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

[Pratters]

That ball from Ish Sodhi to Azhar Ali was absolute boss. Excited about Ish Sodhi.

 

[hendrix]

Hope Latham gets out early tomorrow because the commentators mispronouncing his name all day is going to annoy the **** out of me otherwise.

piss off

 

[Pratters]

Exaclty. Never, ever make the mistake of judging the pitch before both sides have batted I always say. People make it a habit to assume the pitch is a road just because one team makes it look like one. And then on the same pitch the other team gets bundled out cheaply.Could still turn out to be a road after all, but it's a mistake to assume NZ will get 500 on this too.

FTR, Azhar Ali said that this pitch was slower than the one v Australia after the day's play.

I don't get this business of 'don't judge a pitch before both sides have batted on it'. I remember a test India and Pakistan played in the late early 2000s. After the first 3-4 overs it was evident that the pitch was crap. It was very slow. I said as much and Imran criticised the pitch a lot in the lunchbreak as well. It is not that difficult to see that it's a road when it is indeed a road or see it is not offering much bounce say.

 

[Prince EWS]

FTR, Azhar Ali said that this pitch was slower than the one v Australia after the day's play.

I don't get this business of 'don't judge a pitch before both sides have batted on it'. I remember a test India and Pakistan played in the late early 2000s. After the first 3-4 overs it was evident that the pitch was crap. It was very slow. I said as much and Imran criticised the pitch a lot in the lunchbreak as well. It is not that difficult to see that it's a road when it is indeed a road or see it is not offering much bounce say.

I think it was hard in this case because New Zealand's spinners are poor. It was obvious very early that it wasn't offering anything for the quicks, but Sodhi and Craig bowling on a wicket isn't exactly the greatest test for how much it's got in it for the tweakers, and they both got enough balls to turn to suggest that perhaps better spinners might've caused more dramas.

A pitch that offers nothing for the quicks but plenty for the spinners may not be your cup of tea as a viewer but it is not a road. I think we need to see Pakistan's spinners bowl on it tomorrow before deciding whether it's the former or the latter.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Speak for yourself. I've seen plenty of matches where someone like Sehwag comes and smashes a double inside a day and everyone complains what a road it is. Then he gets out and suddenly everyone struggles. I just have never found it easy to judge a pitch too quickly.

Anyway, I've changed sides and admit this pitch is a patta.

 

[Pratters]

@PEWS: But even when Sodhi is bowling, one can see the turn and bounce he is getting and see that Pakistani spinners will get much more out of it. One can possibly see from the bite Sodhi is getting if the Pakistani spinners will be more potent given they are likely to get more bite. My point is, the notion of not judging the pitch till two teams have batted is rubbish. One may not judge conclusively but we can't just stop our minds and not judge, even when that judgement is 80% or 70%.

 

[smash84]

@PEWS: But even when Sodhi is bowling, one can see the turn and bounce he is getting and see that Pakistani spinners will get much more out of it. One can possibly see from the bite Sodhi is getting if the Pakistani spinners will be more potent given they are likely to get more bite. My point is, the notion of not judging the pitch till two teams have batted is rubbish. One may not judge conclusively but we can't just stop our minds and not judge, even when that judgement is 80% or 70%.

yeah, that's a fair point.

 

[OverratedSanity]

@PEWS: But even when Sodhi is bowling, one can see the turn and bounce he is getting and see that Pakistani spinners will get much more out of it. One can possibly see from the bite Sodhi is getting if the Pakistani spinners will be more potent given they are likely to get more bite. My point is, the notion of not judging the pitch till two teams have batted is rubbish. One may not judge conclusively but we can't just stop our minds and not judge, even when that judgement is 80% or 70%.

Pretty much the gist of what I was saying.

yeah, that's a fair point.

no it' not you ****

 

[smash84]

Of course it is. How is it not?

 

[anil1405]

 

[BeeGee]

That really is terrible luck for Shehzad. The bloke's in good form with centuries against Aus and NZ, and with the prospect of more flat decks to come in this series, he really could have racked up some numbers. Dreadful luck.
Anyhoo, it's good to hear he was back at the ground later in the day, so hopefully he'll be able to recover quickly.

 

[Blocky]

NZ really needs McCullum to tonne up and tonne up big... not for this match so much as for the future of the opening spot in the side, he's the best suited candidate for it.

 

[hendrix]

NZ really needs McCullum to tonne up and tonne up big... not for this match so much as for the future of the opening spot in the side, he's the best suited candidate for it.

Agreed that he's the best candidate but he's explicitly stated that this is only for these conditions.

 

[Adders]

Would this current run of scoring Pakistan's top/middle order are on be getting close to or breaking any records??

The numbers are quite phenomenal. In their last 5 innings Pakistan have racked up 2169 runs for the loss of 24 wickets.......so they have only lost on average 4.8 wickets per innings @ 90.375. More remarkable is that in that 5 innings they have managed 12 tons.

I know the wickets haven't suited the tourist but these are still very good pace attacks they are doing this to.

 

[Spark]

Idk if we fielded a very good pace attack. A very good pace bowler, certainly.

 

[Blocky]

Agreed that he's the best candidate but he's explicitly stated that this is only for these conditions.

I think that would change in a hurry if he had some success there.

 

[Blocky]

Idk if we fielded a very good pace attack. A very good pace bowler, certainly.

Get off your horse, Siddle is more than competent - 190 wickets at 30 puts him in pretty good company. Australia just got comprehensively beaten by the better side. They weren't weak, they were just outplayed.

 

[Howe_zat]

Would this current run of scoring Pakistan's top/middle order are on be getting close to or breaking any records??

The numbers are quite phenomenal. In their last 5 innings Pakistan have racked up 2169 runs for the loss of 24 wickets.......so they have only lost on average 4.8 wickets per innings @ 90.375. More remarkable is that in that 5 innings they have managed 12 tons.

I know the wickets haven't suited the tourist but these are still very good pace attacks they are doing this to.

They've broken quite a few records. One from today was that this is the first time a team's top 5 have all passed 80 in an innings.

One they might be approaching is Pakistan's most tons in a season: Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Get off your horse, Siddle is more than competent - 190 wickets at 30 puts him in pretty good company. Australia just got comprehensively beaten by the better side. They weren't weak, they were just outplayed.

Would be a fair point if Siddle didn't bowl utter piss.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

If it's the Pak pacers that get most of the wickets and blow NZ away, will the pitch be considered flat?