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Scottish cricket received a significant boost this week with the confirmation that a sponsor has been found to back a new national Twenty20 competition across Scotland this summer.The format has proved one of the most popular innovations in the sport during the past three years and Scotland will now have its own tournament, with Glasgow-based sponsors, Murgitroyd and Company, agreeing on a two-year deal. It is believed to be worth five figures.The existing 16-team Twenty20 events in the east and west of the country will be re-launched as the Murgitroyd Masterton Trophy and the Muritroyd Rowan Cup. In addition, two new regional competitions will be based in the Borders and the Caledonian district, and the four area winners will proceed to a high-profile national finals day at Shawholm, the home of Poloc CC, on August 3.In its initial format, this seems an ideal opportunity for cricket to raise its profile throughout Scotland in the months ahead. And although the prize money on offer – £600 for the regional winners, with a further £1000 up for grabs for the overall champions – may not be huge at this stage, this development is the most positive thing to have happened in Scotland’s game since the national side were invited to lock horns with the English counties in the NCL in 2003.”This is a fantastic sponsorship, which will spark the imagination and enthusiasm of the participation clubs,” said Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, Roddy Smith, who has worked behind the scenes with Keith Young, the CEO of Murgitroyd, to get the tournament up and running as quickly as possible. “Practically all the sponsorship fund will be returned to the benefit of the participating clubs and district organisers, and it is tremendous news. The new event will enhance and extend the enjoyment and competitiveness which has been a feature of Twenty20 wherever it has been played and this is sure to generate good crowds.”Cricket Scotland has faced criticism for a number of policy decisions over the last couple of years, but on this issue, at least, they deserve praise. As Paul Hoffmann, a former international player whose belligerent batting is likely to make him a very dangerous opponent in the abbreviated game, remarked: “We’ve watched the way that Twenty20 has taken off in England and what a success they have made of their showpiece finals day, and it will be brilliant to have something similar up here in Scotland, because I’m sure that the cricketing public will be really enthused by this.” So, one suspects, will Scottish-based TV producers, if the weather stays fair.

Duncan Fletcher was in a defiant mood on the morning after England’s disastrous defeat in the second Test at Adelaide, insisting that England’s batsmen were to blame for the collapse of their Ashes prospects, and not the defensive team selection that had allowed Australia to dictate terms in the closing stages of the game.”We lost that match in that hour, hour-and-a-half, yesterday morning,” Fletcher told reporters at the team hotel in Adelaide, prior to their departure for Perth. “We put ourselves under a little pressure. The first two wickets were unnecessary, and when KP [Kevin Pietersen] got out, a large part of our batting had gone. If we had batted well there and continued in a real positive vein, who knows what could have happened.”Positivity has not been a watchword of England’s team make-up in this series, however, and Fletcher’s position as coach is under greater scrutiny than ever before. Several former captains have pointed the finger at the team’s selection, including his old ally Nasser Hussain. “He will come under the immense pressure in the next week or so,” Hussain told The Evening Standard. “His selections have let him down and let England down in [Ashley] Giles and [Geraint] Jones.”Part of Fletcher’s success as a coach in his seven-year tenure has been his ability to absorb the flak on the occasions when things have gone wrong, but on this occasion, he chose to share the buck with his beleaguered captain, Andrew Flintoff, who – to judge from his dodgy ankle, dreadful dismissal and thousand-yard post-match stare – has got more than enough issues to worry about.”I’m not the sole selector on tour,” Fletcher reiterated on at least four occasions. “I’m not the one who says: ‘right, this is what we’ll go in with’. Out here it’s like it’s been for the last four or five years, which have been pretty successful. The captain and coach finalise the side for each Test match, and do I stand by the selections? Of course we stand by those selections. I’ve got to stand by those selections as part of the selection committee.”Andrew and I have the final say,” he confirmed, adding that the mysterious selection committee didn’t include David Graveney or any of the home selectors, but instead consisted of a panel of senior players – Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood and Jones – who are consulted prior to each Test. Given that Jones, who does not currently have a central contract, is one of the most contentious choices on this tour already, it is a further sign that Shane Warne was spot on in his pre-series assessment, when he claimed that Fletcher has his “favourites”.And those favourites certainly do not include Monty Panesar, whose continued omission from the Test team has created waves of indignation from England’s disgruntled fans. “I’m sure there’s a lot of anger,” Fletcher said, “but I could have taken the easy option with the other players on the selection committee. We’ve got to sit down and say what do we think is the best side, with all the knowledge we’ve got around, within that group of people. What is the best side to win the Test match?”

