*Official* Pakistan in England 2010

[Shoggz]

It seems like only yesterday that we were on the eve of the last Pakistan series in England

As I remember, England were pretty low - they'd lost Freddie as captain (Strauss was famously the stand-in's stand-in) and had just been thrashed 5-0 by Sri Lanka in the one day series..

I actually enjoyed the series immensely. Yes, as a partisan England fan, the innings victory at Old Trafford was nice - but overall it was pretty competitive really..

The big difference as far as I can see is that with Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar missing at the start of the series in 2006 it was ostensibly the batting that was the strong point for Pakistan, whilst it seems this time, the converse is true....

 

[Top_Cat]

As an aside, still looking ***eh Waqar;

I mean, everyone here knows about my man-crush on Waqar but this pic, the way he holds those balls......

Back in 5.

 

[Top_Cat]

This series makes me wish I had Foxtel, tbh. When Pakistan bowl, it'll be game on. They'll be let down by their batting but, tbh, any dents made into the confidence of the English batting will only help the Aussie Ashes cause. The Pakistan bowling, probably for the first time ever, looks a great bowling unit. Aamer/Asif/Gul reminds me a lot of McGrath/Gillespie/Kasprowicz or McGrath/Gillespie/Fleming in their prime. Hard work for any batting line-up.

For the record, reckon Pakistan will take a Test but lose the series. A spanking ton by Umar Akmal a near certainty.

 

[Jarquis]

@it actually being 5 minutes between posts.

 

[Top_Cat]

Was more like 1 but took me 4 more minutes to regain composure.

 

[andyc]

Tiny bit of John Travolta there IMO.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Was more like 1 but took me 4 more minutes to regain composure.

well atleast he has shaved

 

[Top_Cat]

Prefer the tickle of stubble, tbh.

 

[Oscillatingmind]

Considering the Pakistan capitulation to Watson in the Australian series 11 wickets at 10 a piece with two five wicket hauls, you'd have to think England in home conditions will do might badly to lose a test, even given their bowling strength. Still going with a 2(3)-1 prediction to England. Wheres Onions at now-a-days? injured?

 

[Faisal1985]

This series makes me wish I had Foxtel, tbh. When Pakistan bowl, it'll be game on. They'll be let down by their batting but, tbh, any dents made into the confidence of the English batting will only help the Aussie Ashes cause. The Pakistan bowling, probably for the first time ever, looks a great bowling unit. Aamer/Asif/Gul reminds me a lot of McGrath/Gillespie/Kasprowicz or McGrath/Gillespie/Fleming in their prime. Hard work for any batting line-up.

For the record, reckon Pakistan will take a Test but lose the series. A spanking ton by Umar Akmal a near certainty.

I think if Pak takes the 1st test....(highly possible the bowling trio clicks again in the swinging conditions) and batting does not collapse at a historical/recent past's rate then it will be tough for England to bounce back....

I think Amir will take care of Cook and Asif will take care of KP...Ajmal and Gul i think are good enough for the likes of Trott or Morgan and the tail...the only real threat i see is Strauss...but then we have got the good old noob Umar Amin.....oh yea Collingwood...hmmm...lets hand him over to Asif as well....

 

[NUFAN]

I think if Pak takes the 1st test....(highly possible the bowling trio clicks again in the swinging conditions) and batting does not collapse at a historical/recent past's rate then it will be tough for England to bounce back....

I think Amir will take care of Cook and Asif will take care of KP...Ajmal and Gul i think are good enough for the likes of Trott or Morgan and the tail...the only real threat i see is Strauss...but then we have got the good old noob Umar Amin.....oh yea Collingwood...hmmm...lets hand him over to Asif as well....

Is Ajmal likely to play in front of Kaneria?

I'm concerned for Pakistan how they are going to handle the English bowlers. Tipping Broad to produce one or two devastating spells each Test and Swann to take important wickets quickly.

 

[Prince EWS]

Kaneria's been ridiculously over-criticised of late. He's been quite good since he came back into the team in New Zealand, IMO. Dropping him for Ajmal at the moment would be dumb especially since it's in England.

