ODI preview / Ed Hawkins / 11 September 2010 /

England and Pakistan meet in game two of the five-match one-day series at Headingley on Sunday. Ed Hawkins looks at the stats and trends

Team news
England do not make a habit of changing a winning team so it is unlikely they will tinker following their 24-run win against Pakistan on Friday. They do have a couple of options, however, for Headingley.

If the management believe swing is going to be important, then Ryan Sidebottom or Ajmal Shahzad could be in for a recall. Sidebottom, on his former stomping ground, and Shahzad, a current Yorkshire player, should get movement from the air.

But who to leave out? Michael Yardy or Tim Bresnan, the bits-and-pieces players look most vulnerable. Yardy was shunted down the order while Bresnan went at an expensive seven an over.

It is anyone's guess what Pakistan decide to do. How can we try to predict their XI when they make such odd calls as leaving out Abdul Razzaq for Asad Shafiq. Who? Exactly. By leaving out Razzaq Pakistan not only did themselves out of a bowling option but they also missed his power hitting at the end of an innings. Razzaq could have got Pakistan much closer.

Venue and conditions
Tickets have, mercifully for a series losing its way, sold well so Headingley should have a decent atmosphere under sunny skies. We know all about the ground's reputation for helping out swing bowlers in Tests, but does it follow in one-day cricket? Yes.

In the top 16 wicket-takers at Headingley in the last 10 years there are only two spinners and some genuine wobblers like Paul Collingwood and Sourav Ganguly. Perhaps understandably the first-innings average is 218.

Still, if the sun is out - which it should be - batting is much easier. And sun cream and sunglasses were the order of the days when England posted 321 against Sri Lanka in 2006 and India made 324 a year later. England lost both.

In the last 10 years, six of the last eight games played have been won by the side chasing.

Match odds
Little doing again unless you want to make a case for Pakistan, which only a fantasist could pull off. England are [1.39] and Pakistan [3.60]. Okay, Pakistan were beaten by only 24 runs last time but at what stage were they ever in the game?

Top batsman
Steven Davies proved his undoubted class with a fine 87 on Friday and the wicketkeeper could enjoy favourite status for game two. He doesn't have the best of records at the ground, averaging only 20 in List A matches, but he's only played there twice so it's a bit harsh to mention it.

Openers do have a good record. In the last five years the top three runscorers are all No 1s or 2s. Collingwood is England's best performer with 91 runs but that came in one innings. Again Ravi Bopara has a horrible record, managing only 11 runs in two efforts.
Kamran Akmal top-scored for Pakistan at the Riverside. It was his first 50 in 15 innings on tour. A record which suggests we should not be backing him again for some time.

Featured market
The innings runs markets are always good value to play, so long as you are armed with first-innings averages statistics. But how relevant are they when we have one team who are so far ahead of their rivals? Well, the average at the Riverside was 229 and England eventually made 274. Perhaps we can expect England to make around the same at Leeds while if Pakistan bat first, it would be wise to plan for a total of around 218, which is the average.

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