Fletcher also defended James Anderson’s retention in the side, despite his current series figures of 2 for 303. “Andrew Flintoff was talking about how he wanted to go back to the seamers on a skiddy wicket,” Fletcher said. “When we played South Australia, Jimmy was the best bowler there. He was more impressive than the spinner and that’s why we picked him for Brisbane ahead of [Sajid] Mahmood. When you bowled on the main square, not the rough, it didn’t turn. Skiddy bowlers was the way to go. We had to pick him for Brisbane, because he was the most economical at that stage, and he’s bowled well here already.”The folly of entering such a marquee series with just one fully match-fit bowler in Matthew Hoggard was exposed by England’s inability to polish off Australia’s tail on the fourth day, but Fletcher turned that situation around to highlight once again the importance of a No. 8 who can score Test runs. “At 376 for 6 Australia were pretty vulnerable, but Warne’s hundred [partnership] put the pressure back on us,” he said.There will inevitably be calls for his resignation if England cannot turn their fortunes around at Perth, starting next Thursday, but Fletcher insisted he still had the backing of his team. “I’ve never had long-term views,” he said. “I’ll sit and have a look at it and see if I feel comfortable with myself, that’s the most important thing. If you don’t feel comfortable with yourself, you’ve got a problem. If you feel comfortable you can contribute, that’s the most important thing.And despite the massive odds that are stacked against England, Fletcher still believed his team could emulate Don Bradman’s men in 1936-37 and become only the second side in Ashes history to come back from 2-0 down. “Anytime we play against Australia it’s a huge challenge,” he said. “It was a huge challenge last year, and it’s a huge challenge this winter. But we play sport for that. We might as well not pitch up if we didn’t believe we could come back.”

Scorecard

It’s still early in the season but you can already here those annual cries of “why hasn’t Mark Ramprakash played more for England?” The blunt answer is because he couldn’t adjust to the pressure and intensity of the higher level, but when it comes to cashing in against mediocre bowling attacks – and for Gloucestershire that’s being kind – he is a class apart on the county scene.There was a sense of inevitability from the moment Ramprakash walked out on the first evening that he wouldn’t be heading back the pavilion without plenty of runs to his name. His latest double hundred, the 11th of his career, was a seamless progression through the milestones as he tucked in against each of the Gloucestershire bowlers and he stands just four shy of a new career-best.Regardless of the quality of the attack some of Ramprakash’s strokeplay just had to be admired. His timing and placement were out of the top draw and one effortless flick through midwicket and two scorching cover drives, with a hint of the Caribbean, were especially memorable. His first hundred took 146 deliveries and then he decided to take his time, as James Benning took over the axe wielding, and reached his double off 324 balls. But even the celebration on reaching his 200 – a casual wave to the dressing room and spectators – was of a man who’d seen it all before.With the double out of the way there was then an exhibition of a side of Ramprakash we never encountered at the top level as he unleashed a series of thunderous blows, especially off Martyn Ball and Carl Greenidge, rattling through the 200s before playing it safe in the final twenty minutes, leaving him to contemplate a maiden triple century.His innings ground Gloucestershire into the dirt and their body language, which hadn’t exactly been sprightly in the morning, sagged dramatically on the warmest day of the early summer. If facing another batting masterclass from Ramprakash wasn’t bad enough, what compounded the misery was a brutal maiden Championship ton from James Benning, who is only playing as cover for Rikki Clarke.Benning started at a decent rate, but it was his second fifty, which took 28 balls, that really sent fielders scurrying to all corners – well, it would have done if they’d been able to reach the ball. He took a particular liking to Steve Kirby who went for 20 in an over. For some reason he thought it would be a good idea to try and bounce out Benning, but by the time the fourth consecutive pull had rattled the boundary boards he probably realised the plan hadn’t worked.Ball was the only Gloucestershire bowler to emerge from the wreckage with any credit as he toiled away with his offspin. He snuck in for the first breakthrough of the day when Scott Newman was trapped on his crease. Newman played some handsome strokes, but repeated a common mistake of his by failing to build on a half-century. His start to the season has been impressive, but big scores talk.Mark Butcher never quite found his fluency – but it hardly mattered – as he added 113 with Ramprakash before top-edging a sweep to short fine-leg. Alistair Brown really missed out, backing away to guide Ball down to third man and now, with the success of Benning and Clarke to return, his place will be coming under question.Ball picked up his fourth when Azhar Mahmood chipped a return catch, after adding a mere 110 with Ramprakash, with the score reading 600 and he claimed one of the more inglorious five-fors when Ian Salisbury fell. Surrey smashed 476 runs in the day; that just about summed it up for Gloucestershire.

