Bangladesh thrash West Indies to record biggest win

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAnamul Haque became the third Bangladesh teenager to score an ODI ton•AFP

Bangladesh recorded their biggest win in ODIs in terms of runs, thrashing a listless West Indies by 160 runs to take a 2-0 lead and are in prime position to claim the five-match series. The spinners delivered for the second game in succession, but Bangladesh owed their early dominance in this match largely to Anamul Haque, who became the third teenager from the country to score a ODI century, and Mushfiqur Rahim for propelling them to 292. The cushion of runs was more than enough for the spinners to run through the line-up.West Indies opted to bowl first, primarily to nip out as many wickets as possible using the early morning moisture and then exploit the easier batting conditions in the afternoon. As it transpired, batting appeared twice as tough with the psychological setback of chasing 293 against a four-pronged spin attack that had rendered the match a no-contest even before the halfway stage of the chase. Bangladesh needed just over 31 overs to wrap things up and bettered their previous highest victory margin of 146 runs against Scotland in 2006. Ravi Rampaul’s 5 for 49 was a forgotten statistical highlight.West Indies had some semblance of control in only two, albeit brief, phases. The first was when they took two early wickets when the seamers had some assistance and the second when Bangladesh inexplicably took their foot off the pedal during the batting Powerplay. In between, Bangladesh ruthlessly choked the opposition.The moisture on the pitch had disappeared after the first half hour, handing the advantage to the batsmen, which Mushfiqur and Anamul relished during their 174-run stand. Sunil Narine’s fortunes on tour took a turn for the worse as the pair toyed with his bowling, which lacked the turn and bite he is normally associated with. Mushfiqur was liberal with the sweep, and also employed the late cut. Anamul improvised well against Narine, bringing up his maiden fifty with a late cut. With little seam movement on offer, Anamul was able to smash it through the line despite minimal footwork. He was strong on the pull as well, fetching boundaries off Dwayne Smith and Narine.Bangladesh were progressing at a healthy 5.31 runs per over but ironically lost momentum when the field restrictions were on after the 35th over for the mandatory Powerplay. The seamers wisely dished out short deliveries, exploiting the new one-day rule that allows two bouncers an over. Bangladesh scratched around for 20 runs and lost two wickets in that passage, including that of Mushfiqur, who played a tired pull to midwicket for 79.Anamul slowed down as he approached his century, consuming 23 balls in the 90s, but his wait ended when he pulled Rampaul to deep square leg and with the pressure off his shoulders, biffed Andre Russell for two sixes and a four off consecutive balls. Both Anamul and Mominul Haque fell to Rampaul – who picked up his second five-wicket haul – going for big hits. Bangladesh ransacked 68 off the last five overs to post their biggest total against West Indies.While Chris Gayle’s dip in form didn’t affect West Indies’ fortunes in the Tests, his no-show in the one-dayers so far is having a telling impact. A strong start was needed, and it was important West Indies knocked off as many as possible with the new ball before the spinners came on in tandem. By the time that happened, West Indies had lost three of their top four, including Gayle and Marlon Samuels.Gayle’s departure – caught behind giving Mashrafe Mortaza the charge – and tight bowling from the spinners choked the run-rate. Samuels tried to cut Sohag Gazi but got a thick edge to Mushfiqur, who took a sharp catch. Abdur Razzak trapped Dwayne Smith lbw, in a spell which read 5-0-19-3. Darren Bravo too edged the left-arm spinner Razzak and Devon Thomas missed a straight one. The wheels were falling off for West Indies when Sammy went for the lofted drive over extra cover off Mahmudullah but found the fielder. At the end of 25 overs, West Indies had lost seven, with their hopes pinned to Kieron Pollard. The end came soon when Pollard lost his off stump to Naeem Islam and Tamim Iqbal plucked a chipped drive from Narine to seal the game.

