***Official*** Pakistan and England in UAE

[honestbharani]

I think it's unfair to say Pakistan don't have a good pace attack. Our pace attack has never let us down. And I believe that they will be good enough under very good conditions like England.

Englishmen support Oz in the series against India, Aussies supporting England in the series against India.. Now Indians supporting Pakistan in a series against England.. What is the world coming to?




That said, Go Pak!!

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Don't worry, we are softening them up for you guys.

 

[Woodster]

Hugely disappointing effort from England with the bat, but credit to Pakistan who outperformed us in all areas. Not sure what to put the inept batting effort down to, the first innings was bad enough but was just hoping it was one of those days, to then repeat the performance again with evidence of some awful shot selection and hesitant footwork was a big disappointment.

Saeed Ajmal in the first innings and perhaps more surprisingly Umar Gul in the second caused us plenty of problems. In Strauss' interview after game he rightly said we were caught cold on the first morning and were five down and couldn't get back in the game, but what about the fact we had a worse collapse in the second innings ? Some of the shots defied belief.

Strauss was perhaps unlucky to be dismissed in that fashion, whether he snicked it or not, Cook had had one or two issues with the short ball in this innings, but was obviously intent on trying to hook/pull despite not being in tune with the pace or bounce on this pitch from the skiddy Cheema and Gul. It looked horrible in the end, so cramped. KP's was awful, his brain was obviously not in gear, the man out on the hook, early in his innings and he hooks one down his throat. Unbelievable.

Bell is clearly not picking Ajmal, I believe he is still a very good player of spin but because he's not reading Ajmal his footwork is hesitant and consequently he's being caught on the crease. Morgan also could have committed forward to his dismissal but more difficult for a left-hander playing Rehman out of the rough. Prior's may have kept a touch low, but Trott made it look as easy as I'd have expected most of our batsmen to make it look.

We did bowl accurately in Pakistan's first innings, but our pacemen were at least a yard or two slower than Gul and Cheema, which is worrying. They really ran in and got the ball through while our attack seemed to have decided there was no pace in this so we'll just make sure we get the right areas, and all of them struggled to register over 130kph's consistently (maybe barring Broad). That wasn't our real problem in this Test obviously as our attack did a pretty good job, though I think Panesar may well come in for Tremlett in Abu Dhabi.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Woodster, do you think the English batsmen were surprised by Gul in the second innings because they were focusing too much on Ajmal?

 

[Black_Warrior]

Englishmen support Oz in the series against India, Aussies supporting England in the series against India.. Now Indians supporting Pakistan in a series against England.. What is the world coming to?




That said, Go Pak!!

 

[Daemon]

Would definitely bring in Panesar for Tremlett, he was really good for Sussex last season and he's done well in the practice games as well. Should have played in the first test, but that's easy to say in hindsight.

 

[Eds]

Would definitely bring in Panesar for Tremlett, he was really good for Sussex last season and he's done well in the practice games as well. Should have played in the first test, but that's easy to say in hindsight.

I daresay he would have made about 0 difference to the final result of this test.

Outing Tremlett after one poor performance would be harsh as well, AFAIC.

 

[Woodster]

Woodster, do you think the English batsmen were surprised by Gul in the second innings because they were focusing too much on Ajmal?

Not sure they should be surprised by Gul, they know what he can be capable of on his day and also this is Test cricket, they should know that any bowler that peaks on the day represents a very serious threat if you're not fully switched on.

That said it could be that Ajmal was their primary focus, and they hadn't give enough thought to how they were going to play Gul. Would be surprised if Flower and Strauss had not stressed the dangers of other bowlers in the attack, but they did look all at sea.

I think also a fair chunk of credit to Gul who charged in today and hit the deck pretty hard. His short ball was both pacy and accurate and he deserved his wickets today.

 

[Woodster]

Would definitely bring in Panesar for Tremlett, he was really good for Sussex last season and he's done well in the practice games as well. Should have played in the first test, but that's easy to say in hindsight.

I daresay he would have made about 0 difference to the final result of this test.

