England v Pakistan Test Series Betting 2012
England will face Pakistan in their first Test match series ranked as the number one Test team in the world. It will be a little difficult for England because they are playing Pakistan in the United Aram Emirates which will be alien conditions for a lot of the players.
Test series between England and Pakistan have often thrown up a lot of entertaining incidents and moments. England v Pakistan Test series betting 2012 amplifies these incidents and hopefully there will be no repeat of the chaos and controversy which marred the last Test series between these two teams.
England v Pakistan Test Series
The England v Pakistan Test series will be made up of three Test matches to be played at various venues around the UAE. A final decision on the venues is yet to be made due to a variety of security issues which need to be addressed in order to make the matches safe for both sides.
What the three match England v Pakistan Test series does mean is that there is ample time for either side to recover if they get off to a bad start. Three match Test series are rare in the modern day but it does allow the teams to get at each other which means there should be plenty of value in the betting market.
England v Pakistan
England v Pakistan is always a difficult series to predict because the Pakistan cricket team do have a tendency to be quite random. England's thrashing of India has shown everyone around the world that they take Test match cricket seriously and will continue to do so over the next few years.
Pakistan will really need to up their game if they are going to get anywhere close to England over the course of the three match series. England v Pakistan matches can sometimes descend into chaos if the Pakistani side is not doing well. Pakistan cricket is still shrouded in controversy following the match fixing scandal of last summer.
England v Pakistan in January and February could produce some inconsistency for both sides. Pakistan have greater experience of playing cricket in the UAE but England will be confident that the conditions will not vary tremendously from cricket on the sub-continent.
Conditions in the UAE
Conditions in the UAE will be a shock to the England players, more so than the Pakistan players, but England are professional enough and good enough to be able to cope. One of the most intense conditions in the UAE is going to be the heat and humidity that players experience.
The heat and humidity can take a lot out of the players in terms of energy over a long day in the field. This could change England's approach slightly as they will want to continue making big totals to ensure that they do not have to field for long in the heat.
The conditions in the UAE may also prompt the cricket ball to start doing different things. The grounds and pitches will stay very dry and dusty which means that reverse swing is something which will come into play across the Test matches. Both teams need to practice for this in the matches leading up to the series.
Pitches in the UAE
The pitches in the UAE could be a lot better for batting than the majority of people may have in mind. The dry conditions mean the pitches will get little natural moisture, making them hard and vulnerable to crumbling later into a game.
Most pitches in the UAE are going to favour the side that wins the toss and bats first. The main tactic for the three matches will be to get a big score on the board and try to bowl the opposition out twice as the pitch gets worse. This is something England have done very well over the last 12 months.