 

[Faisal1985]

I am just having this 6th sense kinda thing that Ajmal might be the man against England....Aussies played him very well in Australia....but i think he might be able to give some tough time to the English batsmen...

I know Kaneria is getting a lot of criticism of late but my choice of Ajmal over Kaneria is simply based on only an instinct where Ajmal might be hard for England to read....i think Ajmal should be given a chance ahead of Kaneria but so far haven't read any such news....

 

[AaronK]

In your list I would never open with anyone other, if i have Alam in the playing 11 and no Farhat.

Second, Misbah is a big no no as far as i am concerned. He has not shown any sign of good form in NZ or Aus.

Must say that Migara made a good observation to switch Ajmal with Kaneria for the 1st test and the reason he has provided about the English batsmen is spot on....Kaneria is not clicking at the moment as much as Pak would like him to. Ajmal has a greater chance to do this...

Farhat is also a player who needs more confidence to come out strong and i think that innings provided him with that confidence, i wouldn't sack him now. If they wanted to drop him they should have done it before Aussie tour, it would be stupid to drop a person who came out of a match winning knock....I still think 1 of the rookies should be replaced with Hameed he is not a bad bat at all...i think he averages pretty decent in tests as well....it will add a bit of experience in the middle order. What's the point of bringing him and not playing him ahead of the noobs....

I would go about it something like this...

Butt
Farhat
Hameed
Umar Akmal
Azhar Ali
Fawad Alam
Kamran
Amir
Gul
Asif
Ajmal

I would pick Alam over Malik ATM. This is the worst i have seen Malik bat so far.......and i don't want to see him in the team...

Another problem he could pick with Salman is that Salman captain's Lahore and Malik captains Sialkot...in the last RBS T20 the two were rivals and have quite a bit of bad blood in the domestic circuit. Razzaq also sided with Malik after leaving Lahore because he was not given captaincy and it was given to Butt....i am just saying the way Malik is....who knows...

Personal opinion Malik shouldn't be anywhere close to pakistani team..

he is the cancer that could spread and destroy anything and everything..

I would like to have yasir hameed in place of him..

I would also replace kaneria with Ajmal because of his doosra.. and let him see how he does against England.. the other reason is because kaneria has been playing in county cricket.. most English players have played him and have got used to his bowling.. intrducing ajmal and his doosra could be a new thing for English batsmans..

my XI looks like this at least for the first test

S. Butt
I. Farhat
Y.Hameed
A. Ali
U.Amin
U.Akmal
K. Akmal
M.Aamir
U.Gul
M. Asif
S. Ajmal

 

[Prince EWS]

Have Pakistan changed their squad for this series at all? Don't remember an announcement.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Wheres Onions at now-a-days? injured?

'Fraid so. Back (stress fracture) and left knee (cartilage). When he was on Sky three or four weeks ago he said he wanted to be playing by the end of the season, but given he had the same microfracture surgery on his left knee as Flintoff did (and still no sign of him) I reckon that's on the optimistic side myself.

 

[Prince EWS]

Have Pakistan changed their squad for this series at all? Don't remember an announcement.

Just checked the squad on cricinfo and Afridi's listed in it, so I'm guessing they named a squad for 'the tour of England' originally rather than just the series against Australia. Strange thing is, Fawad Alam seems to be with the touring party given he's taken part in one of the warmups, but he's not in the squad.

 

[four_or_six]

Feeling reasonably confident for this series, I think we should win over the four, but no doubt we'll have at least one of our collapses at some point. Tipping Broad to take a lot of wickets.

 

[Prince EWS]

Feeling reasonably confident for this series, I think we should win over the four, but no doubt we'll have at least one of our collapses at some point. Tipping Broad to take a lot of wickets.

I'd be tipping Onions for a bag-full if he was fit. Full of a good length and straight will work wonders against this team; don't know if that's Broad's go quite enough at this point. Tipping Anderson to outdo Broad actually.

 

[four_or_six]

I'd be tipping Onions for a bag-full if he was fit. Full of a good length and straight will work wonders against this team; don't know if that's Broad's go quite enough at this point. Tipping Anderson to outdo Broad actually.

I dunno... I hope Jimmy takes lots but he just doesn't seem to be doing that well recently.