England v Pakistan (in U.A.E) 2012

I dont think so. They will be trashed again this year in Sri Lanka and India. In this pressure they will also have a tough series agains South Africa. They ended year 2011 as 1st in ranking and could end the year 2012 5th or lower.

I agree with Sam i dont see India or SL doing what Pakistan did both have a very weak bowling attack and we might see alot of draws in that series as i doubt India or SL will be able to take 20 wickets on flat pitches.

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi That said, they still are far from a dominant team. Their batsmen especially the openers have to work on their techniques. Wish Team Pakistan more success in the future!!!

Batsmen are far too slow to place Pakistan in a successful position in places like SA and Australia - certainly the Pakistanis need an injection of stroke makers, Hafeez is really the one one that ever looks like going up a gear. Hopefully some more batting talent can be discovered in the near future.

Pakistan also need to find a genuine keeper/batsman, not just a keeper who is okay with the bat. Someone who is a lot cleaner with the gloves than Kamran, but can also make more runs than Adnan.

Another thing that Pakistan will want to do is to start picking some more 150kph+ express type bowlers. I'm 100% sure they exist and those guys will be useful outside of the UAE and subcontinent, more so than Rehman and Ajmal.

They already have that batsman in Umer Akmal!!!

I am hoping Afghanistan will give Pakistan a tough time in the field today. I am not sure about their batting but their bowlers will be more than handful.

Edited by zuhair_abbasi - 10 February 2012 at 9:09am

I disagree. I think they are already better than Zimbabwe, Scotland and Netherlands. They will soon catch up with Ireland. they are a hugely talented side - saw their opening bowlers operating. India would love to have them playing in Australia. They are all fit lads - And Afghans when they take up thing seriously really make it count. I see this side being a real force in world cricket in the foreseeable future. they played Ajmal with utmost ease - that switch hit six off Ajmal must be a lesson for some of the Englishmen.

The only way for England to win any of the Odi is to bat first otherwise i dont see them chasing anything over 150 against Ajmal, Afridi and Hafeez.

A very good 260 for ENG, another fine century by Cook, so PAK have got some work to do now.

Its okay Sam but the most important thing is to win the toss for me batting first win you the match as both teams are weak chasing and Umer's keeping was fine no need to change it specially with Razzaq not playing but i want Farhat to get out!! he is useless.
My lineup would be -

Hafeez, Shafiq, Malik, Younus, Umer, Misbah, Hammad, Afridi, Ajmal, Gul and Wahab/Junaid

They should not be risking Umer Akmal has he tends to have those back problem mystery, Adnan is not that bad a batsmen so he can come in, more so because Malik and Asad are easily replaceable at the moment. Winning the toss is obviously very important but even then such a meek surrender is just not on.

Toss will be very important as both team cant chase well.
I cant see any point of bowling Hafeez too much. He is an opener first and should concentrate himself for batting. How can you expect good score from him when he has to bowl 10 overs in just one spell.

I'm OK with Hafeez bowling, he does a pretty decent job, esp under subcontinental conditions, but Pakistan are playing far too many spinners for my liking, anyways as long as they win, I'm fine. It's very important for Pakistan to continue this good run of form in ODI's, this series against ENG and then the Asia Cup are two very important tasks that need to be successfully completed. The next major targets then will be the series against AUS in August, then against RSA in March next year and then the Champions Trophy next year. Got to win all.

Edited by sam_ahmed - 15 February 2012 at 3:50pm

I dont like if an Opener is in the team because of his bowling. Hafeez has to concentrate on his Batting. His Bowling is just a bonus. Pakistani test team is pretty settled but odi team need to settle too.
Opners: You cant rely on them.
Middle Order (3,4,5): too slow. If they play 30 Over of an innings then Pakistan cant score more than 250 in first innings and cant chase anything
Number 6 & 7: Too much pressure to score quick and very few overs left because of the middle order.
Tailenders (8,9,10,11): Cant expect anything from them. Cant score more than 15-20 runs together.

They can atleast work on the batting order. For me the best Batting order would be:
Azhar Ali, Hafeez, Younus, Umar, Misbah, Afridi, Hammad, Adnan, Gul, Ajmal, Cheema
Azhar Ali should open the Innings. They would have 3 Pacers and 3 Spinners and this should be enough.
Pakistan has only one finisher at the moment and it is Abdul Razzaq. He is the only one who can finish a match. Misbah, Afridi, Umar Akmal never did that. They can bring you nearer but cant finish it.

Yes Sam i agree with what you said and i hope Pakistan win the last 2 match to level the series and i think we are missing Hafeez of 2011 in his last few ODIs he has started to play very slowly thats the reason he is struggling maybe Kahmd is right he should not bowl alot as he lose alot of energy and than he cant play his normal game.

222 after a recovery by the two good ODI players Umer Akmal and Afridi... Pakistani bowlers have a tough task ahead now.