By Sonic
June 25 2003

Sonic reviews the recently concluded one day series. Poor fielding was the main reason for the efeat at Lords, but Pakistan's batting struggled throughout. After a poor world cup both sides had a clearout and introduced some young talent as well as new captains. The three match series was excellent, and full of excitement, which England won 2-1. The highlight of the series has to be Marcus Trescothicks fifty at the Oval, and the way in which he savaged the Pakistani attack. James Anderson also deserves a round of applause for his hat-trick at the Oval, and now many sides will take note of him.

Pakistan could have won the series had they taken the numerous chances they had at Lords. A few lbw decisions went against them, but they would not have mattered had they taken the catches and run-out opportunities. England deserved to win the series as they were the better side.

The English perspective

I was impressed by Michael Vaughans captaincy as he was not afraid to attack, and looked at ease in the field. The youngsters fielded brilliantly, making it very difficult for Pakistan to score easy runs. The bowlers responded will, and I have to single out James Anderson who bowled according to the field settings. Andrew Flintoff maintained an excellent line whilst bowling, and was unlucky not to have picked up more wickets then he did. The experience of Darren Gough was vital, and he bowled very well considering he had not played for England for almost a year. The rest of the bowling attack chipped in as well, but Rikki Clarke has plenty of work to do before he can be trusted with 10 Overs at the top level.

The English top order was the difference between the 2 sides. Marcus Trescothick was in cracking form, and his destructive innings at the Oval and century at Lords was very special. Vikram Solanki appears to have learned from his previous experience and chipped in with vital innings. However it is not all-good news, as the English middle order still looks weak and vulnerable to collapse as we saw at Old Trafford and at Lords. Jim Troughton will be under immense pressure to perform in the forthcoming series, otherwise he may find his international career curtailed (in the short-term anyway). Chris Read has kicked on as well; it looks as if the spell at the Academy has done wonders, as he looked solid behind the stumps (that's bad news for James Foster fans).

England faces a good work out against South Africa and Zimbabwe in the triangular series. Michael Vaughan will hope to get amongst the runs and will expect the middle order to start firing.

The Pakistani perspective

Pakistan had a poor series; the experienced players let the team down. The youngsters performed reasonably well but threw away good starts. Mohammed Sami looked impressive, but lacked discipline this is something he will have to work on. The spinners Mohammed Hafeez and Shoaib Malik looked impressive, with the latter showing that he has come along way since he was last here 2 years ago. Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood were disappointing as they looked fairly ordinary and lacked variety. There was a lot of hype surrounding Shoaib Akhtar who bowled below par, and has yet to live up to his potential. However for me Umar Gul was very good, and has great potential ahead of him, he appears to pause just before releasing the ball (something to work on), but if he works hard he could be a very good bowler for Pakistan.

The batting looked weak, Javed Miandad has turned Pakistan into a mediocre side. We struggled to get 50 on the board off our first 15 Overs, failing to take advantage of the fielding restrictions. The low scoring rate ensured Pakistan had to hobble to victory at Old Trafford, putting unnecessary pressure on the middle order. The biggest complaint of the current Pakistani side is the inability to pick up the singles, the batsmen just seemed content on blocking everything as though they were playing Test cricket. The running between the wickets was very poor with Yousuf Youhana the main offender, it looks as if batting with Inzamam-ul-Haq has taken its toll on him. Younis Khan scored a couple of ducks and hit a fifty to keep his place in the side, it's about time he was shown the door as an average of 32 is very poor for a number 5 batsman. There was a lot of hype around Imran Nazirs returns, and he showed us exactly why he did not deserve a place in the side. His shot selection was poor, and he still looks weak outside the off stump, the dismissals at Old Trafford and Lords were due to some very poor shots. A left handed player would be a better option at the top of the order, someone like Imran Farhat or Salman Butt.

The whole Pakistani side looked tense, and the body language was poor. Rashid Latif had very little to say and left it to Javed Miandad to captain the side from the Pavilions balcony, the hand signals were annoying and he should give it a rest. I would have also liked to see the bowlers having a greater say in the field settings, and more enthusiasm amongst the players. After all we need thinking cricketers, not players who just do as they are told.

Pakistan has a couple of months off before they face Bangladesh at home. After a vacation most of the players should spend the time in the nets and work on their batting and bowling techniques. The series provides an excellent opportunity to give some fresh talent a chance, and try out some new game plans. The side will have to work on bowling the right line to a left handed player as they struggled against Marcus Trescothick.