A buoyant England team aim to take the lead in the four-match series at the relatively rickety old stadium in Sharjah. The series currently stands at 1-1.
Why buoyant? Because the tourists won their last game convincingly and James Taylor suggests the team is up for the challenge. “This is the most I’ve enjoyed my cricket for a long time now. It’s great to be playing with these guys; they’re super-talented and it’s good to be among them,” he said on the eve of the match, adding that this was a confident group who were eager to learn – not a bad combination.
Why rickety? Unlike those in Abu Dhabi and Dubai this stadium was built in the early 80s, holding its first ODI, between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, on 6 April 1984 – and not much has changed since then. On the practice ground at the back goats are still allowed to graze and some of the wooden benches in the cheaper stands in the main arena have been around for a while. Those benches have witnessed an awful lot of cricket since Sharjah has hosted more ODIs than any other venue in the world, even though there was a hiatus between 2003 and 2010, partly because of the stain of match-fixing scandals.
So England will be playing on an old ground and on an old pitch. The surface used for the Test match, which finished on 5 November, has been resurrected and the old footmarks are faintly visible. They know how to accommodate multiple matches at the venue but the assumption is the ball will turn. It usually does here.
This may not suit Pakistan as much as one might expect, however. Yasir Shah, their leg-spinner and so potent in the Test series, is unlikely to play because of a knee injury. In any case Shah was surprisingly ineffective in the last match, partly because the England batsmen were able to put a lot of practice into action.
Zafar Gohar, a 20-year-old left-arm spinner, may be required to make his international debut. One feature of the series so far is that the pace bowlers have proved more effective than the spinners – for both sides. It would a brave captain who embarked on any match with only one spinner in this part of the world, however, and from England’s perspective Adil Rashid produced the most economical spell of his ODI career in the last game in Abu Dhabi.
Rashid’s success in that match owed much to the England batsmen, who had put pressure on the Pakistan side by amassing the total they did, 283 for five. Taylor, who barely had a chance to contribute last Friday, explained how the top order went about their business. “It’s no secret that we’ve focused on those first 20 balls. We know it’s crucial over here to get in whether you’re playing spin or speed. The lads did that exceptionally well in the second ODI.”
Taylor was asked about the problem of facing the 7ft tall Mohammad Irfan. From Taylor’s stance there may be times when Irfan’s hand is above the sightscreen. As with most obstacles he meets Taylor was inclined to make light of this. “I don’t look at what’s going on behind. I try to look at the ball as much as possible, so I haven’t had a problem – but I’ll use anything as an excuse down the line if I need it.”
There has been some debate whether the disparity in height between Taylor and Irfan is some kind of record – it is reckoned to be 20 inches. The difference between Joel Garner and Gundappa Viswanath in the World Cup of 1979 competes but may not win this particular contest.
More importantly, perhaps, England trained vigorously on Monday night under the lights. As always they practised their fielding assiduously and among those helping out was Tom Moores, the 19-year-old son of Peter, the coach whom Trevor Bayliss succeeded. Moores Jr is a wicketkeeper on Nottinghamshire’s books and is here along with Ryan Davies, recently signed by Somerset from Kent, to do some work with the England wicketkeeping coach, Bruce French. Tom, however devoted a son, is unlikely to report back that “it looked a bit of a shambles, Dad”, as it did not, but Actually it reflects well on Moores Sr and the current set-up that young Tom should be welcomed so readily into the fold.
