By Sajid Sadiq, Chief Editor, PakPassion.net
The summer of cricket for Pakistan in England has begun in earnest with the arrival of the tourists to play a one-match T20I and five-match ODI series against the hosts. Whilst the initial ODI series against England will be of great interest to the followers of cricket on both sides, the ultimate aim for both teams will be to finalise their squads for the upcoming World Cup.
The ODI games between both sides have been termed as warm-ups for the marquee ICC tournament but make no mistake, there will be no let-up in the intensity of the games when the first ODI starts on the 8th of May at The Oval.
On paper, England, currently at the number one position in ICC’s ODI team rankings, appear to be light years ahead of their rivals in terms of firepower and form. The current England ODI squad is a well-oiled unit with very well-defined roles, with a bowling line-up that can blow away most oppositions on any given day, and a batting order that boasts big-hitters all the way down to number 11. To top all that, England will be playing at home and their mastery of local conditions has been a well-documented aspect of their recent successes on home-turf.
Pakistan on the other hand are coming off a disappointing 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Australia in the UAE. The nature of those defeats would have been confidence-sapping to say the least but more importantly have pointed out serious flaws in the make-up of the team combination.
