Pakistan seek lift to avoid England clean-sweep

By Shahid Hashmi


Dubai, February 20 (AFP): Pakistan coach Mohsin Khan said his team will need to raise their standards in all three departments to stop England from a clean sweep of the one-day series in the fourth match here on Tuesday.Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq reacts after his team's loss in the third ODI against England. (AFP/Getty Image …

Pakistan are on the receiving end in the one-day series after blanking England 3-0 in the preceding Test series, with Khan stressing his team needed improvement.

"We have not played well as we did in the Tests. I will not take any credit away from England but we have to look at ourselves and we need to raise our standards in all three departments to avoid defeat," Khan said on Monday.

Pakistan have been outsmarted by England who rode on back-to-back hundreds by skipper Alastair
Cook to win the first two matches in Abu Dhabi and then Kevin Pietersen hammered an unbeaten century - his first since 2008 - to win the third match here on Saturday.

Paceman Steven Finn has taken 11 wickets in three matches to destroy Pakistan's batting.

England have whitewashed Pakistan in a 3-0 series once, on their 1987 tour.

Khan pinpointed fielding as the major difference between the two teams.

"We give away 20-30 runs in every match while England save 20-30 with their fielding so it comes to a 40 run difference. Our batsmen have not been able to capitalise on the good starts while England's batsmen did that," said Khan.

Asked was he disappointed at the prospects of being replaced by former Australian batsman Dav Whatmore next month, Khan said: "There is nothing to be disappointed. I will be there to help Pakistan cricket in any capacity."

Appointed on an interim basis after Waqar Younis quit in September last year, Khan guided the team to series wins against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh (Tests and one-day) and England (Tests).

"I don't need any coaching qualification or need to do courses because I helped the team with my experience so I have no disappointments," said Khan, who is likely to take back his post as chairman of the selection committee.

Eoin Morgan admitted England have a good opportunity to blank Pakistan.

"There’s certainly an opportunity to do that. We do want to win 4-0 and if the opportunity arises we could give players (reserves) a bit of experience, but the priority is to win the game," said Morgan.

Morgan said England have progressed well in one-day cricket after being thrashed 5-0 in India last year.

"In our last summer we’ve come a long way. But the stint we did in India - when I wasn’t there - pegged us back a long way. So we’re starting from scratch in terms of playing in this part of the world."

"We’ve got off to a fantastic start. But it comes back to a case of not getting carried away with where we are or where we want to be. Where we are is fifth in the world; where we want to be is number one in the world by the World Cup in 2015," said Morgan.