Duncan Fletcher has hit back at his critics after England completed their 2-0 victory in the CB finals. His earlier calls to have faith in a ‘young side’ often resulted in derision from many quarters, but he can now reflect on a team that has beaten Australia in its own tournament.”People didn’t believe me when I said the growth in this side can go anywhere and it’s really pleasing to see the young players come through like that,” he told .”To withstand the pressure and beat Australia three times in a row is quite an achievement and there’s no better place to produce that than in Australia in a one-day series.”Whereas a matter of weeks ago England’s planning for the World Cup almost revolved around picking random names out of a hat, Fletcher now says there is a clear plan heading into the tournament.”We’ve got a side that have won here and done very, very well and yet we are still missing people of the calibre of [Michael] Vaughan and [Kevin] Pietersen who are two very important players for us, so it’s still going to be very difficult for us [to narrow down the squad].””But we’re a lot clearer than we were at the start of this series. We really believe in the side now, four in a row is a great achievement and we’ve just got to continue with that momentum.”Fletcher, himself, received a special mention as Andrew Flintoff relished his first success as captain. “The one person I really want to thank is Duncan Fletcher,” said Flintoff, “throughout the trip he has kept taking the knocks for us but he has kept backing us.””He has been our coach for a long time and he has taken this team forward. You can see the improvement of this team since he has been with us.”Last week Fletcher said Flintoff was more relaxed without the pressures of captaincy, but any job is easier when you are winning and Flintoff soaked up the moment. “To take some silverware home is a great thrill. The past four games has been as good as I have seen an England side play. It’s been unbelievable.”From where we were at in Adelaide to come back in the manner we have done is credit to the team. We knew we could get better and knew we had to.”Sounding a lot like Michael Vaughan, Flintoff said he knew what the team was capable of. “Two weeks of cricket is a long time, we knew we had it in us, it took a while to come out but I am pleased it has done. We can also take a lot of heart from beating Australia three times on the bounce. It shows what this team can do and we will take a good spirit to the World Cup.”

Eighteen percent of first-class cricketers in England would risk incurring a year-long county ban by the ECB to play in the next Indian Cricket League (ICL), and 35% would consider retiring from international cricket prematurely, according to a survey conducted by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).The report canvassed the anonymous opinions of 334 players, including all the current England squad, providing “a comprehensive picture of the current cricketing landscape with particular reference to the Indian cricket leagues, the opportunity they offer and their potential threat to the domestic game.”Most significantly for England, the report said that 35% of England players “would consider retiring from international cricket prematurely to play IPL, primarily to avoid the grind of cricket and spend more time with their family”. The same percentage also believe that a day will arrive where they see tournaments such as the IPL and ICL ranking ahead of obligations to their country.Currently, the ECB restricts any player who represents the ICL and are likely to ban them from playing in county cricket for a year, but the vast sums of money are keeping the ICL and the IPL the hot topic of county dressing rooms up and down the country. 89% thought that freedom of movement should prevail, however.”Almost 100% of players see Indian cricket leagues as an attractive option and are hoping that a window in the Future Tours Programme (FTP), and scheduling that doesn’t conflict with the domestic season, can be created for them,” the report said. “36 players (11 per cent) have been approached to play in either the ICL or current IPL tournaments, with 27 players targeted specifically by the ICL.”Players believe the Twenty20 format and the newly formed Indian leagues create a level of threat to the fabric of the game as we currently know it. The restrictions put in place by the ECB prevent a player from participating in county cricket for 12 months if they play in the next ‘unauthorised’ ICL tournament in October, but 18% (60) said that they would sign up for ICL knowing there was a ban in place. A further 27% (90) were currently unsure at this time.”Michael Vaughan, who has said that the IPL is huge attraction for players and an exciting development for the game, believes Test cricket remains the top level but is a route to the high-earning leagues: “The findings are revealing in many ways. We have always said playing for our country was the priority. Test cricket is the pinnacle and we see that international cricket is at present the pathway to achieve selection to any other authorised tournaments,” he said.”We’ll continue to work the ECB to see if opportunities within the FTP can be created in the coming years. In the meantime, we have much important domestic and international cricket this summer beginning, with the Kiwi’s in a couple of weeks. Let’s concentrate on that for now.”Following today’s news that Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has been ousted from his post, the survey also revealed cricketers’ dissatification with the governing body with 64% of England players having no confidence in the ICC and 57% believing decisions are made along party lines and not in the interest of cricket.

