>
>
What a remarkable turnaround it has been for England. Just a few weeks ago, fans were in despair following their crushing defeat in the test series against Pakistan, yet now they head into the fourth game of the ODI series with the win already wrapped up.
The very nature of their win in the third game reminded the world of what a strong cricketing force they are, but the scars left by the test series will take a long time to heal.
With very little riding on the final game, England will have to be careful not to take their foot off the gas. Wins build confidence, and the more they can get of that right now, the better.
One of the main reasons for England’s upturn in fortunes is the success of fast-bowler Steven Finn. He admits that the decision to drop his from the test side has spurred him on to prove his critics wrong at one-day level.
“It’s nice to see some progress and to have come a long way since I was left out during the Ashes,” he said.
“There is a lot of hard work that needs to come to get that [Test] spot. Hopefully I have shown what I can do.”
Having seemingly adapted to the conditions in the Middle East, England will be hoping to wrap up a series white-wash, but know that their opponents will be desperate to get one win on the slate.
Match Odds
England unsurprisingly head into the final game of the series as strong favourites. William Hill are offering odds of 1.91 (10/11) for them to come out of this one on top.
Pakistan, meanwhile, are the outsiders, with Totesport making them available at 2.10 (11/10) to emerge victorious.
Top England Batsman
Alastair Cook is the favourite to come out of this one as the highest scoring England batsman, at odds of 4.00 (3/1) with Bet365. Kevin Pietersen is available at the same odds, while Jonathan Trott is priced at 5.50 (9/2).
BoyleSports have Ravi Bopara at 6.00 (5/1) to be England’s top batsman, while Eoin Morgan comes in at 7.00 (6/1).
Top Pakistan Batsman
Younis Khan is priced at 4.50 (7/2) to be Pakistan’s top batsman, with Mohammed Hafeez being priced the same with Bet365.
Imran Farhat is 6.00 (5/1) with Totesport, while Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq both find themselves available at 6.50 (11/2).
Recommended Bet
With a number of highly impressive performances recently, it would be no surprise if fast-bowler, Steven Finn was to come out of this game as the most economical bowler.
Because of this, the recommended bet, at odds of 5.50 (9/2), is for him to manage just that. A bet of £10 can bring in a total return of £55.
March 13th, 2012 at 5:48 pm
I agree with most of the comments here and some of the good niopts raised in the article.I had the displeasure of watching last years’ World Cup on the TV.The whole event was a shambles, vuvuzelas drowning out any songs or crowd noise, a football that nobody could control and a set of garbage teams apart from Spain and Uruguay.On top of that England were shocking. That is one useless set-up from top to bottom, FA, coaches, players, etc. They really do not deserve any support at all.But English fans are the best in the world, and turn up in droves to back their country everywhere. CJ I think you need to wake up.It’s nothing to do with money or club. It is all about passion and guts.That’s something that my favourite team of all time had by the bucket-load.I’m talking about the late 60 s & early 70 s Leeds United side.Everyone of those lads would die for our beloved club and Sir Don Revie.Name me one professional footballer who has that commitment today ?I hope all our current squad have it or will devolop it.I used to be very passionate about England’s national side but I couldn’t care less about them now. They are a disgrace and embarrassment to their country.Wipe the FA out, start from scratch and we can maybe get some passion back. Watching Capello struggle to motivate these tossers at the last World Cup was painful.Come on Leeds get back in the Prem and show the Scum, Chelsea, Arse, etc what real passionate football and support is all about.Leeds ! Leeds ! Leeds !