Alastair Cook's 50-over battleplan against Pakistan is based on more aggression and Kevin Pietersen at the top of the order
England's Alastair Cook prepares for the opening ODI against Pakistan with a nets session at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
The Sheikh Zayed Stadium, venue for the opening one-day international between England and Pakistan on Monday, is a handsome concrete bowl set in a wasteland decorated with half-built structures and semi-tinkered construction sites. Watching England's players run through their practice drills against this background of arid half-baked infrastructure it was hard not to draw an unflattering analogy with the state of their own perennially fraught 50-over ambitions. As ever, England are struggling to embrace a new era in one-day cricket. As ever the abandoned hulks of previous new eras, expired plans and forgotten tactical rejigs, lie scattered all around
In the midst of which the four-match Bank Alfalah presents Mobilink Jazz Cup has taken on an unexpected urgency. England may have ended last year lauded as Test match top trumps and reigning World Twenty20 champions but they have entered the second month of the new one as a team who have won once in their past eight games in all formats. There has been a tendency to conceded, wearily, that they simply cannot play one-day cricket in Asian conditions: and certainly discounting Bangladesh they have not won an ODI in Asia against an Asian team in 13 attempts since October 2007, when they beat Pakistan in Colombo. It is a dreadful record, and one it is hard to see receiving substantive improvement here. England are no more than hopeful outsiders at the start of the one day series.
In part this is handsome tribute to an itinerant Pakistan team, still bruised by scandal and without a full-time coach, who have won 13 of their last 14 ODIs, albeit all but five of those have been against Ireland, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Moreover conditions and playing personnel will favour the de facto hosts: England have a very palpable timidity against accurate, brisk spin bowling on these slow turning pitches, a form of strangulation that looms ever larger against opponents who could choose to field all five of Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Shoaib Malik. Misbah ul-Haq could even open the bowling with the all-spin duo of Hafeez and Rehman.
As such the opening match looks like a doubly onerous challenge for Alastair Cook, whose reign as captain began with series wins against both World Cup finalists but who now finds himself under pressure as a leader and a one day batsman.
"The Tests didn't go to plan," Cook said. "But it's a new format, the squad's introduced six new faces, it's brought a freshness and enthusiasm and hopefully we can start well."
This must be achieved without the help of Jos Buttler, one of the fresher faces, who arrived with an injury to the webbing of his right hand that is yet to recover. The onus is not so much on the new boys to deliver as several of the old lags, notably Cook and Kevin Pietersen, who will form England's latest opening partnership
If practice is anything to go by (Jonathan Trott in particular seemed to be intent on muscling England's assorted net spinners back over the sight screen) England will adopt a more positive approach, led by Pietersen at the top of the innings.
"It's a new challenge for KP," Cook said. "He's excited about it, I'm excited about it and when he's in full flow in the powerplay, it's going to be hard to stop him.
"He's a world-class player and to make the most of those first 10 overs with two new balls you need a world-class player to do that with a world-class technique. I don't want to compare him to Matthew Hayden but you need people at the top who can play like that."
Cook scored at better than a run a ball as a one-day opener last summer and there are indications aggression may be his chosen method here against spin. "Certainly the one-day game dictates you have to be more positive and we're not going to have men around the bat all the time so it changes your mentality as a batter and frees you up a bit."
As ever England's hopes in one-day cricket are wrapped up in fresh approaches, new gameplans and a rearranged mindset. Cook will know better than anyone that what they really need right now is a win.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/feb/12/england-one-day-building-project-pakistan?newsfeed=true
In the midst of which the four-match Bank Alfalah presents Mobilink Jazz Cup has taken on an unexpected urgency. England may have ended last year lauded as Test match top trumps and reigning World Twenty20 champions but they have entered the second month of the new one as a team who have won once in their past eight games in all formats. There has been a tendency to conceded, wearily, that they simply cannot play one-day cricket in Asian conditions: and certainly discounting Bangladesh they have not won an ODI in Asia against an Asian team in 13 attempts since October 2007, when they beat Pakistan in Colombo. It is a dreadful record, and one it is hard to see receiving substantive improvement here. England are no more than hopeful outsiders at the start of the one day series.
In part this is handsome tribute to an itinerant Pakistan team, still bruised by scandal and without a full-time coach, who have won 13 of their last 14 ODIs, albeit all but five of those have been against Ireland, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Moreover conditions and playing personnel will favour the de facto hosts: England have a very palpable timidity against accurate, brisk spin bowling on these slow turning pitches, a form of strangulation that looms ever larger against opponents who could choose to field all five of Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Shoaib Malik. Misbah ul-Haq could even open the bowling with the all-spin duo of Hafeez and Rehman.
As such the opening match looks like a doubly onerous challenge for Alastair Cook, whose reign as captain began with series wins against both World Cup finalists but who now finds himself under pressure as a leader and a one day batsman.
"The Tests didn't go to plan," Cook said. "But it's a new format, the squad's introduced six new faces, it's brought a freshness and enthusiasm and hopefully we can start well."
This must be achieved without the help of Jos Buttler, one of the fresher faces, who arrived with an injury to the webbing of his right hand that is yet to recover. The onus is not so much on the new boys to deliver as several of the old lags, notably Cook and Kevin Pietersen, who will form England's latest opening partnership
If practice is anything to go by (Jonathan Trott in particular seemed to be intent on muscling England's assorted net spinners back over the sight screen) England will adopt a more positive approach, led by Pietersen at the top of the innings.
"It's a new challenge for KP," Cook said. "He's excited about it, I'm excited about it and when he's in full flow in the powerplay, it's going to be hard to stop him.
"He's a world-class player and to make the most of those first 10 overs with two new balls you need a world-class player to do that with a world-class technique. I don't want to compare him to Matthew Hayden but you need people at the top who can play like that."
Cook scored at better than a run a ball as a one-day opener last summer and there are indications aggression may be his chosen method here against spin. "Certainly the one-day game dictates you have to be more positive and we're not going to have men around the bat all the time so it changes your mentality as a batter and frees you up a bit."
As ever England's hopes in one-day cricket are wrapped up in fresh approaches, new gameplans and a rearranged mindset. Cook will know better than anyone that what they really need right now is a win.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/feb/12/england-one-day-building-project-pakistan?newsfeed=true
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