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23-Aug-2016 11:30:00 GMT
England v Pakistan, 1st ODI, Rose Bowl

Paksitan Looks to Improve ODI Ranking

Southampton: England host Pakistan in the first game of the five-match One Day International series at Rose Bowl, Southampton on Wednesday.

England and Pakistan put on a show in the Test series, now the focus now shifts to the One Day Internationals, which the hosts come into as the fifth ranked team with 106 points in their kitty.

England have undergone major overhaul since their disastrous outing the ICC 2015 World Cup, with their focus being on playing aggressive cricket, which has paid dividends.

In fact, such has been their transformation in the one day arena that they have scored their runs faster than any other team and hit more sixes and in Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root and the skipper himself Eoin Morgan, they have players who are very destructive with the bat.

Pakistan, who recently have risen to the No.1 ranking in the Test format, sadly have struggled in the shorter formats of the game over the past two years, finding themselves in ninth spot in the ICC rankings with 87 points.

Azhar Ali' men though come into this clash on back of a confident performance against Ireland whom they thrashed by a record 255 runs, registering their biggest win in their ODI history.

Opener Sharjeel Khan and all-rounder Imad Wasim were the two players who impressed but there are still question marks over the players in the side.

Skipper Azhar Ali has disappointed since taking over the side, failing to provide the starts that the side needs at the top of the order while the over-dependence on old hands like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez is unnerving which shows that the talent is just not coming through in the Pakistan ranks.

Team from

England: Eoin Morgan (Capt.), Moeen Ali, Johnny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wk), Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Pakistan: Azhar Ali (Capt.), Sharjeel Khan, Sami Aslam, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Nawaz.

Match facts
Wednesday August 24 (Day/Night)
Start time 1300 GMT (14:00 local, 6pm PKT)


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