In-form England Look to Another Series Win

London: After being lost Test 3-1 and clean-swept 2-0 in the T20s, Pakistan now face the prospect of going down the same line in the ODIs.

Pakistan came close to winning the second ODI, but some calm thinking from the England lower order pushed them to a tense victory in a high scoring match. Pakistan's main problem has been all-round consistency.

The batting has finally started to show some spark in the series. Kamran Akmal has been aggressive with at the top and he has gotten off the team to great starts.

Asad Shafiq was an unheralded performer when he flew in to join the one-day squad in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal.

Abdul Razzaq is fit and available for selection and may well play given how vocally miffed Afridi was with his lanky seamer, Mohammad Irfan. Wahab Riaz, under scrutiny from the Metropolitan Police, is also up for selection. While Umar Gul has struggled for rhythm ever since coming back from injury while the other two spinners, Hafeez and Shahid Afridi, have given away plenty of runs.

England, on the other hand, they have no reason to tinker with the side that has got them this far in the series already. Ravi Bopara has usurped Luke Wright in the batting allrounder's slot, and is likely to be given the rest of the series to impress.

Team from

England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Steve Davies (wk), Jonathan Trott, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Michael Yardy, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Luke Wright, Ryan Sidebottom, Ajmal Shahzad.

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Irfan, Shahzaib Hasan, Azhar Ali, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz.

Pitch and conditions
Pakistan enjoyed the pace and bounce in the wicket for last month's third Test, which they won by four wickets, but back then they had Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to exploit the conditions. The weather has been chilly but clear for the warm-up day, although with the floodlights ready to kick in for the evening session, that will be an added factor to consider at the toss.

Stats and trivia

• With scores of 53 and 74 in his last two innings, Kamran Akmal has twice improved on his highest score of the tour, having failed to make a half-century in his 14 innings in England
• Jonathan Trott needs five more runs to complete 1000 in all internationals in a remarkable 2010 home summer. His crucial 53 at Headingley was his eighth fifty in 14 innings this season, three of which have been converted to centuries, including a career-best 226 against Bangladesh at Lord's.

Match facts
Friday September 17, 2010 (day/night)
Start time 13:00 local (12:00 GMT)