England’s last one-day series in this part of the world ended in a 4-0 win over Pakistan, but Morgan insists that will have no bearing on the current campaign.
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Eoin Morgan expects his new-look England one-day team to continue their upward trajectory by learning on the job against Pakistan in the UAE.
But the worst came in Bangladesh where Pakistan were routed 3-0 in April – their first series defeat against the neighbours.
England beat the 2015 World Cup finalists New Zealand 3-2 before going down fighting by the same result against Australia – both at home.
“We have shown progress with a few exciting youngsters”, said Waqar, whose team lost Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi after the World Cup 2015 due to retirement.
England, for so long a middling ODI side, have been given a fresh lease of life under Eoin Morgan.
Pakistan and England will be aiming to build one-day sides for the future as they enter a four-match series in Abu Dhabi starting on Wednesday.
There are, of course, the rankings to bind all this together and, despite their improvements, sixth-placed England are actually being steadily reeled in by Bangladesh, in No. 7.
He has only scored one ODI hundred since 2008 and admits he is looking for the right moment to retire but that is all the more reason to marvel at Younis Khan’s latest comeback.
The hosts have recalled veteran Younis Khan to ODI squad for the first time since March’s World Cup.
Morgan’s health has been a source of concern since he suffered concussion in his previous appearance but, when it comes to the more prosaic business of playing form, Jos Buttler is the focus of attention.
England are tapping-in to baseball expertise in a bid to overcome Pakistan during the forthcoming limited-overs matches.
“It’ll be a huge learning curve”, Morgan said.
With the pitch being sluggish, the best time to bat will be against the new ball.
Perhaps the biggest concern for Morgan was that he had already been hit on the head by Starc earlier in that series at Lord’s, a blow that caused him to change his headgear.
“We’ve have won the Tests, so we want to take that morale into the ODIs and perform like that”.
Steven Finn will miss out with a foot injury, while Mark Wood has dropped out of the squad with an ankle problem – Chris Jordan and Liam Plunkett are their replacements.
“One thing we’ve gained over the last six months is that we’ve created an atmosphere where learning becomes easy for our guys coming in”. An afternoon start should mean cooler temperatures and the challenge of chasing under lights.
“We’ll try to dominate when we are batting, especially the spinners who haven’t bowled much in the sub-continent and UAE conditions”, said the Pakistan skipper. In the last four years, he’s been outstanding and has shown glimpses of world-class ability.
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Alan Gardner is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo.
