England v Pakistan: Everything you need to know

Hosts and favourites England were always fancied to reach the ICC Champions Trophy semis but Pakistan's presence is something of a surprise.

England will start as favourite for Wednesday's ICC Champions Trophy semifinal, but its opponent Pakistan has proved that the team should be written off at your peril.

The host cruised through Group A with a perfect record following wins over Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia to lend further weight to widespread pre-tournament predictions that Eoin Morgan's men are the team to beat.

 

England has made a tremendous resurgence after woeful performance in 2015 CWC, and Joe Root has been the consistent force behind the team’s success in the last two years. Root has featured in 37 ODIs after the world cup and with 1954 runs; he’s only 25 runs away from leapfrogging Warner to claim the top spot in the run scoring charts in the specified timeline.

If Joe Root has been the most consistent batsman for England, he’s been ably supported in the team’s success by Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales. England are the only team to have 3 players in the Top 10, when you look at the top scorers after the world cup.

 

KEY PLAYERS:

With Roy set to make way for Bairstow, Alex Hales will be England's senior opener and it will fall to him to set the tone up front. Hales has fond memories of facing Pakistan, after crashing an England ODI best 171 from 122 balls at Trent Bridge last year as the hosts made a world record 444-3.

He guided his side home against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 61 and captain Sarfraz Ahmed will be key again for Pakistan. His aggressive approach at number six can often turn the tide in Pakistan's favour, although coach Arthur hinted on Tuesday that the skipper or Shoaib Malik could be promoted up the order.

 

PROBABLE LINE-UPS:

England: Alex Hales, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood, Jake Ball.

Pakistan: Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Imad Wasim, Fahim Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan.

 

LAST ODI MEETING: 

Already 4-0 down in the five-match series in August and September last year - which included that shellacking at Trent Bridge - Pakistan gained a measure of pride with a consolation victory in Cardiff, the same venue for Wednesday's semifinal. Chasing 303, the touring team showed fine spirit as 90 from Sarfraz and 77 from Shoaib helped the team home by four wickets with 10 balls to spare.

 

QUOTES:

"I'd have no worries if he has to open the batting. I certainly believe we're in a good position at the moment as a batting unit, and if Jonny does get the opportunity, I'm sure he'll take it with both hands." - Morgan remains unconcerned by the possibility of Bairstow moving up to partner Hales.

"We know that realistically England are playing unbelievably well. They're a really, really good one-day unit with no apparent weaknesses." - Arthur concedes his side are rated by many as underdogs.

 

OPTA STATS:

- England has won 12 of its last 14 meetings with Pakistan in ODIs (L2); it did lose its most recent encounter however, that game taking place at this very venue in Cardiff. - England has won 11 of its last 12 ODIs and has a win rate of 79 per cent in 2017 (11/14), the best of any side in the calendar year. - Eoin Morgan is five away from reaching 5,000 ODI runs for England; only two men have already achieved this feat for England (Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood). - Pakistan comes into this match having secured four wins in its last five ODI outings (L1); losing four on the trot immediately before this run.-  England has alternated between victory and defeat in ODIs at this venue in Cardiff across its last five outings; seeing off the Black Caps by 87 runs last time out there. - Mark Wood recorded more dot balls (101) than any other bowler in the group stage. - Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman has scored his 81 runs in the tournament from only 59 balls faced; the highest strike rate (137.3) of any batsman to score 50+ runs in the competition. - Sarfraz Ahmed comes into this match on the back of a matchwinning 61* against Sri Lanka; he's averaged 62.7 across his seven ODI innings in England and Wales (including knocks of 90 and 61* in his two previous outings in Cardiff).