Eoin Morgan expecting ‘best’ Pakistan in World Cup clash at Trent Bridge

Eoin Morgan says England are preparing for the “best” version of Pakistan ahead of Monday’s World Cup clash at Trent Bridge.

Pakistan knocked England out in the Champions Trophy semi-final at Cardiff two years ago as they went on to win the tournament.

But Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side have lost their last 11 completed ODIs, including 4-0 to England in a pre-World Cup series, after the hammering by West Indies in Nottingham on Friday in which they were skittled for 105 after toiling against the short ball.

“We’re preparing for Pakistan at their best,” Morgan told reporters. “Only two years ago they were the best side in the Champions Trophy, they turned us over, they turned India over.

“We’ll be preparing as best we can for their A-game.”

Monday’s match will be played on the same strip where England smashed the two highest totals in ODI history – 444-3 against Pakistan in 2016 and the world-record 481-6 versus Australia last summer.

“To get something near that you need to play unbelievably well,” said the captain, who scored 57 as England beat South Africa in their World Cup opener at The Oval on Thursday.

“It starts with the very basics, with getting yourself into an innings and each batter starting and trying to establish a partnership.”

England batting coach Graham Thorpe said on Saturday that paceman Mark Wood was in contention to face Pakistan with the hosts having observed their opponents’ problems against pace last time out.

Morgan says it would be an “awesome” prospect to pair the Durham quick with Jofra Archer in the same ODI side for the first time.

“It is exciting. It might happen and if it does that would be awesome,” the 32-year-old added on a possible Archer-Wood tandem.

“It’s like saying can you add a Jason Roy 180 to a Jos Buttler 150 off 70 or 80 balls.

“I think there’s a good case for playing any of our bowlers. We’ll have to adapt to anything the wicket throws up.

“If there is anything to exploit, hopefully we’ll select the right team.”

Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood is adamant his side can end their slump in form.

“We can beat [England]. It would not be an upset. We have ability to beat them,” he said.

“If you see the one-day series, we were not that far from England. They scored 1,430-odd runs, we scored 1,370 runs, so we were 70 runs short.

“Our fielding was not up to the mark and we give an extra bonus because we had an inexperienced bowling line-up. They need to learn from their mistakes. So we know what England can do, and we know what we can do.”

Watch England vs Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup, live on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup from 10am on Monday.

(c) Sky News 2019: Eoin Morgan expecting ‘best’ Pakistan in World Cup clash at Trent Bridge