Dominant England seek another show of strength

Match Facts

Saturday, August 27, Lord’s Start time 10.30pm (0930GMT)

The Big Picture

The rain that swept in for the closing stages of Wednesday’s first ODI provided an anticlimactic finale for a packed ensemble at the Ageas Bowl, but not even the weather could disguise another formidable show of all-round strength from an England one-day team that is starting to look like something really rather special.

Unbeaten in ODIs this summer, ever since Liam Plunkett’s six at Trent Bridge swiped a tie in their opening game against Sri Lanka in June, England have showcased the sort of depth and balance that would be the envy of a Russian synchronised swimming team.

At no stage in Pakistan’s somewhat old-school grind to 260 for 6 did they ever look like setting a total that would trouble an extraordinarily confident England line-up, and if Jason Roy’s dizzy spell was an alarming moment in an otherwise serene chase, then his brief disorientation was nothing compared to the spin that his power-packed innings had already inflicted on his opponents.

England, therefore, are surely ripe for a fall. Nothing guarantees an English comeuppance more readily than the suggestion that they have finally cracked one format or another (the prosecution calls for its first witness: the fourth Test at The Oval). And if any team is capable of penetrating England’s wall of allrounders in their batting ranks, it is Pakistan with players such as Wahab Riaz or the surely-to-be-recalled Yasir Shah, whose individual bursts of brilliance can transcend mere circumstance.

But even on the bowling front, the evidence from the opening ODI is that England have the edge. Mark Wood’s stunning speed on his return to action provided a point of difference that Wahab, for one, couldn’t emulate this time out, while Joe Root’s cheeky allsorts offspin – and the early wicket of Mohammad Hafeez – epitomised the confidence coursing through England’s one-day ranks. And there’s variety in their depth as well. In Adil Rashid, they possess one of the most reliable legspinners in modern one-day cricket – his new-found control, allied to an always deceptive googly, makes him extraordinarily hard to dominate.

However, domination is what Pakistan may require to get back on level terms in this series. Their batting in the first match was undermined by a very untimely rain delay after 42 overs that swiped the momentum from a promising stand between Sarfraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik, and arguably cost them 20-30 runs in the final reckoning. But even a total in the region of 300 might not have been sufficient to deter England’s advances.

That said, there’s no knowing …

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