Lewis Gregory looks to put PSL knowledge to use against Pakistan

England all-rpounder Lewis Gregory, who finished with figures of 1 for 11 in the first One-Day International (ODI) against Pakistan says that he is grateful for the experience he had in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as he had prior knowledge of who he was up against. Gregory, one of five players to make his debut in Cardiff, was called into the team after the entire England squad, which played against Sri Lanka were put under quarantine after seven members of the squad tested positive for Covid-19.

Gregory played a couple of matches for Islamabad United in the PSL 2021.  "Knowing who you are playing against and their strengths and weaknesses helps, having that experience in the PSL was amazing," Gregory told reporters on Friday (July 9). 

"They have some fantastic cricketers in Pakistan. To be able to play against them before and know who you are against gives you a bit of a boost. Hopefully, we can put that into practice," he added.

Gregory has started off well, having picked up the wicket of Mohammad Rizwan - the PSL 2021 winning captain - as his maiden ODI wicket.

While England players have been playing in the T20 Blast, Pakistan, on the other hand, have had just one intra-squad match since coming to England, which cannot be termed as ideal preparations.

However, Gregory while admitting that it is not ideal preparation for the Asian side reckons that they delayed PSL has ensured that Pakistan come off the back of some cricketing action.

"It's obviously not the best preparation," he accepted. 

"But they (Pakistan) have obviously been playing cricket, they've come off a delayed PSL -- I don't think they've come off a couple of months chilling (relaxing) back home." 

"It's not easy the quarantine, I've been there, done that, it's not a nice thing to go through but we played really well," Gregory added.

The second ODI will be played at Lord's on Saturday (July 10) in front of a capacity crowd and Gregory expects Pakistan to come at them all guns blazing. "It's different conditions than they're used to, but I'm fully expecting them to come back and rebound quickly and put us under pressure on Saturday," the all-rounder said.