Greg Chappell, the India coach, has defended his coaching philosophy, calling for supporters of Indian cricket to be more patient as far as results are concerned.His comments come in the wake of Sourav Ganguly’s statements about fans expecting results too quickly, urging them to give Rahul Dravid more time to grow into the job. Speaking to the media in Durban ahead of the second ODI against South Africa, Chappell outlined the importance of having a proper structure, but cautioned that success cannot be achieved overnight, citing instances with England and Australia.”Countries everywhere, corporates, use a system,” said Chappell. “There are highs and lows in everything, you have to be patient about things and cannot afford to be too emotional, or it will lead you nowhere. In Australia, for instance, we started a process in the mid-eighties, and it took nearly nine years for things to come together. The England line-up that won them the Ashes last year was also the result of a process that took five years.”Chappell had also reacted to criticism from former players that his plans India hadn’t worked, given India’s current slump as a one-day side since the tour of West Indies. One of the main talking points has been the constant shuffling in the batting order and the persistence with certain youngsters who haven’t performed consistently enough. Chappell backed the strategy of persisting with youngsters, highlighting the importance of identifying players at the junior level.”If speaking the truth in India is a problem, then Indian cricket has a problem. Ideally, the junior cricket programme should go hand in hand with the plan for the seniors. If it doesn’t, then it is fraught with danger. A feeding process is necessary, because if there isn’t one, it would create a vacuum when senior cricketers leave in a bunch.”Following India’s defeat in a warm-up match against Rest of South Africa in Benoni, Chappell was not very perturbed about the performances of the fast bowlers, especially Munaf Patel and Sreesanth, who were guilty of leaking too many runs towards the end of the innings.”They were inexperienced at that and it showed but they can only gain experience by going out there and getting it. I also promise you Munaf will be good. We could not have won in the West Indies if we had gone with the same combination we went with in Pakistan.”

Spin me once, shame on you. Spin me twice, shame on me. South Africa went through the Test series calmly picking apart the myth that they wilt in the face of spin. On turning wickets, they rarely looked in any kind of trouble. But suddenly, twice in succession, an inability to prosper against spin has cost them matches.Spin over five days and spin over 50 overs are different prospects entirely. Against Danish Kaneria and Abdur Rehman in the Tests, the objective was to not get out to them, one they achieved so well they eventually scored runs comfortably against them. Against Shahid Afridi and Rehman in the ODIs, where swift runs are a must, South Africa have stuttered.The pair have seven wickets between them and have gone for under 4.5 an over; in these numbers have the games essentially been lost by South Africa. Pakistan’s plan has been simple: prepare a slow pitch and choke the middle overs.”We have seen the conditions after the first game,” said Graeme Smith. “They believe they can beat us on these wickets and their spinners have bowled well. Afridi and Rehman in the middle overs made it difficult for us and that is something we have to look at now and plan against that.”Spin at both ends began from the 30th over onwards, when South Africa were a not unreasonable 111 for 3. But in the subsequent, vital 16 overs, until pace offered relief at one end, they squeezed out only 71 runs and lost four key wickets doing so. Each time, it seemed, they started, they immediately stopped and no real partnerships were forged.The pitch fooled many. Yesterday the general consensus was that it had runs, and plenty of them, in it. Smith had little hesitation in batting when he won his fourth toss out of five on this tour. But after a confident start, when ball zipped off pitch and bat, matters slowed down.”Ten overs into the innings we realised the wicket was getting slow and stopping,” Smith admitted. “I think both teams struggled to bat on this wicket. Pakistan bowled well up front. Their spinners were very good because they got the ball to turn away. We got ourselves back in game but we lost too many wickets at crucial times. Mohammad Yousuf held their innings together and we needed that.”Indeed he might praise Yousuf’s innings for South Africa made every one of those 197 runs count. Smith’s assertion that another 20-30 runs to the total would’ve been very defendable has substance in light of the way they bowled, particularly Albie Morkel. Had one or two throws hit the stumps and one catch been held, even the target they set might have been defended.

