One Test match career will end and another will begin when Pakistan take on England in the third match of their series with this closing game coming from Karachi, the scene of that famous England win in the dark almost 20 years ago.
England claimed the series last week when they won another entertaining match but no team has left Pakistan with a clean sweep and that is what they will be aiming for here. Pakistan will hope to protect that proud record.
Pakistan
Pakistan are 2-0 down in the series but they probably haven’t done a huge amount wrong. They ran into a storm they just didn’t see coming in the opening game and the second one changed on a mess of a session with the bat. They were at fault for that but the real reason why they are 2-0 down is because injuries to bowlers have left them very short handed in that department and their aim of playing for a draw to take the series down to this game was blown out of the water by England in the opening match.
They are going to need to find a way not necessarily to keep England in check when they have the ball in hand because I don’t think that is possible when England fancy it but they can just be an ounce or two smarter and make it a little harder for England to get away from them. They then need to make sure that the collapse in the previous match doesn’t linger over to this one else they could go down in Pakistan folklore for the wrong reasons.
England
When they landed back in Pakistan for the Test leg of this tour, England had only ever won two Test matches in this part of the world. They have matched that in the space of a fortnight now and will be eyeing up some real history here by becoming the first time to whitewash Pakistan at home. England have played some really smart cricket to maximise their winning opportunities in the opening two matches and when the chance to win came along they jumped all over it.
England have really put their foot down with the bat in this series to give themselves ample time to pick up the 20 wickets they have needed but the really impressive thing has been how Ben Stokes has managed his bowlers throughout. Nearly every bowling change he has made has had a brilliant impact and it is clear that in just six months he has created an environment that everyone is enjoying being a part of.
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Team News
Azhar Ali will play his final Test match in this contest having announced his retirement after the game in the lead up to it. Imam-ul-Haq is expected to miss this game so Derbyshire opener Shan Masood is likely to come in to open the batting.
England have already confirmed their XI for the match as they often do and they will give a debut to Rehan Ahmed who will become the youngest Test cricketer for England. Ben Foakes also returns with Will Jacks and Jimmy Anderson sitting out.
Betting
Mohammad Rizwan hasn’t had a particularly good series so far. In four innings on pretty good batting decks he has only managed a highest score of 46 and the two first innings he has played has yielded scores of 29 and 10. Coral have matched him up with Harry Brook in the first innings with the England man having to cover a 1.5 run handicap and I think that is well within the capabilities of this class act.
Brook has scores of 153, 87, 9 and 108 in the series to date and he knows he was too aggressive when getting out for nine in the first innings of the second Test match and I expect him to play his percentages much better in this match, especially with competition for places coming along when England go to New Zealand in February. It was only a matter of time until Brook shone in this side and I think he’s more than a couple of runs too good for Rizwan here.
Tips
Back H.Brook (-1.5 runs) to beat M.Rizwan (1st Inns Only) for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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