest here so that will keep the batsmen interested.
Given that both have played a good game and a bad one in this series I’m reluctant to bet on the match. Another reason why I’m reluctant is we don’t know whether Yasir Shah is going to be fit to feature after he picked up a knock on the eve of the game so the best move could be to leave the match outcome alone.
One area I am happy to get involved is the six hitting. Sixes comes a lot more regularly on this ground and I’m surprised we only need nine to get the overs covered.
Pakistan have covered that on their own in two of the last four matches here and they’ve hit seven in another so they certainly hit big on this ground. England are as big hitting a side as there is these days with their line up and their philosophy so I would be surprised if we don’t get the required nine big blows here.
Back 9 or more sixes for a 5/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
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