“We bowled very well. I just think we needed one or two bigger partnerships in the middle. If we can set 220-250 it will be very difficult to chase on these wickets. We had run-out opportunities and we dropped Misbah-ul-Haq first ball. There are too many ‘ifs’ at the moment that we are not controlling. We are making little mistakes that are costing us. We need to be little more precise with our chances,” said Smith.All well and good and true, but you also wonder whether sending their star of the Test series, Paul Harris, back before the ODIs was such a clever move after all. He took 12 wickets in the two Tests and as much as his bounce and turn, it was his consistency in hitting the right areas and restricting runs that impressed.Johan Botha has done well in spurts, but Harris would’ve offered a different threat. Was Smith just a little rueful when answering the question? “I think Botha has done a good job. It might have been nice to have two spinners but the selectors have given us a team, we have backed it and we have to give the guys their opportunities.”

Needing a win to secure a spot in the Nagico Super50 semi-final round, Barbados knocked off previously undefeated Trinidad & Tobago by three wickets on Sunday at Queen’s Park Oval. Barbados sent the hosts in and held them to 226 thanks in large part to captain Jason Holder’s 4 for 35.Only three batsmen reached double digits for T&T, but each made an important contribution. Foremost among them was Darren Bravo who top scored with 82 after coming back into the lineup for the first time in the tournament since returning from the Test tour of Australia. He received quality support from Kjorn Ottley, who made 38, but more significantly Denesh Ramdin, whose 57 was part of an 89-run fifth-wicket stand with Bravo.Though no one reached 50 for Barbados in reply, every member of the top seven contributed a double-figure score. Kraigg Brathwaite was the best of the lot with 48 off 87 balls as he teamed with Shai Hope for a methodical 62-run second-wicket stand to get the chase going in the right direction.Holder and Shane Dowrich added another 54 for the sixth wicket before Rayad Emrit intervened with wickets off back-to-back balls to nab Holder for 26 and Carlos Brathwaite for a golden duck to set up a hat-trick ball with Barbados still 28 short of victory. Dowrich managed to see off the threat though and carried Barbados across the line with an unbeaten 29 off 50. Emrit took 3 for 45 in defeat, though T&T still finished atop Group A. As a result, they will face Windward Islands, who finished second in Group B in one semi-final next week while Barbados will play Guyana in the other knockout contest.Jamaica survived an upset scare from ICC Americas, scratching out a one-wicket win earlier in the day, a result which meant Barbados had to beat T&T in order to avoid a net run rate tiebreaker coming into play to decide the last semi-final spot. ICC Americas won the toss and elected to bat first, posting their best score of the event and third-highest for any team at this year’s tournament in making 253 for 8.Ruvindu Gunasekera blasted 87 at the top order to underpin the innings. Gunasekera added 99 for the third wicket with Nitish Kumar, who made 43. Though Gunasekera fell in the 42nd over just 13 short of a ton, the strong platform he laid allowed the middle order to play aggressively in adding 95 over the final 10 overs. Srimantha Wijeratne led the surge with 45 off 28 balls while Hamza Tariq cracked a rapid 35 off 14. Sheldon Cottrell had a mixed day, getting hit hard by Gunasekera before claiming three wickets at the death, including Wijeratne and Tariq, to end with 3 for 57 in seven overs.Jamaica started the chase in aggressive fashion in pursuit of a bonus point which would have put added pressure on Barbados, but their eagerness backfired in the face of a disciplined ICC Americas attack. Hammad Shahid struck in the first over to remove Jermaine Harrison before Ali Khan trapped Trevon Griffith at 23 for 4. Captain John Campbell made 82 off 74 balls, including fifty-plus stands for the third and fourth wickets with Andre McCarthy and Jermaine Blackwood, but when he fell at 148 for 4 in the 25th over, the chase for the bonus point came undone.Kumar’s part-time offspin caused major problems for Jamaica in claiming not just Campbell but also Jermaine Blackwood and Devon Thomas to put Jamaica in strife at 218 for 7 in the 35th. Four balls later, Kumar was responsible for a frantic run-out of Brandon King – chasing a legbye after an unsuccessful leg before shout by Khan – by charging in with an underhanded strike from midwicket. Khan yorked Damion Jacobs for a duck in the same over to complete a stretch of three wickets in seven balls for no runs to make it 218 for 9 with Jamaica still 36 runs adrift of the target.Though the pursuit for the 40-over bonus point had to be ditched, the last man to the crease Marquino Mindley came to Jamaica’s rescue with an unbeaten 24 off 37 as the ICC Americas unit spent the next 10 overs unable to dislodge Mindley or his partner Aldane Thomas. With scores level, a boundary to start the 46th ended the match, sending the ICC Americas squad home empty-handed.Windward Islands held on by five runs to defeat Leeward Islands in St Kitts, in a match reduced to 49 overs following early morning rain. Sunil Ambris continued his fine tournament with 74 off 84 balls in the Windwards total of 243 for 6. Ambris followed a 75-run stand with Tyrone Theophile for the fourth wicket by adding another 82 with Andre Fletcher and eventually fell to Daron Cruickshank at the start of the 45th. Cruickshank also claimed Fletcher to finish with 2 for 47, while Quinton Boatswain took 2 for 31, for Leewards.In reply, Orlando Peters made 77 at the top of the Leewards chase, but no one came close to following his lead. Nkrumah Bonner made 35 and added 65 for the fourth wicket with Peters but by the 42nd over, both men had left with Leewards needing 56 off the final 7.1 overs with five wickets in hand.It was not an unwieldy equation and by the start of the final over, 13 were still needed to win. After a single and a four off the first two balls, Jeremiah Louis was run out attempting a second run, leaving seven needed off the last three. A dot and a leg by followed to put the No. 11 Boatswain on strike for his only delivery with six needed to win but another dot followed to end the match. Delorn Johnson took 3 for 36 for Windwards.Guyana completed the highest successful chase of the tournament in tracking down a Combined Campuses and Colleges total of 254 for 7 to win by five wickets at Warner Park. Rovman Powell and Anthony Alleyne both made fifties for CCC to set Guyana a stiff target but it ultimately was not enough.Assad Fudadin struck the tournament’s third century and carried his bat in making 103 not out off 136 balls for Guyana. The opener added 90 for the second wicket with Leon Johnson, whose 56 was the other major score in the chase. After Royston Crandon retired hurt on 29 off 27 balls, Steven Jacobs came in to hit 15 not out as he and Fudadin helped Guyana to victory with three balls to spare.

