Aug

26

Pakistan face England to level the series today at Lord’s

By Poornima - Thursday, August 26th, 2010   |   733 views   |  

England Vs Pakistan

England Vs Pakistan

England takes on Pakistan today in the 4th npower test at Lord’s. England will try preventing Pakistan from taking the series to 2-2 with its utmost strength. But Pakistan is well known for its unpredictability which showed its true colors after being beaten by the home side in the initial two test matches by a huge margin of 354 runs and 9 wickets at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston.

Mohammad Yousuf made his presence felt in the test last week where the visitors managed a four-wicket win over England dismissing the discouraging statement of Steven Finn: “having Yousuf in the team doesn’t make them a different team at all”.

But Yousuf’s performance should not overshadow the contribution of Azhar Ali. His share of 56 runs in the first innings took the Pakistan’s total over 300 and when he returned to the pavilion at 33 in the second innings doubts about the visitors’ domination in the game started cropping up.

For England, this is a golden chance to prove their critics wrong and keep up to the well-earned reputation of last year where they dominated the Ashes and led the series to a draw in South Africa. There will be lot of eyes judging Kevin Pietersen and the English seam attack.

Star performers: Salman Butt of Pakistan scored 63, 92 and 45 against Australia but could not keep up to the expectations in this series. His five test innings could only get back 1, 8, 7, 0 and 17 respectively. But his 48 runs in the second innings at the Oval raised the hopes of the visiting team and his partnership at No. 3 with Yousuf will be a treat to watch.

Kevin Pietersen is looking strong and ready to strike in the game. While the whole England team is in his full support, his innings are always looked up to for producing great results.

The probable team members of both the sides are:

England (from): 1. Andrew Strauss (capt), 2. Alastair Cook, 3. Jonathan Trott, 4. Kevin Pietersen, 5. Paul Collingwood, 6. Eoin Morgan, 7. Matt Prior (wk), 8. Graeme Swann, 9. Stuart Broad, 10. James Anderson, 11. Steven Finn

Pakistan (from): 1. Yasir Hameed, 2. Imran Farhat, 3. Salman Butt (capt), 4. Azhar Ali, 5. Mohammad Yousuf, 6. Umar Akmal, 7. Kamran Akmal (wk), 8. Mohammad Amir, 9. Wahab Riaz, 10. Saeed Ajmal, 11. Mohammad Asif

Players’ inputs before the match: “All players suffer a bad spell in their career with the bat … I will look at the way [Alastair Cook] has fought back with the bat as an inspiration and hope I can do the same at Lord’s.”
Kamran Akmal will try to make a contribution with the bat as well as behind the stumps following a long lean run this summer

“We’ve bowled Pakistan out for 72 and 80 so far, so there’s a batting collapse waiting to happen.”
Steven Finnis is not wary of the Pakistan attack despite the comeback of Mohammad Yousuf

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