1st T20I: England vs Pakistan at Dubai

The first of three T20 matches between Pakistan and England. Pakistan are second in the current ICC T20I rankings and England are eighth, although winning this series could vault England up to sixth.

Pakistan are unbeaten in their last six matches and will prove to be a real handful, though England have won the toss and decided to bat first. Perhaps rather surprisingly, England have opted to rest Jos Buttler, Joe Root and David Willey - arguably three of the teams best T20 players. Sam Billings is given the gloves. James Vince gets a debut.

Sohail Tanvir puts down a dolly of a caught and bowled in the second over and Hales immediately makes him pay with a boundary the very next ball. Yikes, what a miss. To add insult to injury he ends up tripping over and falling face first.

Tanvir does get some reward last ball of the over getting Roy to chip one to mid-on. This time Imran Khan makes no mistake. An eventful first two overs - England 16/1.

hhhmmm ...no fault of the mind 

Hales out now. He never had the pace of this pitch. This second leading edge gets snapped up by a gleeful Afridi and the crowd are making a right racket. 18/2.

Oh dear, Moeen with another tame dismissal. England reeling at 19/3. To say this hasn't started well would be an understatement.

James Vince leading a spirited fightback for England. 77/3 (11 ov). Vince has looked good (no surprises there) and Morgan, as ever, has supported him ably.

Morgan launches an almighty six off Afridi into the second deck, hitting some poor old chap in the chest causing him to spill his champers.  Chap didn't look too pleased.  ::LOL::

Vince bowled for 41. A great comeback over from Wahab Riaz, conceding just a single and then getting the prize wicket of Vince with the last ball of the over. England 96/4 with 6 overs remaining.

The no of slower balls by the Pakistani seamers is an indication that this pitch is not a surface to bat second. But what is a good score?