Mumbai cruise on Tendulkar, Rahane tons

Scorecard
Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane were involved in a double-century stand•Fotocorp

Smart stats

  • Sachin Tendulkar scored his sixth century in his last seven matches for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. However, he has played these seven matches in a period of 12 years.

  • Tendulkar has now scored nine centuries in 25 first-class matches for Mumbai at an average of 80.63.

  • Only Sunil Gavaskar, with 81 centuries, is ahead of Tendulkar (78) on the list of Indian batsmen with the most first-class centuries.

  • The gap of 22 months since the century in Cape Town in January 2011 is the longest interval for Tendulkar between two centuries in his first-class career. Between December 2005 and February 2007, Tendulkar had gone 14 months without a century.

The start of the Ranji Trophy has rarely been under such scrutiny. The return of India’s star players to their domestic sides has been the biggest draw for fans, but not too far behind are those players possibly competing for a place in the Test squad during a long home season. At the Wankhede Stadium, Sachin Tendulkar, recovering from a severe stomach bug, batted with comfort, assuredness and ultimately supreme confidence to give a disappointingly small crowd of a few hundred spectators the performance they’d come to watch.”I’m happy with this knock,” Tendulkar told . “It was tough in this heat as I had food poisoning and an upset stomach.”At the other end, Ajinkya Rahane quietly continued accumulating runs, reaching another landmark in what has already been a hectic two months for him and boosting his own chances for a place in the Test squad. Together, they put Mumbai in a dominating position against Railways, who had chosen to field, hoping their attack comprising four seam options would derive some help from the covering of grass on the track.The wicket that brought Tendulkar and Rahane together at 143 for 3 was of another Test hopeful, who was understandably livid after being run out. Rohit Sharma batted 40 minutes in the nets yesterday, also with a wicketkeeper standing up against the spinners. He came in at No.4 – Tendulkar’s position – and his preparation appeared to be paying off when he charged out twice to left-arm spinner Murali Kartik to hit him for fours. Unfortunately for Rohit, he was dismissed in a manner he would have least anticipated.Tendulkar, too, had prepared rigorously for this outing. He began cautiously after being greeted with huge cheers from a sparse crowd, and bowling to him in that initial phase was Hardik Rathod, whose action is similar to Zaheer Khan’s. New Zealand’s Trent Boult had given Tendulkar a tough time with his left-arm pace in a series in which Tendulkar was bowled thrice, but Rathod lacked the swing or movement to cause similar troubles. Tendulkar played straight, appeared to pick the length well and waited for an opening. When on 12, he had a slice of luck against a ball from Rathod that kept low, inside-edging it past fine leg, but that was a rare moment of unease.It wasn’t until his 31st delivery that he struck a boundary, dispatching a wide delivery from seamer Anureet Singh through point. While initially circumspect against pace, he gained his fluency against spin. Ashish Yadav flighted the ball generously and Tendulkar struck him for back-to-back boundaries past mid-on, Shivakant Yadav was smashed over deep midwicket for six. After tea, Tendulkar would also turn his attention to pace while the ruthlessness against spin continued.Tendulkar targeted Yadav, cutting and pulling him for fours before clearing long-on and deep extra cover to speed past Rahane. When the pair had put on a century stand, in the 69th over, Tendulkar had scored 61 of those runs and he would be the first among the pair to reach a century – his first in first-class cricket since January 2011. The assault against Yadav had taken him into the nineties and the progress to the landmark – brought up with a nudge behind square – was interrupted briefly by a fan who ran in to shake his hand when on 99.Rahane faced more anxious moments, was more workmanlike in his approach and grew more determined to bat long. Chasing a fullish delivery from Rathod when on 7, Rahane was dropped by Murali Kartik at second slip and then had a couple of leading edges land safe as he walked across and closed the face. “Catches keep getting dropped, it’s a part and parcel,” Rahane said. “After that, I showed more determination and I tried to play as much as possible in the ‘V’.”Rahane was comfortable against deliveries that were held back, and scored freely off the back foot, punching through cover, whipping through square leg and picking off singles with ease when Railways employed a deep point.Once in the groove, Rahane drove well down the ground, past the bowler, mid-off and extra cover, prompting Sanjay Bangar, the Railways captain, to place a silly mid-off and a short extra cover at one stage. His steady approach was overshadowed by Tendulkar’s dominance, but Rahane, too, didn’t waste too many chances. Kartik almost had him caught at slip with a turning ball, but Rahane cut him through point and then cracked the first delivery with the second new-ball through cover for four – he reached his century the same over.Tendulkar’s aggression after tea – which included three fours in an over against seamer Krishnakant Upadhyaya – ended when he tried to upper cut Anureet but was caught at second slip. This, after a 200-run stand off 249 balls, a barrage of boundaries, and an imposing first-day score to complete a fulfilling day for Mumbai, its two centurions and the few who turned up.

