Eng-Pak Ready For Twenty20 Leave Fixing Scandal

Cardiff: Vowing to put the betting scandal behind them, England and Pakistan cricket captains Saturday said their teams will give their best in the opening Twenty20 International here Sunday.

Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's one-day captain, said his players have refocused after going through a tough time because of the spot-fixing allegations levelled against them last Sunday. He apologised for the scandal.

"I think it is very bad news," he said. On behalf of these players - I know they are not in this series - but on behalf of these boys I want to say sorry to all cricket lovers and all the cricketing nations.

I told the boys don't read the newspapers tomorrow, just focus on cricket. I know the Pakistani people are very upset. We all love cricket. As a team all we can do is to play good, aggressive cricket and maybe when we go back home maybe the things will settle down.

It is a big challenge for me as a captain but I think we are all ready and focused. Myself and the coach have already told the boys: 'Don't talk about this issue, we are here to play cricket.

Meanwhile, Paul Collingwood, England's Twenty20 captain, has said that the home team will give its 100 percent tomorrow.

"There was an air of sadness (when the allegations of spot-fixing came to light)," Collingwood said.

"But the guys are looking forward to getting on with the cricket and hopefully winning the game. The guys are very much 100 per cent prepared to get on with the job in hand and play against Pakistan," he said.

Team news

England's World Twenty20 triumph was crafted on a remorseless professionalism running through the side. In the first game after that success, however, there are a number of changes with Michael Lumb out with a broken foot and and Kevin Pietersen dropped.

Squad from Paul Collingwood (capt), Eoin Morgan, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Steve Davies (WK), Ryan Sidebottom, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy, Craig Kieswetter (WK)

Pakistan Umar Akmal suffered a concussion after taking a blow to the face in practice on Tuesday while Abdul Razzak, Wahab Riaz and Umar Gul are all nursing niggles. Shahzaib Hasan and Fawad Alam's matchwinning partnership against Somerset means they will slot into a side that will look very different to the one that played at the Test at Lord's.

Squad from Shahid Afridi (Capt), Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal (VC & WK), Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Razzaq, Fawad Alam, Shahzaib Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan

Pitch and conditions
Though hardly a minefield, scores in all forms of the game at Cardiff have been on the low side this season. The taller bowlers profited in England's ODI against Australia earlier this summer but both teams' spinners should also find conditions to their liking.

Stats and trivia

• One man ahead of Afridi on that list is England's own Brigadier Block - Paul Collingwood - who has hit 23 sixes in 29 innings.
• For a man seemingly tailor-made for Twenty20s and known for his big hitting, Shahid Afridi's name is surprisingly low down on the list of six-hitters in T20 internationals, sitting in tied 20th place. He's cleared the ropes 19 times in 33 innings, and will surely be looking to add to that tally in Cardiff.
• The re-called Steve Davies scored 389 runs including three half-centuries for Surrey in the Friends Provident t20 competition, finishing as their second-highest runscorer and leading the way with a strike-rate of 162.08

Match facts
Sunday September 4, 2010
Start time 15:30 local (14:30 GMT)