 Pakistan will travel to the ground in which their tour of England took
an ugly turn towards the spot fixing scandal, tainting Pakistani Cricket forever.
Lords is the venue for the fourth ODI between Pakistan and England. England lead
the series 2-1 but Pakistan will be buoyed by their wonderful win in the third
ODI that has brought them right back into the series.
Click for Live Score Card of England Vs Pakistan
It was great win for Pakistan at the Oval. They had been showing signs of improvement
in the first two games and have been closing to a win. They finally closed in
on victory in an exciting win in the third game. Umar Gul, finally returned
among the wickets after his lay off for a brief time during the tour. He had
struggled for rhythm in the previous games but got it right on Friday, where
he put on a great display of swing bowling.
The return of Abdur Razzaq, who replaced the woeful Mohammed Irfan,
too helped the Pakistanis. Razzaq, along with Shoaib Akhtar, gave Pakistan a
wonderful start with the new ball, something which Pakistan have lacked in the
one day series so far. They picked up early wickets and pressurized England.
This nicely set the game up for Gul, who dismissed the dangerous looking Andrew Strauss and then picked up five wickets in the middle and lower order, including
that of Eoin Morgan. It was a classic Pakistani fast bowler's display of swing
and seam bowling.
England would want to see the victory only as an aberration and would want
to get things back on the right track in this game. They have been in tremendous
form this summer and would want to continue in the same vein till the World Cup. Their bowlers, once again were right on the money in dismissing Pakistan
for 241, what was thought to be a below par score. They never allowed any partnerships
to build and kept getting regular wickets.
Andrew Strauss looks to be in great touch. It was his wicket that brought Pakistan
in to the game, a fact that underlines the importance of his wicket to England.
He will once again look to provide a good start at Lord's. Steve Davies has
had a couple of starts in the second and third ODIs but has failed to convert
them the way he did in the first game.
England would start as favorites and will not want to lose early wickets. Pakistan
are right back in the series and will want to win this one to take the series
to the final game at the Rosebowl.
|