'Can't live in past glory' – Harbhajan

Harbhajan Singh, who is back in the India Twenty20 squad for the upcoming New Zealand series and the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka after spending more than a year out of the team, has said that he is looking to make a fresh start and is not depending on his past laurels.”It’s always tough when you are out,” Harbhajan told . “Making a comeback is tougher than earning your maiden international call. It involves a lot of things. When you’re out, you get injured and then again out. It’s always been challenging.”You cannot live in the past glory. For anyone, it does not depend what you’ve done in the past but what you do in the present and future.”Harbhajan’s last international appearance was in the Trent Bridge Test during India’s tour of England in August 2011. A spate of injuries and a dip in form thereafter left him out of reckoning from the national squad. After below par returns during the IPL, Harbhajan set out for a stint playing county cricket for Essex, which helped him get his confidence back. After the news of his selection, he starred in a pro-40 match for Essex with a five-wicket haul.”I won’t say it was frustrating but at times it’s difficult not being part of the side for so long. But you’re used to the set up. Not only me, it can happen to anyone. You are always going to have ups and downs. But when you get the opportunity, you have to stand up and take it in your stride.”Harbhajan said that the upcoming Twenty20s are going to herald a new chapter in his career. “I had the willpower and the desire to wear the India jersey again – it’s the biggest thing for me. It makes me proud,” he said. “It’s not that I was dropped for the first time last year. But it has been for the longest period of time. It makes you feel as if you are doing it for the first time.””I was ready to work hard and take challenge. You get your family and friends’ support, but at the end of the day you’re all alone fighting it out there in the middle. With Almighty’s help, I’m here again and now I’m looking forward towards doing well.”

Tiwary reveals difficult bench days

No one expected Manoj Tiwary to walk in for the pre-match press conference ahead of the solitary Twenty20 international. Once he arrived, it was to be expected that he would be asked more questions about how he handled his long spell on the bench than about tomorrow’s game. Tiwary did not disappoint. He spoke frankly but not bitterly, clearly but not with hurt. He spoke about how difficult a time it was, how he had kept himself motivated by watching videos of other sportspersons, and how, on getting two chances after 14 games, he had made them count with a half-century in the fifth ODI.”It was not very easy when I got an opportunity to play after sitting out for so many days,” Tiwary said. “My focus was on how I can improve my game during practice sessions and be ready since I knew that someday I will get a chance to play. The effort was to maintain a good mindset. It is not always easy [to do that].”Tiwary used the word “mindset” a lot, saying that his focus was on being in the proper frame of mind. He could have easily lost his confidence after being ignored in favour of Rohit Sharma, despite the latter’s lack of runs, despite the former’s century in his previous ODI before this series.”Those who play in the first XI get more practice during the practice sessions so at that time it is a bit difficult to maintain your mindset,” Tiwary said, and got a surprised stare from the team’s media manager, as if he had let out a state secret. “It is important to be ready because these days the competition is so much that the moment you get an opportunity you have to grab it. I used to always focus on maintaining the right frame of mind and not lose my self-confidence and self-belief during that process. That was the preparation and the self-belief that helped me perform.”Whenever I think about all these things like not playing, not getting an opportunity despite scoring a hundred I just analyse myself [and] as the days pass by you tend to improve mentally and you get experienced. When you look around, when you travel with the Indian team, sit with them, when you follow so much of cricket with so many things happening in front of you, you know how to deal with situations each day.”Tiwary had to keep himself motivated through each day of practice, through each day spent travelling around the globe without knowing when he would get a game. “My family has been supportive of me and my coach and some friends as well. I watch a lot of motivational videos from all sports and by looking at them I do get pumped up at times and it keeps my mind in the right frame. I always wanted to contribute to the team in the way other athletes around the world have in tough situations.”When the opportunity finally came, he found himself walking into tough situations as well. India were 60 for 3 and 87 for 3 when Tiwary came in, and on both occasions, he did not let the innings meander, making 21 off 38 and 65 off 68. He could not have been faulted had he batted for his place in the XI, but, to his credit, he didn’t.”The mindset was to stay positive. When a player is playing after a long time there is pressure to perform and plus the situation on the ground and the conditions [have to be taken into account] so you have to build the innings accordingly. I had it at the back of my mind that no matter what, I have to play according to the situation and if I get out while playing positively then no problem. The team and its requirement come first.”

