Pakistan 'desperate' to win

Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan coach, has said his team is "desperate" to win the series against Australia for the sake of the country's fans who have been starved of international cricket because of security concerns in Pakistan.

The five-match one-day series is poised at 2-1 in Australia's favour but Alam attributed the lead to Pakistan's batting errors. "If you look at the results of the last two matches, they did not outplay us," Alam said. Pakistan were bowled out for 207 in the second ODI - with the last five wickets falling for 46 - and for 171 in the third ODI, where they were chasing a modest 199.

Alam said he had told the senior batsmen after the losses to stay at the crease and put a value to their wicket.

Michael Clarke, the Australian captain, said Pakistan would be under pressure since they had to win the fourth ODI on Friday to keep the series alive. "It's a big game for us too, we really want to win. We need to be more focused on what we are doing."

The two teams will be playing a Twenty20 on May 7 following the one-dayers.