Saturday's ICC Cricket World Cup clash between England and Pakistan in Kolkata will see the last of the semi final spots confirmed and Pakistan are in need of a minor miracle.

 

 

England

With just 2 wins alongside 6 defeats England's defence of the title was over some time ago and they have spent the whole tournament at or near the bottom of the log. It still looks likely they will qualify for the next Champions Trophy with a top 8 finish after Ben Stokes stepped up to the plate with a ton to help England post 339/9 against the Netherlands in a game they eventually won by 160 runs.

 

England's only other win came against Bangladesh in their second outing and they have suffered some huge hidings along the way.

Squads and Team News

This was how England lined up last time out

 

Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid

 

Did not play: Liam Livingstone, Mark Wood, Sam Curran, Brydon Carse

 

 

Pakistan

Pakistan have won 4 and lost 4 of their matches and they are 2 points behind fourth placed New Zealand on the log. Unfortunately their net run rate is significantly inferior to that of the Black Caps and as one example of what is required to snatch 4th place if Pakistan were to score a hypothetical 400 runs they would need to limit England to 112.

 

Hopes of a semi final place had been raised in Pakistan's 21 run D/L win over New Zealand in their most recent outing. Despite conceding 401 runs in the NZ innings Fakar Zaman smashed 126 not out and Pakistan were 200/1 in 25.3 overs when they rain forced an early end to the game.

 

Earlier Pakistan were involved in a thrilling match with South Africa which they lost by 1 wicket and their failure to prevent the Proteas getting over the line in that match looks highly likely to see them head home after this.

 

Squads and Team News

This was how Pakistan lined up last time out.

Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf

 

Did not play: Usama Mir, Shadab Khan, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz

 

Head to Head

Overall the teams have met 91 times with England winning 56 to Pakistan's 32 with 3 no results

 

The teams last met in a 3 match series in England in July 2021 and England won all 3 matches

 

In CWC 2019 and Pakistan beat England by 14 runs

 

 

The Betting

 

At the time of writing the bookmakers had this one priced up as a “choice” game.

 

Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

The Verdict

 

A few of these England players will be having their ODI swan song here and whilst I wouldn't be surprised to see an England win, I couldn't part with money with any confidence.

 

There are plenty of specials and price boosts on offer and I'm interested in Sportingbet's offer for Stokes and Buttler to hit a combined total of 5+ maximums. I'll also go with Shaheen Afridi to take 3+ wickets

 

Bets: Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler to hit 5+ sixes combined, was 3/1 now 9/2 with Sportingbet

Shaheen Afridi to take 3+ wickets was 9/4 now 7/2 with Sportingbet

 

Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

Discussion Forum

 

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