Yuvraj begins training in Bangalore

Yuvraj Singh, the Indian batsman who is recovering from treatment for cancer, has begun training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. Although he said he did not want to rush his comeback, Yuvraj was hopeful of making the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September.”I will be in [the] NCA for a while now. I want to come back and play for India, that’s my goal. It’s not very easy on the body. I have gone through a lot and my body has gone through a lot of shock,” Yuvraj said. “People are expecting me to come back very quickly, but I don’t want to rush. I will have to take my time and come back 100% fit.”[I’m] feeling good. My body will become stronger stage by stage. Twenty20 world cup is my target. Hopefully I can be ready little before that.” Yuvraj hoped he could play in some domestic tournaments as part of his comeback attempt.Yuvraj was diagnosed with a type of cancer called “mediastinal seminoma”, a germ-cell tumour located between his two lungs, in February. He underwent three sessions of chemotherapy in Indianapolis, at the IU Simon Cancer Centre at the Indiana University Medical Centre. He finished the last cycle of chemotherapy in mid-March, and his response had left his medical team “fairly confident” that he would not suffer a relapse.

Durham push thwarted by rain

ScorecardNo play was possible on the final day of Durham’s County Championship match against Warwickshire at Chester-le-Street, denying the hosts the chance of their first win of the season.They were 227 ahead with three wickets standing in their second innings, but have now arrived at the halfway stage of their programme with only 36 points. At the same stage last season they had 139.While Durham coach Geoff Cook was delighted with the performance of Sunderland seamer Chris Rushworth, who took his maiden five-wicket haul, he also praised the bravery of nightwatchman Jamie Harrison: a 21-year-old Sedbergh School product who was sent in to perform the role in both innings and survived for 75 minutes in tough conditions on the third morning to make 23.Cook, who worked with the Harrison, a left-arm bowler, on his batting during the winter, said: “Jamie has a lot of character and he has enjoyed the opportunity to play at this level. There were questions about his batting 12 months ago but he has gone away and worked hard at it. He has some bravery and he has a defence now. He is also starting to put one or two shots together.”