Outing Tremlett after one poor performance would be harsh as well, AFAIC.

Panesar was very good for Sussex last season and will be confident after a five-for in the tour match, I personally think they were always going to go with the three pacemen for this Test and it's hard to argue before the game that that was the wrong way to go.

Abu Dhabi is supposedly flatter than Dubai so an extra spinner becomes a real option, especially when Tremlett seemed ineffective and not very threatening. He was economical and so played his part, but his pace was well down on what he should be at that suggests he's not in great rhythmn. It may seem harsh to drop him after just one below standard performance but you've got select an attack that you think is best for the conditions at Abu Dhabi.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

I was only impressed with 2 of his wickets.

Strauss's wicket was controversial, and Piterson's was just a freebie.

 

[Furball]

Bet that 6+5 combo must look real tempting for England now.

Not really; the solution to being bowled out twice cheaply isn't to drop a batsman.

 

[Woodster]

I was only impressed with 2 of his wickets.

Strauss's wicket was controversial, and Piterson's was just a freebie.

Tbf he went past the outside edge a fair bit aswell. His short ball to KP was excellent thinking, he'd be on 0 for a while and knew he'd see a short ball as an opportunity to get his innings up and running, the man was set deep for the shot and the accuracy in the bouncer was perfect, high enough for KP to have little control over it. The Strauss wicket was both controversial and fortunate but he worked for his wickets today, England will be disappointed he didn't have to work nearly as hard for a five-for as he should on that wicket.

 

[Daemon]

Cheema bowled way better than him. Though, knowing the Pakistani management, he's probably going to get dropped for the next game.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Cheema bowled way better than him. Though, knowing the Pakistani management, he's probably going to get dropped for the next game.

Your Cheema love is just amusing

 

[Woodster]

Cheema bowled way better than him. Though, knowing the Pakistani management, he's probably going to get dropped for the next game.

I don't think you can say Cheema bowled way better than him, but he supported him very well, today it was Gul that got the wickets but he also bowled very well.

 

[ankitj]

Great result for Pakistan. Congrats!

 

[Z-Man]

If Panesar comes in the next test. Pakistan are surely going to struggle.
He has a tremendous record against Pakistan and I am sure he will be willing to prove his worth next test.

Credit goes to Ajmal and Abdur Rahman for their impressive spin bowling in both innings enabling Pakistan to dominate throughout the days.
My concern begin with the Batting lineup. We have the most inconsistent batting line-up in the world (I fear India is taking us over).
Batsmen Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Misbah-ul-haq are too alike. When any of them is at crease, the runrate decreases to 2/per over which is one of the main reason Pakistan is not able to pressurize the opposition even when in command.
For instance, David Warners innings is a great example of the pressure one can create while being aggressive.
Thus, in my opinion, Umar Akmal deserves the nod ahead of Asad Shafiq and he needs to come in before Misbah-ul-haq or Azhar Ali otherwise, it is just wasting his talent.

The second concern is the bowling department where atleast one of the bowlers warming the bench needs to play either that be Junaid Khan or Wahab Riaz.
lets assume Ajmal not clicking the next game, what do we have as a backup plan? An inconsistent pacer, Umar Gul?.
In my opinion, Riaz is a better option as a backup plan. He has that extra speed and reverse swing which is helpful in breaking partnerships or cleaning up the tail if the spinners fail. Aizaz Cheema has not done anything wrong but we have better options..


If these changes do not occur and the English team prepares well. I am sorry but Pakistan won't be as lucky as they have been this test.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Is Cheema injured?

Funnily Gul's best wicket was the no-ball that got Swann.

 

[Z-Man]

Cheema bowled way better than him. Though, knowing the Pakistani management, he's probably going to get dropped for the next game.

Cheema does bowl good but he is too old (33) to be persisted with.
He has that supportive ability and I would have given him the nod ahead of Umar Gul had Umar not performed today and had I been the selector

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Thank God that you aren't the selector, otherwise we would be seeing a new Pak team every series.