9.30am Good morning one and all and Eid Mubarak to all those celebrating! Welcome to the first of five, yes five, ODIs between England and Pakistan. Too much cricket? Of course not. I'm Sahil Dutta, and will be joined by Liam Brickhill and none other than Andrew Miller today.
The shadow cast over this series could not be more any foreboding and, as we saw in the two Twenty20 games, Pakistan are in desperate need of inspiration to breathe life into the end of the summer. Being Pakistan, inspiration is only as far as despair, and it takes a cold sort not to smile at the prospect of the giant (6"10? 7"1? - no one knows his exact height, it seems), ex-pipe-factory working left-arm paceman Mohammad Irfan making his international debut.
We've about 40 minutes until the start, and will keep you abreast of developments with haste. Huzzah, first shout of the day from Andrew Gnasher McGlashan, who is at Chester-le-Street, and his opening gambit isn't the cheeriest: "There was heavy rain this morning but it's clearing up now...groundstaff in action. Not sure about an on-time start, there's still a lot of water on the covers." Could be worse I guess, could be worse.
issed:
Wah yaar!