Edwards on the front foot for girls' cricket

Charlotte Edwards, the England Women’s captain, has said that a new initiative launched to increase opportunities for girls to take up cricket in school can help to provide the next generation of players for the national side.Edwards is involved as a coach and mentor with Chance to Shine, the programme set up in 2005 by the Cricket Foundation charity to increase participation in cricket among children, and was at Lord’s on Wednesday for the launch of Girls on the Front Foot, which aims to raise £250,000 in support of coaching and awareness for girls’ cricket.”Definitely, the game needs girls coming through and it would be great to have someone who got into cricket that way reach the England team,” Edwards said. “It’s really good for the girls to meet England players at coaching sessions and then they can go and look us up on scorecards afterwards.”Edwards said that the initiative was important to help raise awareness of the game among girls, with several members of the England team combining coaching in schools with their training schedules. The Girls on the Front Foot board features women from business and sport, including Edwards, the ECB’s head of women’s cricket, Clare Connor, Tesco executive director Lucy Neville-Rolfe and Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar.Since its foundation, over 620,000 girls have participated in clubs run by Chance to Shine, with the number of girls playing cricket in school rising from 25,049 in 2006 to 156,577 in 2011.”I am delighted to be involved with the Chance to Shine girls’ board,” Edwards said. “It is amazing to see this collection of high-powered women come together for such a worthy cause. In my dual role as England captain and Chance to Shine coaching ambassador it is fantastic to go into schools around the country and see girls playing cricket.””I grew up on a potato farm and I’d probably still be there picking potatoes if it wasn’t for cricket. Now it’s so accessible for girls, you don’t have to stumble across a women’s pathway, there’s a very clear pathway for girls wanting to play cricket. But it’s more than that, we’re developing young people here and that’s just as important.”Despite her increased involvement with Chance to Shine, Edwards, 32, has not yet turned her thoughts to retirement and hopes to lead England in regaining the World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka later this year. England are also the Women’s World Cup holders, with the next tournament to be held in India next year. “While I’m still happy with my game, I will definitely continue playing,” Edwards said.

Wade untroubled by Clarke's backing of Haddin

Matthew Wade has refused to lobby for the No. 1 Australia wicketkeeper’s spot, even after his match-turning century against West Indies in Dominica made a compelling case for his retention at the start of the next home summer. Captain Michael Clarke has made it patently clear that he wants Brad Haddin back in the Australia Test team as soon as he is able to return – Haddin had withdrawn from this tour due to a serious family issue – and Wade showed no inclination to dispute the order of seniority following his 106 at Windsor Park.While many observers at the ground were left to wonder how Haddin could take the gloves back against South Africa at the Gabba later this year, given how capably Wade batted with the Australia tail, the man himself said he was quite happy to cede the position come November.”Hadds was supposed to play this tour and I’ve come in and taken his spot in an unfortunate situation – personal reasons back home that Hadds has. So that’s as far as I’m looking,” Wade said. “I know it’s cliché, but that’s as far as I’m looking. We’re playing these games then we’ve got a pretty big gap in Test cricket. Hopefully I can hold my spot in the one-dayers and take things from there.”I don’t think it [the century] changes [anything], my mindset definitely hasn’t changed. There’s a lot of one-day and Twenty20 cricket in between, a lot of water under the bridge before the first Test against South Africa at the Gabba, so I’ll do my job and see how it goes. Pup [Clarke] said that Haddin’s No. 1 in Test cricket and that sits fine with me, I’m happy to fill the void for a while and go and play some one-day cricket.”Having fought and scrapped early on in his knock, as he had done in most of his innings so far on this tour, Wade accelerated in stunning fashion around the fall of Mitchell Starc’s wicket. Unperturbed by the fact he was batting with the bowlers, Wade said that while his advance to a century had been dramatic, it was in keeping with the sort of back-end rhythm that typified most of his better innings.”In first-class cricket that’s generally the way I play,” he said. “I know that if I can get myself in for long enough that I can make it [the scoring-rate] up towards the end if I’m batting with the tail. I think a lot of my innings at times are like that. It takes me a little bit of time to get going but I can make it up towards the end. Maybe not make it up like I did today, but that’s generally my game plan. I’m not too worried about scoreboard pressure as such. I try and build an innings and try, and catch up at the back end.”Towards the end I knew Hilfy [Ben Hilfenhaus] and Lyono [Nathan Lyon] had been batting well, so I wasn’t too concerned. I didn’t change my game too much. I backed them because I knew they would stick around for me. If I happened to be not out at the end then I was not out, that’s how I looked at it. There was definitely no intent to go out and try and slog sweep or get the run-rate up, I just batted the way I thought I should have batted in that situation and backed the bloke at the other end.”Wade struggled noticeably early in the tour, in conditions completely foreign to him as both wicketkeeper and batsman. But he has learned over time, adding the sweep shot to his game against the slow bowlers, and in Dominica was able to contribute a critical innings when his team was in most desperate need.”I don’t think I had any doubt I could play Test cricket. It’s been a massive tour for me, I’ve learned so much right from the first game we played, the one-dayers where the conditions were just so different from what I’m used to,” he said. “I felt every game that I was getting a lot better, we’ve been working on things every day to get better in these conditions – we’ve got subcontinent conditions coming up at the Twenty20 World Cup and that kind of stuff.”It was about more improvement to get better. I felt I was good enough to play at this level if I could just get things to go right for me. It was about improving the little things, the conditions were a massive thing and I brought out my sweep halfway through the one-day series, I decided I’d use the sweep a lot more and I’ve brought that with me into the Tests. It’s going to be a massive shot for me going forward in subcontinent conditions.”

