**Official** Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2014

[straw man]

Think you all need to prepare yourselves mentally for when Hesson in the -Williamson +Neesham present gives us all another opportunity to see Craig and Sodhi compete head to head.

God I hope not.

Would select Craig but only just; wouldn't be upset if they selected Sodhi instead.

 

[hendrix]

Think you all need to prepare yourselves mentally for when Hesson in the -Williamson +Neesham present gives us all another opportunity to see Craig and Sodhi compete head to head.

God I hope not.

Oh, there's a very high chance this will happen. In fact, given Wagner's lack of form, it's the most likely selection IMO.

 

[Kippax]

PakA 36/1 (23.0 ov, Abid Ali 14*, Shan Masood 13*, MD Craig 0/11) | Live Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

10.2
Southee to Sami Aslam, OUT, good length delivery, batsman comes too much across to it, strikes him on the pads, loud appeal and the umpire raises his finger
Sami Aslam lbw b Southee 3 (30b 0x4 0x6) SR: 10.00

 

[Kippax]

.

23.3
Craig to Abid Ali, FOUR, full delivery batsman plays it on the half volley and drives it to the cover boundary
23.4
Craig to Abid Ali, FOUR, sweep from the batsman down to fine leg for a boundary
23.5
Craig to Abid Ali, OUT, flighted delivery batsman goes for a frontfoot defense gets an outside edge to the slip fielder, simple dismissal
Abid Ali c Taylor b Craig 22 (49b 4x4 0x6) SR: 44.89

 

[Flem274*]

well craig and sodhi have started well. craig especially.

 

[Flem274*]

.

tbf 10 overs, 1/19 is tidy

 

[Prince EWS]

Oh, there's a very high chance this will happen. In fact, given Wagner's lack of form, it's the most likely selection IMO.

Yeah I'd bet my arse on both spinners playing.

 

[Prince EWS]

1. Latham
2. Astle
3. Williamson
4. Taylor
5. McCullum
6. Anderson/Neesham/Specialist Batsman
7. Watling +
8. Southee
9. Wagner
10. Henry
11. Boult

You know you want to, NZC.

Nah Henry or Wagner would drop out for Anderson/Neesham in that side. Astle opening the batting shouldn't hide the fact that he's playing as a bowler.

 

[Kippax]

tbf 10 overs, 1/19 is tidy

True, true.

Possibly we'll have a look at the vault footage of anything that's good to read.

 

[Immenso]

I reckon you could probably make a good correlation between the number of players the tourists use in their playing '11' in their warm up match and how well they will go in the series (and especially first test).

Playing 15 players in an 11-a-side sport means we will get reamed, but maybe not quite as badly as the Aussies who used 16.

 

[RxGM]

good to see ross playing given that a couple of days ago he was talking about not been ready for the first test

 

[Mike5181]

Yeah I'd bet my arse on both spinners playing.

Almost a certainty in these conditions with Williamson out.

 

[SeamUp]

Noticed Karamat Ali is playing for Pakistan 'A'. I enjoyed watching this boy bowl in the u19 WC, even more so than India's chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav.

Usman Qadir off the radar ?

 

[BeeGee]

Yeah I'd bet my arse on both spinners playing.

Yeah, it's a done deal. Wagner and Bracewell haven't bowled a ball in the warm up yet.

The good news is the spinners are bowling reasonably well.

 

[Flem274*]

we don't know the pitch or the standard of the pakistani A team tbf. think of some of the pranks we've pulled over the years. im not waiting with bated breath for ish and craig to bamboozle younis and misbah.

 

[BeeGee]

we don't know the pitch or the standard of the pakistani A team tbf.

Pakistan A beat Australia in their warm up game, quite easily.

im not waiting with bated breath for ish and craig to bamboozle younis and misbah.

They won't. But I'm sure Hesson will play them both in the first test.

 

[Flem274*]

...i completely missed that. all i know is doolan tonned up then stunk it up in the test he played.

it's nz spinners though. i refuse to trust this until i see it working in a test. it will hurt too much otherwise.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

The a team pak played looked much stronger. Regardles, having them at 143/5 is a good showing.

 

[Prince EWS]

The a team pak played looked much stronger. Regardles, having them at 143/5 is a good showing.

Yeah four of the blokes who played the tour game against Australia (Shehzad, Shafiq, Imran and Rahat) went on to play both Tests as well, and Australia's second innings collapse was a product of batting Faulkner at six and Siddle at seven in that innings as much as anything else.

The blokes Sodhi has dismissed can definitely bat though. One played a few Tests not long ago and the other, despite not doing a lot in First Class cricket yet, has just graduated from destroying worlds as an Under 19 international and hit a ton against Australia in their tour game.

 

[hendrix]

we don't know the pitch or the standard of the pakistani A team tbf. think of some of the pranks we've pulled over the years. im not waiting with bated breath for ish and craig to bamboozle younis and misbah.

The way Craig got his wicket simply won't happen with Younis. He's not going to be caught at slip driving an off spinner. He wouldn't be driving Craig unless he was down the pitch. He'd sweep him to death or else camp on the back foot like he knows he can.