England fast-bowler Liam Plunkett says England are not taking victory over Pakistan for granted as the home nation look to clinch the Royal London One Day Series at Trent Bridge.
England head into the third ODI with a 2-0 series lead over the tourists following convincing victories at the Ageas Bowl and Lords, and victory in Nottinghamshire would give the hosts an incontestable lead in the five match series.
“We’re not taking Pakistan for granted, we want to win the series 5-0 so we’re trying to focus on winning every game,” said Plunkett.
“The last one was much closer than it should’ve been, but we’re looking forward to the challenge and hopefully we can seal it tomorrow.”
Plunkett will be reminded of last time he played at Trent Bridge earlier in the summer, when he came in at number ten and scorched a six over the ropes with the last ball of the match, to tie the first ODI against Sri Lanka.
“I do like responsibility and I do better under that," added the Yorkshire fast bowler.
"It’s always good for someone to chuck you the ball when they need ten off the last over - or to send you in a bit earlier to hit a few boundaries - that brings out the best in me.”
Plunkett's fellow north-easterner, Ben Stokes is expected to be back to his all-round role, declaring that he is fit to bowl after playing as a specialist batsman in the first two matches due to a calf injury.
“Over the years his bowling has been as good as his batting,” said Plunkett. “You can see he’s ready to go - he knows he can help win a game for England if he’s bowling.”
England’s unbeaten run in 50 over cricket this summer, with eight wins, leaves Plunkett believing the current England crop is the best white ball team he has played for.
"The New Zealand series last year, when it was high scoring, we showed what we could do and we just went from strength to strength.
“Even when we were beaten in South Africa (2-3), we weren’t discouraged, we carried on and kept backing up what we did.
“We need to improve, the fielding needs to get a better - we all agree on that and we’re still trying to take it up a notch.”
“We’ve won the last two games but we know we’re not at our best, which is a good sign because we’re still winning, but we know that Pakistan are going to come back hard, they’re a good team.”
Trent Bridge will host an Investec Test Match between England and South Africa, and a Royal London One-Day International visit from the West Indies, in 2017.
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