Pakistan Search for Winning Spark in 1st ODI

Chester-le-Street: Pakistan will be hoping to put their controversies aside against an England side that seems to have all their bases covered.

After steamrolling them in both the T20s, England will look to continue their dominance with another stellar performance against an already embattled Pakistan team.

England's confidence will be high and they will surely go into the match as favourites, considering both teams' recent on-field form and off-field events. Pakistan's captain Shahid Afridi has admitted that the morale in the dressing room is quite low in light of the spot-fixing allegations that continue to hound the 1992 World Cup winners.

Afridi called for focus and was sure that once they have a victory under their belt, the squad's confidence would be back. How they will manage to draw inspiration and record a victory against the high flying Englishmen though, is anyone's guess.

Team news

England Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott return to the side for the one-dayers and with Ravi Bopara likely to keep his place it may be Luke Wright who is edged out for the time being. Ajmal Shahzad has also been roped in for the ODIs, and the quickie will look cement his place with a worthy performance.

Squad from Andrew Strauss (capt), Steve Davies (wk), Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson, Jonathan Trott, Ajmal Shahzad

Pakistan The suspension of the three tainted Pakistan cricketers, who would have otherwise formed the core of the team, has lead to the call up of Asad Shafiq, who played his only ODI against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup earlier this year and Mohammad Irfan who set for debut.

Squad from Shahid Afridi (capt), Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahzaib Hasan, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Yousuf, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan

Pitch and conditions
Expect the bowlers to dominate in helpful conditions in Durham. The last match to be played at Chester-le-Street was a low-scoring CB 40 match in which both spinners and seamers picked up wickets. Overcast conditions could also help the ball to swing but, thankfully, rain is unlikely.

Stats and trivia

• The vastly experienced Mohammad Yousuf is Pakistan's second-highest runscorer in ODIs behind Inzamam ul-Haq with 9458 runs. He is also second to another great - Saeed Anwar - in the list of Pakistan's one-day century makers with 15 in 275 games to Anwar's 20.
• England have won only 2 of their last five ODIs, but that will not matter much as they clearly hold the upper hand after victories in both the Test and T20 series.
• Graeme Swann passed 50 wickets in the summer - across all formats - during the Cardiff Twenty20s and now has 52 international scalps at a combined average of 16.46 this season

Match facts
Friday September 10, 2010
Start time 10:15 local (9:15 GMT)