2007 World Cup warm-up matches are just around the corner and Pakistani team is filled with all uncertainties that you can think of. Umer Gul is coming back after a long lay off, our openers are still inconsistent, Akmal and Inzamam are out of form and we lack momentum.
Pakistan will be playing matches against Canada and South Africa, do you think we should play all our starters? Should Danish and Yasir Arafat be given a chance? How seriously should the team take warm up game against South Africa?
Pakistan will be playing matches against Canada and South Africa, do you think we should play all our starters? Should Danish and Yasir Arafat be given a chance? How seriously should the team take warm up game against South Africa?
like all the big names are saying...
momentum is key
all teams must take all games seriously to gain confidence and momentum
and i think thats the best thing for pakistan atm, they need some wins to lift themselves up...and then u never know what can happen with pakistan
I am in agreeance. Whatever changes in the team are needed in however combinations that need to fulfill the criteria of a set playing eleven, it should be done within the first two warm-ups. Individuals have suggested Younis Khan or Inzamam as one of the opening replacements, and Danish Kaneria needs to be featured in those matches. In any case, it needs to be implemented in those two matches. Shuffle the team as much as possible but at least let's be sure of whom are we going to open with, on March 13th. Uncertainty cloud has hovered over for far too long. It is time to stop playing that game. Pick the best two and stick with them.
I think it's good that we have a warm-up game against one of the better teams in world cricket. That will give us some indication as to where we stand as a team in the absence of three premier players. England is also playing Australia in one of the warm-ups. Each team is playing two warm-up games (one of them is against one of the other top 7 nations) before the real business begins on 13 March with the first game between Pak and WI.
Even though the warm-up matches are not important, but for Pakistan it will be interesting to see what they try for openers. Are they going to persist with Akmal or use Nazir and Hafeez? Moreover, whether Danish will get a chance to bowl and how will Umer Gul perform after such a long lay off due to injury.
**Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are probably sick, weary and tired of hearing about that day in Pune in 1996 when Kenya pulled off one of cricket’s great upsets beating the West Indies by 73 runs at the ICC Cricket World Cup.http://tinyurl.com/3eyxca
England have named their thirteen for the match, with Andrew Strauss and Ravi Bopara missing out. The England team is therefore:
Michael Vaughan (captain)
James Anderson
Ian Bell
Paul Collingwood
Jamie Dalrymple
Andrew Flintoff
Ed Joyce
Jon Lewis
Sajid Mahmood
Paul Nixon
Monty Panesar
Kevin Pietersen
Liam Plunkett.
