The conditions in Pakistan might go some way in helping England mount a turnaround in their 50-over form for their Champions Trophy campaign, according to Mark Butcher.
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast before England play their tournament opener on Saturday (February 22), Butcher pointed to the flatter pitches in Pakistan as potentially suited to England's aggressive gameplan. "A lot of players have a liking for Pakistani conditions, particularly the batters - Duckett, Brook etc," said Butcher. "The pitches tend to be quite flat, although that trend has been thrown out of the window in the recent Test matches played there, but it's more than likely the pitches will return to type for the Champions Trophy.
"Of course, spin doesn't play as much of a part as perhaps it will in Dubai, where India will play their games. So things are not quite as desperate as they seem [for England]."
England haven't played an ODI in Pakistan since 2005, but their T20 series in 2022 was largely high-scoring. Ben Duckett and Harry Brook were England's leading run-scorers in that series, and several of England's squad have experience in the Pakistan Super League. "Rawalpindi generally is an absolute road," said Butcher. "Multan can be a little bit sticky, Karachi tends to be okay - it's an average scoring surface in PSL cricket - and Lahore can be either, you can get scores of 200+ in T20s or they can be reasonably low scoring. But generally speaking a good seam bowling attack and one very good spinner and somebody that can mix and match a little bit for you, depending on the batting combinations you're playing against, could be enough.
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"However, a lot of other teams will enjoy batting on flat pitches as well, and I think because of the nature of the tournament all being over and done with so quickly, game one is absolutely vital. You can't afford to work your way into the tournament, there isn't a tournament as such, you've got three games and if you lose your first one you could be out... England having no real back-up to Adil Rashid and the lack of a genuine second spin bowler leaves them exposed if the conditions happen to suit that style of cricket."
England will play their first game of the tournament against Australia in Lahore, with their second game, against Afghanistan, also to be played in Lahore. They will play their final group match against South Africa in Karachi.
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