Lumb makes telling statement

ScorecardMichael Lumb, seen here in his Hampshire days, is trying to start afresh this season•PA Photos

When Nottinghamshire identified Michael Lumb as one of the players to solve their championship batting frailties, there were one or two sceptical expressions. Lumb was the batsman who went from unsung county professional to Twenty20 adventurer in the twinkle of a Shane Warne eye. It is asking a lot for him to make the return journey, but on this evidence he wants to make it.Two championship matches into his Nottinghamshire career, Lumb has made what could prove to be a telling statement. He ended the second day on 104 not out, only his 13th first-class century. At 31, it is not too late for him to reinvent himself as an old sweat of the county circuit.He does not look like an old sweat, not quite yet, but beneath his relaxed manner there is a determination not to be remembered as a two-dimensional cricketer. “The move to Notts was never just about the one-day format,” he said. “I know I still have a lot to offer in the four-day game and hopefully that begins to prove it.”He began tentatively, understandable as 21 wickets had fallen for 306 runs when he came to the crease a second time, and his first dozen or so runs rattled off the edge to the sightscreen. But he settled after that, first with Alex Hales and then with James Taylor, playing with great discernment. By the time Scott Borthwick, a young legspinner with freezing hands, pulled down three long hops which he cut through cover to reach 99, he had earned a few gifts. A pushed single into the legside against Ben Stokes brought up his first hundred since he made one against the Durham attack for Hampshire at Basingstoke two years ago.Lumb first played IPL alongside Warne at Rajasthan and later moved to Deccan before lack of opportunities persuaded him not to return this year and concentrate instead on rebuilding his county career. He was also part of England’s victorious World Twenty20 side, opening the batting with Craig Kieswetter, but he broke his foot when fielding at silly point to Kieswetter at Taunton two seasons ago and the injury has had its complications. During Notts’ pre-season tour of Barbados, he was still putting his foot in an ice bucket after batting; there was no need for that in the north-east, where the temperature was icy enough as it was.”I have had a bit of trauma with the feet,” he said. “I broke the foot, ruptured ankle ligaments, and had a compete reconstruction of my right ankle in the winter. I’ve done a lot of physio work and the ankle feels really good now and spending that time in the middle begins to prove it.”Hales had made the first half-century of the match as Nottinghamshire have made a better fist of things second time around. Like his Notts team-mate James Taylor, he was omitted from England’s development squad after a largely unproductive winter with the Lions in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but in testing conditions he strove to modify his attacking style, willing himself to play with deliberation, against Graham Onions in particular.Durham batted poorly before lunch, adding only 74 in losing their last seven wickets. Ben Phillips, 37 now, and beginning his 17th season of first-class cricket, made early inroads, including Stokes who played on for 33 as he shaped to leave.With two innings completed before lunch on the second day, there had been some disorientated batting in challenging conditions. Google has invented prototype goggles which can be booted up like a computer and all manner of information programmed in to allow the wearer to see the world in a whole new way. It will doubtless cause a lot of people to crash into each other in Kensington High Street, but if these early-season collapses continue there will be a few county batsmen wondering whether they are worth a go.

