England elected to bat against Pakistan

Englands first challenge against Pakistans spinners in the one-day series will come batting first after Alastair Cook opted to set a target in the opening game in Abu Dhabi. Pre-series expectations are low for England, with talk already centred on another whitewash, but Englands new opening pairing of Cook and Kevin Pietersen will have an early chance to prove otherwise.England werent able to pick from a fully fit squad with Tim Bresnan not considered ready for a return following the elbow injury that ruled him out of the Test series. Jos Buttler had already been ruled out the day before the game with his hand injury.Bresnan bowled five overs against England Lions in the warm-up match, but that wasnt enough to convince the management that he would be able to withstand a full ten overs. His absence means James Anderson will form the pace attack alongside Steven Finn and Stuart Broad.Pakistan decided to stick with the team that beat Afghanistan but that still leaves them with four spin options including the formidable pair of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal. Englands batsmen, especially Pietersen, wont be disappointment to see Abdur Rehman sitting on the bench. The selection also means Wahab Riaz and Jonathan Trott will face each other for the first time since their occasionally heated exchanges in 2010.Pakistan 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Umar Akmal (wk), 7 Shoaib Malik, 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Wahab RiazEngland 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn