Pakistani bowler Saeed Ajmal (r). Photo credit: Paddynapper
The England cricket team, ranked number one in the world, is preparing to do battle with Pakistan in the first test series between the nations since the notorious spot-fixing betting scandal in the summer of 2010. The three-match clash, which begins on Tuesday, promises to be fiery affair, and sports commentators have rushed in to advise England how to approach the tricky series which is taking place in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Pakistan lost three players to the spot-fixing scandal in former captain Salman Butt and their two main bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. But they have quickly rebounded; they won six of seven tests in 2011. In Saeed Ajmal they have arguably the best bowler in the world and they enter the series on a high, having turned heads in the recent win over Sri Lanka.
How England bat against Ajmal and Gul is the key. In The Daily Telegraph, ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan said that “If we want an England-Pakistan series to be smooth sailing and without talking points, then we are asking for the wrong thing. Pakistan bring passion and controversy to cricket. England are the best in the world. It is a clash we should be looking forward to seeing.” Vaughan encouraged England to maintain their aggressive approach to the game: “Aggression is not all about being lippy. England are aggressive in other ways. In the field it is with their body language and the way they hunt in packs. They crowd the batsman and constantly throw the ball in to the keeper which annoys the opposition and keeps them on the back foot.” Vaughan suggested that England’s superior fielding and running between the wickets “will be worth a 70-run head start over Pakistan.” But he warned that Pakistan are certainly a dangerous outfit: “For the first time in a few years England face an attack capable of taking 20 wickets. Last winter Australia were in transition and in the summer India were poor. You never felt they had 20 wickets in them. Pakistan are different and things will not go England’s way all the time.” Vaughan insisted that how well England’s batsmen play Pakistan bowlers Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul “when it is spinning and reversing, as it will in this series” will decide who wins the series.
Tricky wickets and empty seats. At The Guardian’s The Sport Blog, Vic Marks said England’s success of failure rests on how they cope with the subcontinental pitches – “patience will be required and much canniness” – and the relatively empty stadiums which await them in the United Arab Emirates. “England are used to playing in front of big crowds which, to their great good fortune, is usually the case at home and was the case in Australia last winter (except when they were winning with ridiculous ease). A big audience gives an automatic adrenaline rush. Here England will be appearing in front of many pale blue plastic bucket-seats. Strauss said the novelty of playing at a new venue and the fact that his team have had a good break would ensure that they will be buzzing with excitement. That may well be the case on day one and two of the series, but what about days 13 and 14? England will have to generate their own excitement. As a venue, the United Arab Emirates may spawn one of the most destructive factors on any cricket tour.”
England are battle-hardened warriors. Ex-England international and leading commentator Geoffrey Boycott wondered if England have the got the “ambition, ability and mental toughness? That is what it takes to be the best over a long period. Sport is littered with teams and individuals who stayed at the top only fleetingly, which is a warning to England.” He warned that captain Andrew Strauss’s men “will have their hands full in this series because Pakistan have been playing well lately.” But Boycott reminded that “England are tough nuts. They are talented and have had a lot of success recently. Those England players know how to grind out results and when the going gets tough, they are very capable of digging deep. England did not get to be the No 1 team in the world by being lucky. They got there on character and ability. Most of them are battle-hardened.”
A Pakistan series win would boost the game of test cricket. Laurence Booth at The Daily Mail’s Top Spin blog said that, for the good of the game of test cricket, “Pakistan needs to win this one.” “And before you wonder whether this English columnist has taken leave of whatever of his senses remained, consider this: Test cricket, if it is to convince an increasingly sceptical world of its relevance, needs to remain on the tip of our tongues – Pakistani, English and everyone else’s.” For that to happen, argued Booth, it needs to remain fiercely competitive: “If Test cricket is to allay fears that it could one day be the exclusive plaything of England, South Africa, India and Australia, it needs another name in the top-of-the-table mix. Since Sri Lanka have won one out of 17 since Muttiah Muralitharan retired from Tests, that name can only be Pakistan. Throw in the desperate need for Misbah-ul-Haq’s side to put the spot-fixing horror behind them, and you get the drift.”
