Match facts
Sunday, July 14Start time 0900 (1300 GMT)
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Big Picture
In the last five years, among the eight major Test teams, Pakistan and
West Indies have played the least number of Tests. Yet, they haven't
been able to work out dates for a Test series
between the two sides, which leaves them playing out a bunch of ODIs
and Twenty20s. What's more, this and the recent tri-series in the
Caribbean, which featured India and Sri Lanka, means the only Tests in
West Indies' home season were the ones against a rebuilding Zimbabwe.
Pakistan are also in a rebuilding phase after some indifferent recent
results. The experience of Younis Khan was dispensed with even before
the Champions Trophy, and after the winless campaign in England, they
have jettisoned the seasoned trio of Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and
Imran Farhat. That doesn't mean they are light on experience though, as
the exciting but wildly inconsistent Shahid Afridi makes yet another
comeback.
Exciting but wildly inconsistent is a phrase that could be applied to
plenty of batsmen in the West Indies squad as well. The batting wasn't
up to the mark in the recent tri-series and they will be tested again by
Pakistan's high-quality bowling attack. While they have several batsmen
who can play blinders and take the game away from the opposition, they
are short of the sort of batsman who can grind it out in difficult
conditions. There were collapses aplenty in the tri-series,something
they have to look to arrest this time around.
Another blot West Indies will want to erase is their dodgy record at
home against Pakistan, having comprehensively lost the previous two
series. For that, they will first need the weather to clear up -
scattered thunderstorms are predicted on Sunday, and at least light rain
is expected through the week.
The series also marks the return of international cricket to Guyana
after a two-year absence, during which there has been plenty of conflict
between the government and the country's cricket board.
Form guide
(most recent first, last five completed matches)West Indies LLWWT
Pakistan LLLWT
In the spotlight
Umar Akmal was one of the surprise omissions from Pakistan's
squad for the Champions Trophy. The 23-year-old's talent is widely
acknowledged but Pakistan want him to deliver more often. There will be a
bit less pressure on him to score big though as he is now the team's
first-choice wicketkeeper, taking over from his brother Kamran. In the
challenging conditions of the Caribbean, he will be tested both in front
and behind the wicket.
Marlon Samuels, the batsman West Indies look to in case of a
top-order failure, had a miserable tri-series, with scores of 15*, 1, 6
and 0. He needs to do a lot better if West Indies are to cope with the
plethora of flashy, mercurial batsmen in the line-up.
Team news
Despite the changes in the squad, Pakistan's bowling won't be shuffled
too much. They are likely to go in with the three left-arm quicks and
Saeed Ajmal, with allrounders Mohammad Hafeez and Afridi also providing
options. The batting should see more changes with Ahmed Shehzad and Umar
Akmal set to return.
Pakistan: (probable) 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad
Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Umar Amin, 6 Umar Akmal (wk), 7
Shahid Afridi, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Junaid Khan, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Mohammad
Irfan
West Indies will be boosted by the return from suspension of their
captain Dwayne Bravo, who will probably take the place of the struggling
Devon Smith.
West Indies: (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Johnson Charles (wk), 3
Darren Bravo, 4 Lendl Simmons, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 7
Kieron Pollard, 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Sunil Narine, 11 Tino
Best
Stats and trivia
- Kieron Pollard has five ducks this year in ODIs, which is as many as Michael Bevan had in his entire career
- The last time West Indies won a home ODI series against Pakistan was in 1988, when Viv Richards was captain
Quotes
"To get to 250 ODIs is always good, take a lot of years, so my service for West Indies has actually been good."Chris Gayle on reaching the milestone of 250 ODIs
Siddarth Ravindran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Siddarth Ravindran
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