Kent have signed Morne Morkel, the South Africa allrounder, as a replacement for Andrew Hall for their Twenty20 campaign.Hall is on duty with South Africa for their one-dayers against Ireland and India in Dublin later this month.Morkel, 22, made his Test debut last December against India and has also played three one-dayers, most recently for Africa in the Afro-Asia Cup.

Match facts

November 17, 2015
Start time 1500 local (1100 GMT)

Big Picture

As in the first Test, so too in the one-dayers. After an inauspicious start in Abu Dhabi, England’s bouncebackability has ensured that this contest will now go down to the wire. If Eoin Morgan blamed his batsmen for their shortcomings in the six-wicket defeat in Wednesday’s opening fixture, then the voracity of their response was a delight for the skipper to behold. A maiden ODI hundred for Alex Hales that included a century stand with his opening partner, Jason Roy; a serene example of mid-innings run-harvesting from Joe Root, and another probing display from a young seam attack who shared eight wickets between them were plenty reasons to believe in the continuing development of an upwardly mobile squad.A change of venue beckons for Tuesday’s third ODI, however, and if the lessons of the Test series are anything to go by, then the surface in Sharjah is likely to favour the slower bowlers on both teams, which in turn should play comprehensively into the hands of Pakistan. That said, England’s neutering of the legspinner, Yasir Shah, was a major factor in Friday’s 95-run win – his nine overs were milked for 70 runs – and there is some concern about his fitness for this match. However, with Shoaib Malik still displaying the confidence with the ball that led to seven series-sealing wickets in the third Test earlier this month, the onus will surely be on England’s spin twins, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, to at the very least match the control and penetration of their Pakistani counterparts.Nevertheless, England do appear to be the more settled of the two teams at present. The reverberations of Younis Khan’s surprise retirement are still being felt by Pakistan’s squad. Their coach, Waqar Younis, echoed the sentiments of the PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan in criticising the timing of Younis’s departure, and the plugging of that sizeable hole in the middle order has led to all manner of upheaval elsewhere in their line-up. Neither Bilal Asif nor Babar Azam, who played a vital role from No.6 in the opening victory, has looked comfortable as a makeshift opener, while Azhar Ali, the captain, has seemed devoid of intent at the top of the order. Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan’s in-form Test opener, was bagged for a duck by David Willey from No.3, arguably the decisive moment in England’s victory push on Friday.If there was an area of concern for England in the second match, it centred around the failure of their own middle-order to build on the start provided by Hales and Co. At 165 for 1 in the 30th over, conventional wisdom suggested that a score well in excess of 300 was on the cards. However, thanks in no small part to another supreme spell from Wahab Riaz, England were forced to settle for 283. It proved, on this occasion, to be more than enough, but with Jos Buttler in particular still struggling for the form that he had been displaying at the start of the English summer, England’s line-up is still some way short of full efficiency.

