The Analyst expects England to wrap up a T20 series victory over Pakistan on Friday after the emergence of another innovative batsmen
England proved in the first T20 international in Dubai that whatever flair and ingenuity they lack to win Test matches overseas, there is no shortage of it to seize one-day victories.
England have daring batting talent seeping out of every pore when it comes to short-form cricket.
Chief among these yesterday was Sam Billings who, though less experienced, is potentially even more dangerous than Jos Buttler.
His match winning 53 from 25 balls on Thursday night was made up of outrageous flip and ramp shots, many borne of his excellence at rackets at his old school Haileybury in Hertfordshire.
One was a flipped six from a 90mph ball that would have been given as a wide had he not gone miles outside the stumps himself to manipulate it over the astonished keeper’s head.
But there were more orthodox shots too, including the short-arm bunt down the ground when the bowlers sought the yorker and a sensible little dink for one off well-disguised slower balls.
Billings has amazing bat speed and is highly versatile, but he is also an excellent reader of the bowler’s mind.
He seems to know what to expect and always appears to be one step ahead.
To have him at wicket with Jos Buttler – who might be included today – would be an embarrassment of riches for England and a potentially humiliating situation for the bowlers.
Where England were also impressive was in their range and scope of bowlers.
There is now a lot of variety among their ranks where six months ago there was very little.
Reece Topley is a left-armer who can go round or over the wicket and has excellent changes of pace.
There is also an off spinner in Moeen Ali, a leg spinner in Adil Rashid and the two stand-outs from last night with the genuine pace from Liam Plunkett and the slowest of slow spinners, Steve Parry.
Plunkett literally bowls twice as fast as Parry who averages 45mph, and together they strike up a great combination that lured the unsuspecting Pakistanis to their doom.
England are also very cohesive who work hard for each other and put the interests of the team above their own.
On the other hand, the evidence from the hilarious mix-up between Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood – with both sprinting to the same end and neither willing to surrender themselves despite the regulation run out – suggests plenty of personal agendas in the Pakistan team.
For that as much as anything else, England are favourites to win once again today.
Pakistan v England second T20 betting
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