*Official* Australia vs Pakistan in England

[Black_Warrior]

Umar Akmal reminds me a lot of Mohammad Ashraful sadly... Ashraful started off with brilliant century against Murali on a turning pitch in Sri Lanka...
Akmal started off with a century against Bond and co on a seaming track in New Zealand.
Both are considered supremely talented and both are generous when it comes to gifting wickets to bowlers.

 

[pasag]

If anyone has a few seconds, would be really interesting seeing the statistics of groupings of wickets for Australia vs that of other countries. It seems we always lose our wickets in tight clusters, in all formats, regardless of how well we're doing.

 

[Spark]

If anyone has a few seconds, would be really interesting seeing the statistics of groupings of wickets for Australia vs that of other countries. It seems we always lose our wickets in tight clusters, in all formats, regardless of how well we're doing.

It does seem that way. The only recent exceptions I can think of are the Boxing Day and Gabba tests.

Cheers Butt for starting with Kaneria.

 

[Spark]

Game over.

 

[Manee]

Smith gets what may be his final chance for a while to prove himself with the bat, simply cannot let the team down here.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Clarke OUT

 

[kingpin]

jynxed....

 

[Spark]

Fair play though. Almost the perfect ball to bowl first up.

 

[Manee]

Fair play though. Almost the perfect ball to bowl first up.

Asif really has earned his number two rank in Test cricket. Very similar to Mcgrath, but with less pace and bounce and more lateral movement.

 

[Faisal1985]

Tim Paine scoring some valuable runs for Australia. Pak has to get them out before 100...otherwise the mental game is in Australia's favor.

 

[Black_Warrior]

why is Kaneria still bowling??Get rid of him already..
Bring back Asif...Asif and Aamer from both ends should mop up the tail

 

[Uppercut]

Asif really has earned his number two rank in Test cricket. Very similar to Mcgrath, but with less pace and bounce and more lateral movement.

It's bizarre how different his on-field persona is from that off the field. You'd expect the young Pakistani tearaway with drug issues to be a Shoaib Akhtar-esque mercurial talent, but no, he just finds a good line and length and plugs away medium-fast with subtle movement through the air and off the pitch.

Hard not to like when he's playing cricket as a result. Shame about the rest of the time.

 

[kingkallis]

Bring Gul back! If Pakistani bowlers cant bundle the Aussie out under 300 then it will be hard for them to chase 150/200 in the 4th innings...

 

[kingkallis]

Just 6-7 more overs to go before the new cherry will be due...

 

[Manee]

It's bizarre how different his on-field persona is from that off the field. You'd expect the young Pakistani tearaway with drug issues to be a Shoaib Akhtar-esque mercurial talent, but no, he just finds a good line and length and plugs away medium-fast with subtle movement through the air and off the pitch.

Hard not to like when he's playing cricket as a result. Shame about the rest of the time.

To be fair, Akhtar was an exceptional bowler too, who would have qualified as an all time great if injuries hadn't cut short his career. Moreover, I wouldn't consider Asif's bowling are merely plugging away, every ball he bowls eems like it could be a wicket - something that cannot be said of Gul or even Amir.

 

[kingkallis]

Brad Haddin will be next Phil Jacques?

Paine is pretty good with gloves and he is certainly doing a fine fine job with bat as well...

 

[The_Bunny]

why is Kaneria still bowling??Get rid of him already..
Bring back Asif...Asif and Aamer from both ends should mop up the tail

surprising either of them are on with the new rock just around the corner

 

[Uppercut]

If anyone has a few seconds, would be really interesting seeing the statistics of groupings of wickets for Australia vs that of other countries. It seems we always lose our wickets in tight clusters, in all formats, regardless of how well we're doing.

I reckon it's because they don't have players who can reverse a collapse, especially down the order. Marcus North and Brad Haddin are the worst offenders, but even Midge Johnson only seems to get runs when there are already plenty on the board.

We all miss Andrew Symonds, eh

 

[Uppercut]

To be fair, Akhtar was an exceptional bowler too, who would have qualified as an all time great if injuries hadn't cut short his career. Moreover, I wouldn't consider Asif's bowling are merely plugging away, every ball he bowls eems like it could be a wicket - something that cannot be said of Gul or even Amir.

Asif's amazing. I didn't mean to say he's not an exceptional bowler, I'd describe Glenn McGrath much the same way.

 

[Spark]

I reckon it's because they don't have players who can reverse a collapse, especially down the order. Marcus North and Brad Haddin are the worst offenders, but even Midge Johnson only seems to get runs when there are already plenty on the board.

We all miss Andrew Symonds, eh

You know things are bad when you expect a #8 to halt a collapse...