England look to baseball ahead of ODIs

Hampshire’s new signing Reece Topley looks likely to pip Chris Jordan for the last place in a vibrant looking England side who just might, in the absence of Finn, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood, be a seamer short.

There is no question it worked as Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali failed to contain a batting line-up which has grown up to be expert against spin.

Well-informed sources told PTI today that Younis might announce his retirement from one-day internationals during or after the four-match series.

Both Pakistan and England tuned up for the ODI series with comfortable warm-up wins against Nepal and Hong Kong respectively.

Meanwhile Pakistan, who resume their one-day rivalry against sixth-placed England on Wednesday with a four match series are lying at the eight spot.

It will also help them in their cause to get a direct entry for the World Cup in England.

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali admits that his batsmen will try to dominate England’s spinners in the upcoming one-day series.

This is a little exposure to a guy who has played a bit of cricket but also studied baseball hitting, and it’s nice to bring in a different take on hitting the ball, with the emphasis on T20 cricket and a few of the power game associated with 50-over cricket.

Besides hosts England, seven other top-ranked sides as of September 30, 2017, will qualify directly for the ten-team World Cup in 2019.

Younis has not played since the World Cup but should win his 265th ODI cap, alongside Mohammad Hafeez (169 ODI appearances) and Shoaib Malik (227) in Pakistan’s middle order.

His tenure began with a first ever bilateral series loss against Bangladesh but Pakistan have since pulled out of their tailspin by beating Zimbabwe at home – amid emotions as heightened as the security – and away, as well as winning in Sri Lanka for the first time since 2006.

“Pakistan are narrow favourites because they are in conditions they know well and have Yasir Shah in their ranks but England have proved adept at learning quickly and have a young side with plenty of talent”.

Pakistan’s last series win against England was on home ground in December 2005 when it won 3-2. Azhar Ali will take over from Misbah-ul-Haq as the skipper of the ODI squad and will want his side to get off to the best possible start in the series.

The remaining matches will be held in Abu Dhabi (November 13), Sharjah (November 17) and Dubai (November 20).

Pakistan kept their unbeaten Test record in the UAE, in what is effectively their backyard, intact with a 2-0 victory over the Englishmen. It will earn only one point if the series ends in a two-all draw.

However, Morgan said Pakistan pose tough challenges.