England v Pakistan at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground

Pakistan first rocked up in Nottingham way back in 1974 to play a 50-over game. England won the toss and elected to bat, scoring what looks these days like a below-par 244. David "Bumble" Lloyd, now best known as a member of the Sky commentary team, opened the batting and scored 116 not out. Pakistan chased down England's paltry total with more than 7 overs to spare, winning by 7 wickets. Sadiq Mohammed and Majid Khan put on over 100 for the first wicket, with Khan eventually scoring 109 runs. Not even another of Sky's team could prevent the defeat – Bob Willis opening the bowling and finishing with 1-34 off his ten overs.

Number of sixes in match 3 (England 2, Pakistan 1)
Eight years later, England avenged that defeat. By this point, the ever-fluctuating limited overs format had moved up to 55 overs per side. This time Pakistan elected to bat first, again facing Bob Willis, who went wicketless through his 11 overs. Majid Khan was back too, biffing a quick-fire 23 from the middle order. Ian Botham took three wickets and Pakistan finished on 250 runs with all of their batter contributing but none of them going on to make a really telling contribution. Imran Khan, who had made his international limited overs debut in the game eight years previously, was imperious with the ball, taking 2-35. However, Allan Lamb managed to score 118 for England before Mike Gatting and Ian Botham saw them home with 47 balls to spare, England winning by 7 wickets.

Number of sixes in match 1 (England 0, Pakistan 1)
By the time Pakistan rocked up 5 years later, Imran Khan was the captain and after winning the toss, he invited England to have a bat. They committed the cardinal sin in limited overs cricket by not using up all of their overs as they limped to 157 all-out. Chris Broad (Stuart's dad) top scored with 52. Pakistan made hard work of chasing down the total only in the 52nd over. England's bowlers kept it tight with Graham Dilley going for just 16 from 9 overs, Phil Defreitas taking 1-30 from 11 and Neil Foster with 2-25 from 11. However, England didn’t have enough runs to play with and Javed Miandad top scored with 71 as Pakistan won by 6 wickets.

Number of sixes in match 1 (England 0, Pakistan 1)
England were on much better form in 1992, racking up 363 in their 55 overs after being put in to bat. 50s from "The Judge" Robin Smith (77), one-day specialist Neil Fairbrother (62) and the mercurial Graeme Hick (63) took England to their mammoth score despite Waqar Younis taking four wickets for the visitors. England continued to dominate in the field, shooting out Pakistan for just 165. Phil Defreitas was again the pick of the England bowlers taking 3-33 while Richard Illingworth finished with 3-34. Everyone contributed though with a wicket apiece for Chris Lewis, Gladstone Small and the evergreen Ian Botham. Only the captain Saleem Malik really got going with the bat, top scoring with 45 but even he could prevent an England victory by 198 runs as England gained a measure a measure of revenge for losing to the same opponents in the World Cup final five months previously.

Number of sixes in match 7 (England 7, Pakistan 0)
Four years later and the match was a much closer affair. By this point, one-day internationals had gone back to being 50-over games and England chose to bat their 50 overs first having won the toss. As so often in the past, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were the chief tormentors for Pakistan taking 5 wickets between them, ably backed-up by debutant Shahid Nazir (2-47) and Saqlain Mushtaq (2-35) as they limited England to 246. Opener Nick Knight top scored, carrying his bat to finish on 125 not out, his second consecutive ODI ton. The other interesting thing about England's innings was Michael Atherton retiring hurt on 14 with a suspected broken thumb only to have to come back out before being dismissed for 30. Saeed Anwar got the Pakistani reply off to a flyer scoring 61 off 59 balls. Adam Hollioake pegged them back taking 4-45 but Pakistan just squeaked over the line, winning by 2 wickets with just 2 balls remaining. England weren't too downhearted though as they were already 2-0 up in the series and this was the final game.

Number of sixes in match 0 (England 0, Pakistan 0)
The last time Pakistan visited, in 2006, it was a day-night game. The visitors won the toss and decided to make the most of the September sunshine by batting first. Shahid "Boom Boom" Afridi opened the batting but failed to set off any fireworks, scoring just 23. Skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq (47) and Abdul Razzaq (75 not out off 72 balls) were the mainstays of the innings as Pakistan set England a target of 236 to win. Michael Yardy was the pick of the bowlers on his ODI debut, his left-arm darts netting him 3-24 from his 10 overs, figures he would not improve upon in 27 further appearances. Meanwhile, local lad Stuart Broad took 1-33 from seven overs. In reply, England captain Andrew Strauss was out for 78 under the floodlights. And so it was left to Ian Bell (86 not out) and the still unpopular at Notts Kevin Pietersen (41 not out) to guide them to an 8-wicket victory with more than 3 overs remaining.

Number of sixes in match 7 (England 0, Pakistan 7) 
So, that was then and this is now. Can England end the sequence of L-W-L-W-L-W? Will 10 years of cricket innovation driven by Twenty20 mean that we see more sixes? Will we see as thrilling an end to the game as we did in the last one day international at Trent Bridge where England hit a six off the final ball to claim a tie against Sri Lanka? Will Pakistan embarrass themselves by arranging to meet up at the right lion?

England v Pakistan, Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Tuesday 30 August, 2pm

Nottinghamshire v Hampshire at Trent Bridge
John Lucas on Publishing Poetry and Cricket Rebels
How To Fall in Love with Cricket
The Extraordinary Life of William Gunn