Form guide

Pakistan: LWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England: WLLWW

Players to watch …

His twin failures in the Sharjah Test match undermined his status as the world’s No.1 batsman, but Joe Root’s ability to translate his talents across formats is currently unrivalled among England cricketers. If Hales’ hundred rightly took the plaudits on Friday, then Root’s fuss-free strike rotation was every bit as vital to England’s finished article – no fewer than 46 of his 77 deliveries were nurdled away for singles, a skill that his compatriots have so often lacked against spin bowling on slow, low Asian pitches.His stated aim, in the aftermath of his Test retirement, is to play in the 2019 World Cup, and Shoaib Malik is so far making a tidy case to be selected as a front-line spinning option. England’s early-summer wickets may not be quite as conducive to his angular offspin but, right now, it is the second string to Shoaib’s bow that is justifying his presence in Pakistan’s line-up. Nevertheless, he was averaging exactly 100 in ODI cricket since his recall after the World Cup, and his Test-best 245 is not yet a distant memory. In light of Younis’ absence, Shoaib’s experience with the bat takes on an extra significance.Alex Hales celebrates with Joe Root after his maiden ODI hundred•Getty Images

Team news

No qualms about Pakistan’s pace attack – Wahab’s class allied to Mohammad Irfan’s cloud-scraping angle of attack, plus Anwar Ali’s consistency with the new ball – means that their seam options are plentiful. There is, however, a concern over Yasir’s fitness. He sustained a knee injury during practice on the eve of the match and may be forced to sit this one out. Bilal would be the obvious stand-in. At the top of the batting order, Ahmed Shehzad could become Azhar’s third opening partner in as many matches.Pakistan (probable) 1 Azhar Ali (capt), 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Anwar Ali, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Yasir Shah, 11 Mohammad Irfan.No reason for significant tinkering to England’s balance or line-up. The top five looks as solid as anything that the selectors have conjured up since the pre-World Cup panic that unseated Alastair Cook, while Buttler’s struggle for form is no reflection on his obvious class. Not for the first time this tour, the role of Moeen is raising some eyebrows – he is arguably under-utilised in the lower middle-order – while the temptation to play an extra paceman in Liam Plunkett must be strong. But if Rashid’s legspin is to develop as a one-day threat, with next year’s tour of India an obvious staging post, then these are the fixtures in which he needs to play.England (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 James Taylor, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Reece Topley.

Pitch and conditions

England fielded three spinners at Sharjah during the Test series and there’s a strong likelihood that this surface will be conducive to slow bowling as well. It is the same surface that was used for the third Test in Sharjah a fortnioght ago and still has significant scarring.

Stats and trivia

• Sharjah is set to host its 219th ODI, already a world record for any ground in the format. However, this will be England’s first one-day fixture at the venue since April 1999.
• Root requires three more runs to pass 2,000 runs in all formats for the calendar year.
• After going wicketless in the second match, Malik still needs one more wicket to reach 150 in ODIs.

Quotes

“”England bounced back and bounced back well. We probably were not thinking that they are going to play that well and now we have to play out of our skins to make it 2-1.”
“I have to maintain a positive mindset. If I don’t, things go wrong and it’s not the way I play.”