Quietly Samit Patel is have a good few months for England. He didn’t lose ground during the whitewash in India and has played a crucial part in the two victories here. His left-arm spin is proving hard to score off – only Afridi, briefly, took to him in Abu Dhabi – while he is selfless with the bat when needed and held a decent catch to remove the dangerous Umar Akmal in the second game. There could well be changes to England’s Test squad for Sri Lanka and Patel has done himself no harm.
England’s whitewash in the Tests was unexpected and so, too, is their current standing in the one-day series. They are already in an unassailable position following two victories in Abu Dhabi – spearheaded by Alastair Cook and Steven Finn – and a win in Dubai will give them a notable series victory which would buck the trend of their recent struggles away from home in this format.
And they hold the advantage despite only two batsmen firing. Cook has been outstanding with a pair of well-crafted hundreds and was well supported on both occasions by his Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara. The others still have significant issues to confront and it can’t be left to the captain all the time. Unlike the batsmen, all the bowlers have played key roles and, as in Test cricket, England possess a fine attack.
Pakistan have plenty of issues to sort out. They appear short of a quality batsman and can’t quite decide on the balance of their team. They have got one game left to find out some answers before it is too late to save the series.
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