Pakistan Look For Elusive Win

Dubai: Pakistan will look for their first win in the ongoing ODI series against England. England lead the four match series 2-0.

Misbah-ul Haq has called for his batsmen to put up a stronger fight to change Pakistan's fortunes in the third one-day match against England that starts on Saturday.

Pakistan failed to chase down targets of 261 and 251 in the first two one-day matches to hand England an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.

Pakistan won the preceding three-Test series 3-0 but now face their first one-day defeats in seven series.

Misbah refused to single out any individual for blame and said everyone had to take shoulder responsibility.

"Even in the Sri Lankan series our lower middle order was not contributing," he said of his team's 4-1 win in November last year.

Saturday's match sees the return of former captain Shoaib Malik, who was dropped for the second game, with Pakistan looking to add more bowling options as well as a strengthened batting line-up, Misbah added.

England have performed well in the one-day series and Misbah said that improvement was vital to avoid another defeat.

Misbah said the players also needed to master the weather conditions in the United Arab Emirates, where Pakistan currently play "home" fixtures due to the uncertain security situation at home.

Two new balls and day-night matches make the ball move more in the air and skid off the pitch in the evening, he added.

Either way it could be Abdur Rehman who makes away after a wicketless display in Abu Dhabi and a horrid 12-ball innings. They may also feel compelled to change the wicketkeeper after two poor games by Umar Akmal, but then balance becomes an issue.

Other setbacks include having to play with a stand-in wicketkeeper in Umar Akmal, who dropped Alastair Cook on 28 in the second match. Cook went on to hit his second successive hundred.

England have a fully fit squad to select from for the first time in the series so it's a question of whether they want any rotation. James Anderson could make way for Tim Bresnan but it would be tough on Anderson who bowled well in the second match. Kevin Pietersen remains under pressure.

Teams from

Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Abdur Rehman, Aizaz Cheema, Adnan Akmal, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Imran Farhat, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Wahab Riaz, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Hammad Azam

England: Alastair Cook (capt), Ravi Bopara, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Tim Bresnan, Jonathan Bairstow, Danny Briggs, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Samit Patel

Pitch and conditions
The pitch is unlikely to differ much from what has been on offer throughout the tour.

Stats and trivia

• No England batsman has scored three consecutive one-day international hundreds
• James Anderson became England's leading wicket-taker against Pakistan during the previous match
• Pakistan's batsmen have yet to score a half-century in the series

Match facts
Saturday February 18, 2012 (day/night)
Start time 1500 local (1100 GMT, 16:00 Pak)