England home in on whitewash

Match Facts

February 21, Dubai
Start time 1500 (1100 GMT)Alastair Cook has led England superbly with the bat and in the field•Getty Images

The Big Picture

This time it’s Pakistan who have only pride to play for. England are in search of a whitewash that will give some solace following the reversal in the Test series and, given how they have dominated in the one-dayers so far, they are strong favourites to complete the cleansweep.A 4-0 margin will move England up to fourth in the ICC rankings, nothing to write home amount in itself but a sign that progress is already being made in the 50-over format. The conditions they have faced in this series haven’t quite replicated the subcontinent at its toughest – that will come against India early next year – but neither is the next World Cup going to be held on dustbowls.England’s quick bowlers have been outstanding throughout the tour and now they are being led by Steven Finn. The fact Tim Bresnan hasn’t been able to walk back into the team – match readiness or not – shows how strong England’s options have become.Pakistan appear at a turning point with their one-day side. With an eye on the next World Cup they need to give the likes of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq a chance to bed in even if it means short-term pain. They also need a better plan B when their spinners don’t dominate. Umar Gul’s form has been a major problem and they may need to look again at some new pace options.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Pakistan LLLWW
England WWWLL

Watch out for…

There are signs, albeit small ones at the moment, that Eoin Morgan is emerging from the form slump that engulfed his performances in the Test series. A couple of unbeaten innings have enabled him to feel bat on ball and he was promoted to No. 3 in the previous game. Long term he is still a perfect finisher for England, and if Morgan can produce a significant score it will be another tick.Pakistan need more from Mohammad Hafeez. Since he made 88 in the opening Test against England he has had a number of starts without building a substantial innings. In the third ODI he had taken the attack to Stuart Broad only to fall two overs later for 29. He’s wasting form that Pakistan can ill-afford not to make the most if. His offspin has also lost some of its effectiveness as England’s batsmen take a more positive approach.

Team news

It’s anyone’s guess what Pakistan will do, especially as a number of players are suffering from flu. A dead ODI would appear the perfect chance to play Hammad Azam, the allrounder, while it also offers the chance to look at Junaid Khan, perhaps at the expense of the struggling Gul.Pakistan (possible) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Aizaz CheemaEngland’s only questions are rest and rotation. Jos Buttler and Tim Bresnan were both expected to figure in this series but injuries meant being sat on the sidelines. It’s now hard to find space in the team, although Bresnan for James Anderson remains a logical switch.England (possible) 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn

Pitch and conditions

The surface for Saturday’s game produced more pace and bounce than has been seen throughout the tour which certainly didn’t suit Pakistan’s game. Neither did batting first help them much. The same pitch is due to be used again which means there may be a little more assistance for the spinners.

Stats and trivia

  • The most wickets by an England bowler in a one-day series is 15 in six matches by Paul Jarvis against India, in 1992-93, and Steven Finn currently has 11 scalps in three games.
  • Alastair Cook is currently fourth in the list of most runs scored in a one-day series for England
  • England have completed 10 previous whitewashes in a series of at least three matches while Pakistan have been whitewashed six times.

Quotes

“We did not bowl properly, we did not bat properly and we did not field properly. We haven’t played to our potential.”
Mohsin Khan, Pakistan’s coach, is aware his side have some improving to do“Even though I spent some time in India before Christmas, it doesn’t replicate what you’re up against. But I’ve played a lot of subcontinent cricket and I should be used to it. I wasn’t, and my skill levels weren’t up to scratch.”
England batsman Eoin Morgan admits he has been well below his best

Game
Register
Service
Bonus