Twenty20 Cricket International - England vs Pakistan

[kevshat]

Monday sees the 2nd international Twenty20 match of the summer take place. This time instead of the Rose Bowl, the County Ground at Bristol will be the venue. The squads for the match are: England (from) Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Michael Yardy, Rikki Clarke, Jamie Dalrymple, Chris Read (wk), Stuart Broad, Sajid Mahmood, Darren Gough, Steve Harmison, Jon Lewis Pakistan (from) Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Shahid Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneira, Rao Iftikhar. England have clearly strengthened their bowling and that will play a big part in this match and the upcoming 1 day series. I've got 2 bets. 10pts England to beat Pakistan Evs Stan James English cricket has thrived on the success of the Twenty20 at domestic level and many of their players in the squad are used to playing this format of the game. That's something that can not be said about the Pakistan squad who will have rarely played it. England lost to Sri Lanka earlier on in the summer in a close match. The difference on that day was the bowling attack which was clearly an area England needed to strengthen. Taking the new ball that night was Steve Harmison and Tim Bresnan. Bresnan hasn't even made the squad this time as England try a completely different new ball pairing. This match will be the old and young partnership of Darren Gough and Stuart Broad, both quality performers in the Twenty20 cup this season. The other difference between that match and this is Geraint Jones came into to bat at 6 that night whereas his successor Read, I expect to bat at number 8 here. England's squad looks well balanced and has lots of Twenty20 experience which could end up counting for a lot. Pakistan's tour has hit the buffers big time. After not really turning up for 3 tests they were then embroiled in one of cricket's biggest controversies in the final test. They claim they want to just play cricket now but I can't be having that. I think mentally they will want to get on the 1st plane home. Shahid Afridi is the key man for the tourists in this match. He's as big a hitting batsman as you'll find in World cricket today and if he bats any length of time England will be in trouble. The rest of their lineup may not be quite so suited to Twenty20. Their many spinners will help them with the ball but Shoaib Akthar went for plenty the last time he played international cricket in England and with him having not bowled above club cricket for months England could capitalise on any rustiness he may show. The same can be said about Rana Naved. England will be cheered on by a huge Bristol crowd and will be well up for winning this comfortably as they begin to address the awful time they had against Sri Lanka. With Pakistan's motivation being questionable I'm happy to take them on and back the hosts here. 5pts ew M.Trescothick Top England Bat 4/1 Boylesports (1/4 1,2,3) Marcus Trescothick seems to love Twenty20. In his 2 matches in the format for England so far he's been 2nd top score and top score having scored 41 and 72 in his 2 matches so far. He's been going through a bad trot but the energetic, all action style of Twenty20 may bring him out of that and should that happen he'll be tough to beat. Tres will have a significant advantage in that he'll be batting against the seamers at the start of the innings. As the innings goes on the spinners will take over and at Bristol they'll be harder to hit. England rely on good starts from Trescothick and I'm confident he'll provide it here.

[maj69er]

Re: Twenty20 Cricket International - England vs Pakistan :hope BOL KEV!!!