Focus back on Cricket - at last

Despite being marred by the off-field incidence, Pakistan starts as favorite in the opening T-20 match to be played later in the day at Cardiff today. For sure, Pakistan will need to do a lot in attempting keep their focus and fill the vacuum left by the departure of their two best bowlers and Salman Butt, who was the team's leading runscorer at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies earlier this year.  Shahid Afridi's return to the mix appears to have brought a surprising measure of calm to their set-up - on the field, at least.

Pietersen's absence, and the possibility that Stuart Broad may sit out the match after suffering a groin strain, will allow the home side to experiment with a couple of new combinations.

My Suggested England XI: 1 Craig Kieswetter, 2 Steve Davies (wk), 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Luke Wright, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Michael Yardy, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.

My Suggested Pakistan XI: 1 Shahzaib Hasan, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Fawad Aslam, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzak, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Shoaib Akhtar.