The first of three T20 internationals between England and Pakistan takes place at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Friday and we take a look at the squads, recent form and the all important betting.
Despite having to entirely re-jig their squad England have just completed a 3-0 clean sweep of Pakistan in the ODI's and we now move on to the shortest format.
This is a 3 match series and we begin with a look at the squads.
England are able to welcome back some of the players who had to miss the ODI series whilst self isolating including skipper Eoin Morgan whilst Ben Stokes is among those rested.
England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Tom Banton, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey
Pakistan will select from the following squad.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Sharjeel Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Mohammad Haffez, Usman Qadir, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasin Jr, Azam Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Arshad Iqbal,
Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Hasan Ali
Recent Form
England
England had way too much for a visiting Sri Lanka side last month, winning all 3 matches by margins of 8 wickets, 5 wickets and 89 runs.
England were in India in March for a 5 match series, they won 2 of the first 3 but India hit back to win the series 3-2. Towards the end of 2020 England completed a 3-0 series clean sweep of the Proteas in South Africa.
Pakistan
Pakistan were in Zimbabwe in April and they won a 3 match series 2-1. Prior to that they toured South Africa and they won 3-1. Pakistan also hosted the Proteas in February and they won that series 2-1.
Recent Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 18 times with England winning 11, Pakistan have won 5 and there have been 1 tie and 1 no results
The most recent series between these teams came in England in August / September 2020, all 3 matches were staged in Manchester and the series was shared 1-1 with 1 no result.
The Venue, Trent Bridge Nottingham
England have played just 2 T20's at Trent Bridge, losing to South Africa by 7 wickets in 2009 and beating West Indies by the same margin in 2012.
You can check the weather forecast here
The Betting
England are currently trading at around 0.53/1 to win the game and Pakistan can be backed at 15/10
Jos Buttler is 26/10 favourite to top score for England and Babar Azam is 19/10 to do likewise for Pakistan.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
Pakistan were a huge disappointment in the ODI's but their batsmen did find runs in the final match and although England are worthy favourites this should be a good series.
Babar Azam scored 158 in the final ODI and although his odds to be top Pakistan bat are cramped they do appeal when it comes to being the top scorer of either side.
David Willey bowled economically in the 2 games he played against Sri Lanka recently and could pop up as top England bowler.
Bets: Top scorer in the match Babar Azam at 9/2
Top England bowler David Willey at 33/10
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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