Not long until the start of the 2019 World Cup which returns to the Motherland of Cricket: England. It's near unanimous consensus that pitches are expected to be flat and batting friendly as they've been for 50 over cricket in England for the last few years.
However each venue presents with subtle differences which non-UK PPers may not know so here's a trip around the grounds Pakistan will encounter:
Trent Bridge: The site of Pakistan's first two matches against West Indies and England. It's a ROAD. Trent Bridge is weird because the boundary on the western side of the ground is smaller than the other. Naturally batsmen have exploited this and we've seen colossal totals being scored, notably 444/3 v Pakistan in 2016 and 481/6 v Australia in 2018.
Expecting a batting shootout and given Pakistan are outmatched for powerhitting, it'll take a huge bowling effort to restrain WI's and England's big hitters.
Bristol: Site of Pakistan's first ever T20I and their game v Sri Lanka. Only hosted 16 ODIs and one of the smaller English grounds. The last time an ODI was played here, England scored 369 v WI in 2017.
Taunton: Surprisingly one of the smallest grounds in England has been allocated a big game between Pakistan and Australia. This is the flattest and most spin friendly pitch in England with the likes of Jack Leach and Dom Bess emerging from Somerset's home ground. This is where you'd want to maximise your overs from Imad, Shadab and Hafeez. Theoretically that should suit Pakistan but the batsmen must understand 300 would just be par here.
Old Trafford: Hosts the fifth and most high profile fixture of Pakistan's group stage campaign against India. It's the ground where the archrivals did battle in 1999 when Pakistan botched a chase of 227. It's the fastest and bounciest wicket in England, where Pakistan possess a miserable record losing 6 out of 8 ODIs.
Lords: A happy hunting ground for Pakistan in Tests but home to two major ODI calamities - the 1999 World Cup final and 2001 Natwest Series final where Pakistan won the toss both times, chose to bat both times, and were cheaply dismissed both times by Australia.
10:30AM early morning starts at Lord's can be tricky as there's early assistance for seamers, with numerous domestic one day finals at Lord's seeing teams batting first skittled out for low totals. Pakistan were reduced to 3/3 in their last ODI here v England in 2016, and England had a horror show v South Africa in 2017 when they were reduced to 20/6 on a green wicket.
Pakistan will face South Africa and Bangladesh at the home of cricket. Consider chasing.
Edgbaston: Pakistan usually get raucous support in Birmingham where they have a mixed record, winning 5 from 13 ODIs, including a tense 2004 Champions Trophy game vs India and an exhilarating bowling performance vs South Africa in CT17. The average total batting first since 2010 is 256.
Headingley: Pakistan go back up North to Leeds for their penultimate group game v Afghanistan. Leeds often conjures up an image of a medium pacer's paradise. However numbers don't back up the myth as since 2010, the average score batting first is 291. Afghanistan's strength is spin but can expect little assistance from the surface.
However each venue presents with subtle differences which non-UK PPers may not know so here's a trip around the grounds Pakistan will encounter:
Trent Bridge: The site of Pakistan's first two matches against West Indies and England. It's a ROAD. Trent Bridge is weird because the boundary on the western side of the ground is smaller than the other. Naturally batsmen have exploited this and we've seen colossal totals being scored, notably 444/3 v Pakistan in 2016 and 481/6 v Australia in 2018.
Expecting a batting shootout and given Pakistan are outmatched for powerhitting, it'll take a huge bowling effort to restrain WI's and England's big hitters.
Bristol: Site of Pakistan's first ever T20I and their game v Sri Lanka. Only hosted 16 ODIs and one of the smaller English grounds. The last time an ODI was played here, England scored 369 v WI in 2017.
Taunton: Surprisingly one of the smallest grounds in England has been allocated a big game between Pakistan and Australia. This is the flattest and most spin friendly pitch in England with the likes of Jack Leach and Dom Bess emerging from Somerset's home ground. This is where you'd want to maximise your overs from Imad, Shadab and Hafeez. Theoretically that should suit Pakistan but the batsmen must understand 300 would just be par here.
Old Trafford: Hosts the fifth and most high profile fixture of Pakistan's group stage campaign against India. It's the ground where the archrivals did battle in 1999 when Pakistan botched a chase of 227. It's the fastest and bounciest wicket in England, where Pakistan possess a miserable record losing 6 out of 8 ODIs.
Lords: A happy hunting ground for Pakistan in Tests but home to two major ODI calamities - the 1999 World Cup final and 2001 Natwest Series final where Pakistan won the toss both times, chose to bat both times, and were cheaply dismissed both times by Australia.
10:30AM early morning starts at Lord's can be tricky as there's early assistance for seamers, with numerous domestic one day finals at Lord's seeing teams batting first skittled out for low totals. Pakistan were reduced to 3/3 in their last ODI here v England in 2016, and England had a horror show v South Africa in 2017 when they were reduced to 20/6 on a green wicket.
Pakistan will face South Africa and Bangladesh at the home of cricket. Consider chasing.
Edgbaston: Pakistan usually get raucous support in Birmingham where they have a mixed record, winning 5 from 13 ODIs, including a tense 2004 Champions Trophy game vs India and an exhilarating bowling performance vs South Africa in CT17. The average total batting first since 2010 is 256.
Headingley: Pakistan go back up North to Leeds for their penultimate group game v Afghanistan. Leeds often conjures up an image of a medium pacer's paradise. However numbers don't back up the myth as since 2010, the average score batting first is 291. Afghanistan's strength is spin but can expect little assistance from the surface.
