Print

Mail

wiki links

England, Pakistan to challenge each others' greenness

England and Pakistan will each harness youth and inexperience through three one-day internationals starting today in the long haul toward success in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

Ignominious exits from the World Cup in South Africa in March have forced both teams to dump experience in favor of new talent and build the core of a squad that will play together for the next four years.

The first match of the three-game challenge series at Old Trafford under lights will be followed by another at The Oval on Friday and the third at Lord's on Sunday.

For England this short series will be followed by the 10-match one-day triangular series featuring South Africa and Zimbabwe starting at Trent Bridge on June 26.

England and Pakistan have set different agendas.

Pakistan coach Javed Miandad insisted results didn't matter in the short term, while England skipper Michael Vaughan wants his young side to start winning soon. Since arriving in England, Pakistan batsmen have shown indifferent form on seaming wickets.

"I am not worried about winning or losing in these three games," insisted Miandad. "I want to see the performances improve day by day. And if they are performing well we obviously have a chance of winning matches."

Pakistan without veterans Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul-Haq, and a couple of others, have performed admirably so far to keep Miandad happy.

"These boys are doing well, we have played two tournaments, won one and played in the final of the other, and this is a very good opportunity for this new-look side."

Veteran wicketkeeper Rashid Latif as captain is a short term solution for a long term problem but Yousuf Youhana, now the senior batsman, is earmarked to take the side to the World Cup.

England joined Australia and Sri Lanka to keep abreast of the punishing one-day schedule by naming Vaughan as one-day captain. He took over from Nasser Hussain, who quit after the World Cup. Vaughan, the world's most successful batsman last year, urged his untested side with seven newcomers to kickstart England's future with wins.

"I know we're all looking ahead to 2007 and we're trying to peak then, but the guys have been selected because they're good enough to win games for England now," Vaughan said.

"We're inexperienced, and experience in one-day cricket especially is a key ingredient, but I do expect us to win games of cricket.

"We want to win now but at the same time the public also have to be realistic. Since 1992 England have not really shone in the World Cup. So it's important that when we get to 2007 that we have an experienced squad who have played a number of games together."

England will be buoyed by the return of the experienced fast bowler Darren Gough after almost a year out of the game with a recurring knee injury.
This story has been viewed 1654 times.