Review of the first ODI and a brief look at tomorrows game.

Going into the second one day international confidence is high in the England camp and rightly so after beating Pakistan in a one sided game on Monday. Looking ahead I still have my concerns.

There is no doubt that the performance from England was a superb one in comparison to the rest of the tour, Cook finally got some much needed time at the crease and Steven Finn showed everyone how to bowl in these conditions, minus the beamer in his last over. Pakistan on the other hand looked jaded, their batting was poor and despite good spells of bowling from Mohammed Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal their bowling was lacklustre.

Too get a fair reflection you need to look deeper, just how good was this England performance and can it be sustained for the whole series? My concern is that without Cook the England scorecard would have been below 200, apart from Ravi Bopara who made a very well played 50, no one else made 20. Kevin Pietersen looked a shadow of his former self scoring just 14 runs of 36 balls despite surviving two reviews, and Eoin Morgan once again failed.

The enigma of Ajmal still hangs over this England side and the apparent inability to play him with any confidence must be a concern for Flower and his staff. The Merlin machine was designed to replicate all sorts of spin, yet doesn't seem to be helping in this situation.

The bowling once again looked good but there are concerns over Anderson who was wicket less, and despite taking three wickets Samit Patel was expensive going for 26 off his five overs. Swann was fantastic, suffocating the batsmen and not allowing a release of pressure and deserved to pick up two wickets right at the end. Afridi looked as if he could take the game from England, batting sensibly until his eyes lit up and he offered some catching practice to Swann.

Looking ahead to the next one day game tomorrow, if Pakistan can sort out their batting they will push England. England's batting is still not good enough in these conditions, Afridi, Ajmaal and Hafeez will all cause the batsmen problems. During his brief innings on Monday Pietersen attempted to use his feet to play the spinners and it worked, it was only when he played from the crease that he was bowled. Both teams need to look at their batsmen and find that man who will step up in their time of need, England relied on Cook in the first game, but can they rely on him again?

Hi hampo. You have the basis of a good article there . A little word on Kieswetter, who I thought was pretty awful on Monday with the bat and unsuited to the crucial number six position, could be added but that is, of course, up to you.

If you don't mind I have made a few little grammatical/spelling changes, which I have highlighted in bold:

hampo171 wrote:Going into the second One-day International between Pakistan and England confidence is high in the England camp and rightly so after a win in a one sided game on Monday. Looking ahead I still have my concerns.

There is no doubt that the performance from England was a superb one in comparison to the rest of the tour. Cook finally got some much needed time at the crease and Steven Finn showed everyone how to bowl in these conditions, minus the beamer in his last over. Pakistan on the other hand looked jaded, their batting was poor and despite good spells from Mohammed Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal their bowling was lacklustre.

To get a fair reflection you need to look deeper; just how good was this England performance and can it be sustained for the whole series? My concern is that without Cook the England total would have been below 200 - apart from Ravi Bopara who made a very well played 50, no one else made 20. Kevin Pietersen looked a shadow of his former self scoring just 14 runs of 36 balls despite surviving two reviews, and Eoin Morgan once again failed.

The enigma of Ajmal still hangs over this England side and the apparent inability to play him with any confidence must be a concern for Flower and his staff. The Merlyn machine was designed to replicate all sorts of spin, yet doesn't seem to be helping in this situation.

The bowling once again looked good but there are concerns over Anderson who was wicketless, and despite taking three wickets Samit Patel was expensive going for 26 off his five overs. Swann was fantastic, suffocating the batsmen and not allowing a release of pressure and deserved to pick up two wickets right at the end. Afridi looked as if he could take the game from England, batting sensibly until his eyes lit up and he offered some catching practice to Swann.

Looking ahead to the next one-day game tomorrow, if Pakistan can sort out their batting they will push England. England's batting is still not good enough in these conditions - Afridi, Ajmaal and Hafeez will all cause the batsmen problems. During his brief innings on Monday Pietersen attempted to use his feet to play the spinners and it worked, it was only when he played from the crease that he was bowled. Both teams need to look at their batsmen and find that man who will step up in their time of need, England relied on Cook in the first game, but can they rely on him again?

I know I can be a bit pernickety so feel free to ignore what I have changed

Haha I always thought it was wicketless but words spell checker was insistent