Prior to the third ODI against Pakistan, the Analyst says the target of England's openers should be to bat the whole innings
After a flawed first outing, England got most things right in the second one-day international in Abu Dhabi.
In the third, they should be able to build on that and improve another 20 per cent.
There is so much talent in this team and I am still backing them to win this ODI series 3-1.
The top order batting was excellent on Friday.
Openers Jason Roy and Alex Hales took a little time to get acquainted with the conditions, only properly expanding their shot range after six overs (when they were 23-0) before putting together their first 100 partnership.
They hit a lot of their shots on the ground instead of going aerial.
Roy has a habit of making good starts and then succumbing to a loose shot in the 30s. This time he made it to 50 before chipping a catch to mid-on.
He does not have a history of long innings. He needs to learn – perhaps from Joe Root – the art of maintaining concentration.
At times he looks too tense. He needs to relax at the crease a bit more (between balls).
That might help him convert good starts into really big scores.
Hales did that – in company with the effervescent Root – though he too gave his wicket away to an ugly slog having recorded his first ever ODI hundred.
At that point England were 216-2 and there were 11 overs left. A total of 300-plus should have been assured.
But it is a bad time to lose wickets between overs 35-40.
It means the new batsmen have little time to acclimatise before the big assault and overs 40-50, when the ball is keeping low and reverse swinging, is the hardest time to bat on these dead pitches.
Trying too hard to slog instead of manipulating the ball around (as Hales and Root had done) meant England only scored 56 from the last 10 overs.
In the end it didn’t matter because David Willey made early inroads and the Pakistan innings was soon in ruins. The victory was emphatic.
But as these matches progress, the target of one of the openers should be to bat the whole innings.
That requires focus, discipline and stamina.
And given the lack of serious pace or mystery spin, England must keep making substantial scores to ward off their inconsistency in one-day cricket (W6 L6 since the World Cup).
There is no Englishman in the top-25 individual scores in one-day international history.
It’s about time there was.
Pakistan v England third ODI betting
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