Let’s keep our focus on cricketing matters – England vs. Pakistan

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Recent Pakistan cricket tours of England have been controversial to say the least: accusations of ball tampering in the famous Wasim-Waqar series of 1992, the Hair-Inzamam fiasco of 2006 and the unforgettable spot-fixing scandal of 2010 have somewhat overshadowed the high quality cricket that was played in those series.

With the much anticipated Test series between England and Pakistan a couple of days away, I really hope that the focus of the media and general public stays solely on cricketing matters.

I wrote 6 months ago that Mohammed Amir could ironically make a Test comeback at the same ground he was caught spot fixing 6 years ago. As fate has it, his comeback is not only attracting a lot of media attention, but is also unnecessarily diverting attention from what should be an exciting contest.

The spotlight on Mohammed Amir….

There seem to be 2 polar opinions on Amir. The anti-Amir camp seems to have not forgotten his actions from 6 years ago. The pro-Amir camp on the other hand is already touting him as Pakistan’s only hope. In my opinion, both camps are quite wrong in their extreme views.

The comments made by Alastair Cook in a pre-series press conference were extremely disappointing. It must be remembered that Amir has done all that was asked of him and has now fully served his ban. It was a poor choice of words from Cook, who really should have been more welcoming about Amir’s transformation.

“My feelings are clear, if you get caught matchfixing, you should be banned for life.”
Alastair Cook

Conversely, I feel people at the other end of the spectrum are taking things to the other extreme and forgetting that Pakistan will need a lot more than a fully firing Amir to be able to compete against England. Let’s not forget that Pakistan have recently beaten England twice in the UAE without having Amir in their bowling line-up.

Getting ready for an enthralling summer of cricket

Setting aside the issue of Amir, we should be in for an enthralling summer of cricket.

England, fresh from their one-sided victory against a weak Sri Lankan team start as clear favourites. Pakistan’s recent record outside the UAE has been patchy and their brittle batting line-up will be put to the test against some quality English seam bowlers. To compound matters further, the wet and bowler friendly ‘overcast summer’ is expected to continue, which will make life more difficult for the Pakistani batsmen. Their techniques and temperament will be tested to the limit.

That said, the team has made an encouraging start in the warm-up matches and the team management also appears to be in order for a change. Whilst a series win for Pakistan looks unlikely, they must treat this tour as an opportunity to strengthen their poor away record ahead of touring Australia this winter.

After closely monitoring England’s performance against Sri Lanka over the past few months, I highlight some areas that Pakistan must focus on to put-up a competitive show:

1. Combating the new ball

Pakistan have historically had a poor record and game-plan to counter the swinging and moving ball. Thus, the top 3 batsmen will have to be fully prepared to combat new ball spells from James Anderson and Stuart Broad – both of whom have been in exceptional form this summer. Pakistan’s main batting strength lies in Misbah, Younis and Sarfaraz, and inability to negate the new ball will further expose these batsmen.

2. Targeting England’s untested middle order

With the exclusions of James Taylor, Ben Stokes and Ian Bell – England’s unstable middle order is more susceptible than ever and could also be exposed to early wickets. This will no doubt place more pressure on England’s big guns – both Joe Root and Alastair Cook.

Root in particular had a relatively quiet series against Sri Lanka, and will be under pressure if he gets a couple of low scores to start the series. It will also be interesting to see how Cook fares against Amir – Cook historically struggled against him in the 2010 series, and has not been as successful against left handers who have pitched the ball up (Mitchell Johnson in particular).

3. Slip catching

Given that seam bowling is Pakistan’s main strength, it will be critical for the slip-fielders to hold their chances. I can still very clearly recall the number of chances the team dropped on the 2006 and 2010 tours. With Kamran Akmal leading the way, it was almost embarrassing to see most English batsmen being given 2-3 lives.

If Pakistan can address the above issues, they should give England a good run for their money. Another weapon that Pakistan have in their artilliary is Yasir Shah – and if Pakistan are able to push England to Day 4-5 of most matches, Yasir could even lead Pakistan to an unlikely victory.

However, my prediction for the series is 2-1 England.