Pakistan vs England 2nd Test | Preview | 2012

England were given a wake up call in their first Test of 2012 as they suffered a defeat to Pakistan in the 1st Test. Pakistan demonstrated they are still on the rise with a youthful team that has a lot of talent. England are not the number one team in the World for nothing and they will be hoping to fight back and take this 2nd Test to level the series.

Match Information :

January 25-29, Abu Dhabi
Starting Time: 1000 Local Time

How the Teams Stand:

The 1st Test was very short lasting only 3 days but England would of felt that it had been going on for longer as they suffered a humiliating 10 wicket defeat to Pakistan which was their first match as the number 1 test team in the world. England have a balanced side with a strong bowling attack and strong batting order but the batting let England down which lead them falling behind early in the match and not being able to fight back. Pakistan’s spinners remain to be a dangerous threat to any team Pakistan play and if they can continue landing the ball in the right spot England’s batsman will have to be at their best.

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Saeed Ajmal is stamping his authority on the World, he has a large amount of success in recent tours and will continue to be a threat if he continues bowling the way he is. The 7 for 55 he collected in the 1st innings demonstrates how lethal he is against the top teams like England who has one of the better batting line-ups in the world at the moment. Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook have a lot of experience between the two but they have struggled to get that big partnership even when they were doing well so a objective for them to attempt is to get to at least 100 without wicket as that will put the pressure on Pakistan to try and do more with the ball.

Pitch Report:

Abu Dhabi is a strange surface to play on because the batter’s have a good chance to score lots of runs but also the bowlers have opportunities to pick up a few wickets. It all depends on the shot selection of the batsman and how they will approach the opposition bowlers.

Team News:

England should be unchanged despite a thumping in the 1st Test.

England: (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (C), 2 Alistair Cook, 3 Ian Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (WK), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Chris Tremlett

Pakistan have no reason to tamper with their XI after a great win against England.

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Pakistan: (probable) 1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (C), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (WK), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Aizaz Cheema.