[Lord Snooty]

Pakistan v England

The 2nd ODI Match
Friday November 13th

at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
starting at 15:00 (11:00 GMT)

Team news (from Cricinfo):


Now that Younis Khan's stage-managed farewell is done and dusted, Pakistan will reshuffle their middle order and must also be questioning whether to continue the experiment of Bilal Asif as a pinch-hitting opener. Iftikhar Ahmed is the squad replacement for Younis and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan is also back after briefly returning home for the birth of his child.


Pakistan (probable) 1 Azhar Ali ©, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Babar Azam, 6 Bilal Asif, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (w), 8 Anwar Ali, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Yasir Shah, 11 Mohammad Irfan.


England tend to respond to defeats in the opening game of a series with an unchanged side. They remain committed to Jos Buttler in limited-overs cricket even though Jonny Bairstow might continue to keep him out of the Test side in South Africa. It would seem counterintuitive not to field two spinners, especially when Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid have batting ability on their side, but with a small total to defend they were again easily picked off in the first game. Rashid finished with 0 for 60 from nine overs and looked in need of a psychological lift while Moeen is bowling as if all offspinners are a threatened species.


England (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan ©, 5 James Taylor, 6 Jos Buttler (w), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Reece Topley.