IPL Twenty20 Cricket 2010 Live Coverage

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Desperate England face unpredictable Pakistan today

Ground reality and Pitch:
Home to the Surrey County Cricket Club, Kennington Oval was the first ground in Britan and the second in the world after the MCG to host a test match. The Oval holds the record for the largest playing test area in England. The pitch here has traditionally assisted the seamers during the initial phase. However, diligent batting has seen teams post good totals on this ground.

Temperatures: Min - 08 C Max - 17 C Conditions: Partly cloudy

Team Updates:
England: A stunning loss to the minnows Netherlands puts England in a must win situation against Pakistan. Though the England openers Bopara and Luke Wright put on a hundred partnership against the Dutch, The English middle order failed miserably as England ended up with a score of 162/5. Even their bowling and fielding was below average during the match with Stuart Broad being the main culprit. They would have to pull their socks and put up a determined show in order to stay in the tournament.

Pakistan: Having lost two matches in the warm-up games against South Africa and arch-rivals India, Pakistan would be coming into the match trying to put up a better show. They would have to fire in all departments against an English side who would be looking to come back hard after their loss to the minnows. The 17 year old Ahmed Shehzad and the wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal look to be in good form. However the middle order as well as the Pakistan bowling have scope for improvement.

Numbers game:
2: England's losses to minnows in the Twenty20 World Cup. While they lost to the Dutch in the 2009 edition, Zimbabwe had beaten the team during 2007.
1: The number of T20 wins for Pakistan against England. England and Pakistan have faced each other only once in the 20 over format of cricket.

Sound Bytes:
We're still in the tournament, we have 24 hours to get our heads around it and we have to play a hell of a lot better on Sunday. Pakistan are obviously a very good side. They got to the final of the last Twenty20 World Cup, they're very skillful and we're going to have to be at our very, very best to beat that side: England captain Paul Collingwood

Teams:
England (From): Ravinder Bopara, Luke Wright, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood(c), Eoin Morgan, James Foster(w), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Robert Key, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Graham Napier, Adil Rashid
Pakistan (From): Salman Butt, Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal(w), Younis Khan(c), Shoaib Malik, Misbah Ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Fawad Alam, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Shahzaib H

 

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