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

[Burgey]

You had the 'same silly rants' when I had criticized Misbah for not upping the run rate in the first two tests except in this situation the run rate is not that important considering its already the second innings with 2 more days to play.

I do think Azhar ought to have had a chop at a couple of those innocuous half trackers from Anderson though.

 

[GIMH]

Cracking decision

 

[Fusion]

How they hell do those umps catch those inside edges? I can rarely, if ever, pick them up in real time.

 

[Beleg]

It's spinning and bouncing, facing decently accurate bowling with a field that's stopping their shots and on top of that, there are two and a half days left...I can't believe you can be watching the game and saying that.

as i wrote before, i am not watching the game myself and am going by cricinfo commentary and second hand descriptions that talk about the ball barely carrying to the keeper at 135k and the lack of positive intent on the batsmen's part...

and the time remaining in the game is completely immaterial in this instance - you don't need to utilise the full five days if you can get the job done before that. pakistan needs a lead of around 400 and getting there quickly means they can, a) add to that, circumstances and time permitting, b) give the english batsmen the better part of 7 sessions. the more time they've the harder it';; be for them to get into the survival mindset.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

SS is just having a moan at our constructive criticism.

 

[Black_Warrior]

I do think Azhar ought to have had a chop at a couple of those innocuous half trackers from Anderson though.

Totally and I can understand Azhar not going for it when he is 15 not out....but when you have batted almost a day and you are on a hundred, you should have the confidence to do that.

 

[silentstriker]

as i wrote before, i am not watching the game myself and am going by cricinfo commentary and second hand descriptions that talk about the ball barely carrying to the keeper at 135k and the lack of positive intent on the batsmen's part...

and the time remaining in the game is completely immaterial in this instance - you don't need to utilise the full five days if you can get the job done before that. pakistan needs a lead of around 400 and getting there quickly means they can, a) add to that, circumstances and time permitting, b) give the english batsmen the better part of 7 sessions. the more time they've the harder it';; be for them to get into the survival mindset.

But if they have a lead of 400, and they bowl for seven sessions, England will win because they will score 400 in that time.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Can Azhar get 200? Would be amazing.

 

[Daemon]

as i wrote before, i am not watching the game myself and am going by cricinfo commentary and second hand descriptions that talk about the ball barely carrying to the keeper at 135k and the lack of positive intent on the batsmen's part...

and the time remaining in the game is completely immaterial in this instance - you don't need to utilise the full five days if you can get the job done before that. pakistan needs a lead of around 400 and getting there quickly means they can, a) add to that, circumstances and time permitting, b) give the english batsmen the better part of 7 sessions. the more time they've the harder it';; be for them to get into the survival mindset.

Also, the more time they're given, the greater the chance of England pulling off a win.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Also, the other argument to SS's scenario would be, the more time Pakistan takes to set England a big target, the less time England have to bat...allowing them an opportunity to get away with a draw.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

England's not going to win! Ball is spinning and they won't score quickly anyway.

 

[salman85]

It's not down to confidence.It's done to a conservative mode of batting.Azhar will play this way regardless of his score.And there is nothing wrong with that.If we were in need of some quick runs,then your argument might have some value.But it doesn't right now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Also, the other argument to SS's scenario would be, the more time Pakistan takes to set England a big target, the less time England have to bat...allowing them an opportunity to get away with a draw.

Unless Pakistan score an absolutely ridiculous total or it rains, England won't be able to draw the game regardless of how long they bat but they'll eventually just win.

 

[salman85]

Also, the other argument to SS's scenario would be, the more time Pakistan takes to set England a big target, the less time England have to bat...allowing them an opportunity to get away with a draw.

Right

 

[Burgey]

Totally and I can understand Azhar not going for it when he is 15 not out....but when you have batted almost a day and you are on a hundred, you should have the confidence to do that.

Yeah, I only say that for that reason, and because the wicket is so flat. A couple there he might have picked up, but I'm not selling short the great job he's done. Kudos to him.

And in Melbourne, Starc gets Tendulkar for 2 (fwiw).

 

[Black_Warrior]

Also, the more time they're given, the greater the chance of England pulling off a win.

But if they have a lead of 400, and they bowl for seven sessions, England will win because they will score 400 in that time.

But that's just from one side of the spectrum.... the other side says is not even considering an England...the other side says...set a target so huge that the option is either a Pakistan win or a draw...and you don't want them to get away with a draw...so you set a big total but also allow enough time for your bowlers to bowl them out.

 

[silentstriker]

Also, the other argument to SS's scenario would be, the more time Pakistan takes to set England a big target, the less time England have to bat...allowing them an opportunity to get away with a draw.

And yet again, if England bat for the entirety of the time they're given, they will win, not draw.

 

[Daemon]

But that's just from one side of the spectrum.... the other side says is not even considering an England...the other side says...set a target so huge that the option is either a Pakistan win or a draw...and you don't want them to get away with a draw...so you set a big total but also allow enough time for your bowlers to bowl them out.

And yet again, if England bat for the entirety of the time they're given, they will win, not draw.

Exactly.

Think of it as an endless test match.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Unless Pakistan score an absolutely ridiculous total or it rains, England won't be able to draw the game regardless of how long they bat but they'll eventually just win.

I think we are going around in circles here....Obviously Pakistan needs to set a huge total..but if they are still batting tomorrow in order to set that total, they will be allowing England an opportunity.. I am saying Pakistan should bat in a way that the possibility of a draw or an England win is taken out....Set a huge target and give your bowlers enough time to bowl them out.

I am not too concerned now though because I know once Misbah gets set..he can go for the big shots against Panesar.

 

[Beleg]

Also, the more time they're given, the greater the chance of England pulling off a win.

i disagree. i think once you've got a lead of around 400, the psychological pressure on the opposition actually makes it harder. consider this.

if you've got around three sessions to bat through, you'd fancy your chances of grinding out a draw. four/five sessions means you'd reckon yourself a decent chance of pulling off a statistically unlikely win were you to play at a steady pace in survival mood. but six sessions + is a lot of time to bat through, on a low, slow spinning pitch. england do not have a misbah or an azhar ali - fellas that can deal with canny spin bowling on these surfaces (trott excepted, mebbe). they do have stroke players in their team, so they'd reckon an offensive mindset would give 'em a better percentage (realistically speaking, chances of an english win are really low at this point)

but if england's in an offensive mood, as it'd make sense for them to be, for that's there strength, i'd also fancy pakistan's chances of running through them faster, since they'd certainly be taking more risks. if i were supporting england, i'd want them to go for it, whereas if i were supporting pakistan, i'd also want england to go for it.