Live on Skysports 1: Wed 14.00: The 5th and final ODI in Southampton is surprisingly the decider, the series finely poised at 2-2 after Pakistan took the 4th match on Monday following another middle order collapse for the English.
Amidst scandal, claim and counter-claim, Pakistan produced a gutsy display and their best display of bowling since the Test Series, putting a frail looking England middle and tail to the sword; England losing the last 5 wickets for 17 runs, eclipsing the 30 run haul for the last 5 in the 3rd ODI.
The momentum has to be with Pakistan here, Betdaq’s 13/8 outsiders, as they look to claim a highly unlikely series win. At 2-0 down, they were near completely written off as contenders but now have a real fighting chance. England still weigh in as 4/7 favs with Boylesports but it is hard to see why considering how weak they have looked beyond the opening few in the last 2 matches. Admittedly Morgan has been an exception, scoring a decent 89 over the last 2 games but aside from his, Strauss and perhaps Davies, nobody has delivered with the bat. Morgan needs a big haul and is 6/1 at Blue Square to top score for England.
By contrast, Pakistan have 4 or 5 batsmen who can confidently hit a quick 30 and while the batting was never really a massive issue, they have racked up a pretty sizeable 268 runs per ODI on average, the bowling has really stepped up. Ajmal has been a constant and with the form of Gul over the last 2 games, Pakistan have 2 reliable bowlers. Gul is 11/4 at William Hill to do the damage again for Pakistan and be top wicket taker for the tourists.
Expect another furious batting display as Pakistan will see this as not just an opportunity to get a shock win but to somehow clear their names and restore some pride to a pretty hellish tour. England’s heads are elsewhere with claims of match fixing; Pakistan to win this one at 13/8 is a good bet. For the cautious, Sportingbet provide a handicap on Pakistan of either +2.5 wickets or +17.5 runs at 5/6.
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