England motivated to deliver a whitewash against Pakistan, says Mike Atherton
Friday 2 September 2016 09:02, UK
England have a great chance to inflict a 5-0 whitewash on Pakistan after easing to a four-wicket win over Pakistan in the fourth one-day international, says Mike Atherton.
Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow hit fifties at Headingley as Eoin Morgan's side went 4-0 up with one game of the series to play, at Cardiff on Sunday.
England have never won a bilateral one-day series at home 5-0 but former captain Atherton says that feat is now within reach.
"They look well motivated to deliver a whitewash and you wouldn't put it past them," he reflected.
"I think it's a team aim to go through this summer unbeaten in one-day cricket and they've got a great chance to do so now because this series has gone for Pakistan, who look pretty demoralised.
"You could argue that Bairstow, as an all-round player, is maybe the second-best player in England after Joe Root if you take all formats into consideration.
"But if I had one first-choice pick to make in all formats I'd pick Ben Stokes first at number six and then I'd build a side around him.
"He's such an important player. In fact you could very easily argue that he is England's most important player.
Bairstow only came into the team at the last minute after Jos Buttler sustained a hamstring injury in the pre-match warm-ups.
His return was one of three changes to the side that broke a string of records in the third ODI at Trent Bridge - Chris Woakes and Mark Wood being rested, with David Willey and Chris Jordan coming in.
But will Bairstow retain his place for Sunday's showdown? Atherton said the selectors have much to discuss.
"These are nice problems for England to have," he said. "Some time ago they might have talked about a dearth of batting talent in one-day cricket but not now.
"These days they have an excess of talent and it is difficult to get them all in and keep them all happy.
"There are young players like Ben Duckett and Sam Billings who can't even get in the squad.
"The selectors have very tough choices to make and they'll judge it on a game-by-game basis.
"Some players, like Joe Root, have had a very heavy workload this summer so they could say to someone like him 'stay up north and maybe come back and play the T20'.
"Otherwise they'd have to be ruthless and say to Jonny Bairstow, 'thanks very much, you did well but you're not in the first-choice side'."
Watch the fifth and final ODI between England and Pakistan live on Sky Sports 2 on Sunday from 10am.
