Despite Pakistan's apparent turmoil on and off the field, England's captain Paul Collingwood says they will not be taking their Twenty20 clashes in Dubai lightly.
Pakistan have arrived in the UAE on the back of a disastrous tour of Australia that saw them lose every match, with bitter recriminations resulting in their coach, Intikhab Alam, being left at home, some senior players dropped and their captain, Shahid Afridi, missing the first game on Friday because of a two-match suspension for ball tampering.
"It might be a good time to play them, but you never know what you are going to get from Pakistan on the day," said Collingwood. "I think Pakistan are a dangerous team, it's as simple as that. Whenever you come and play against Pakistan, it's a difficult side to beat. Sometimes you are unsure of what you are going to come up against, but we are really going to concentrate on what we have to do this week. We've got a lot of confidence at the moment, but we don't want to just sit back and rely on the confidence. We want to do some hard yards before the games."
Pakistan are the world Twenty20 champions and Collingwood says he and his team are looking forward to pitting their wits against them on Friday and Saturday.
"Pakistan are a very strong Twenty20 side, there's no doubt about that," he said. "I think they have won 20 of 28 T20 matches and that's some record.
"So they are a hard team to beat. They've got a lot of depth in the batting and certainly in the Twenty20 format, they seem to play fearless cricket and have got good skills."
Meanwhile, the England Lions beat Pakistan A by eight wickets in a Twenty20 match in Sharjah yesterday to complete a series win.
Pakistan were restricted to 106 and an unbeaten 40 from Craig Kieswetter guided England home on 107 for two. The sides meet again in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.
arizvi@thenational.ae
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)
New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
