**Official** Pakistan and England in the UAE 2015/16

[OverratedSanity]

Yasir Shah probably out of the first test, England absolute massive favorites now especially with Azhar defo out.

That's terrible.

 

[OverratedSanity]

also im not going to look at his record in australia, but i always had a soft for malik because he seemd to score like 1 off 20 everytime i saw him bat over here. i remember him sucking, but i still liked him for some reason, we always get attached to random mediocre players. anyway its cool hes actually playing well now, i hope he has some unprecedented purple patch for his final few years as a cricketer and manages to average like 50 in tests or something ridiculous

haha yeah, I do the same thing with some other players - particularly Pakistani for some reason.

I also like Nasir Jamshed and it's got nothing to do with his ATG twitter parody account.

Haha I love Jamshed and Malik. Just something about batsmen who smash India every time but do ****all otherwise.

I was actually impressed by Jamshed in one innings in SA as well. Shame it all went pear shaped for him. Quite literally.

 

[mr_mister]

okay so yasir is injured? malik in as frontline spinner, throw amir into the pace attack. problem fixed thank me when you win the series pakistan

 

[weldone]

Come on Yasir

 

[Black_Warrior]

Yasir is most likely out according to latest updates.

Pakistan have called up Zafar Gohar but herein lies the problem.

The pitch was prepared to help spinners, with the idea that Pakistan would play 2 spinners. But if you play Gohar and Babar, you will be playing two left arm spinners..which is kinda silly.

If you play 3 pacers, you are picking a different team to what the conditions suit.

 

[Black_Warrior]

throw amir into the pace attack. problem fixed thank me when you win the series pakistan

Even if they pick him now, there is now way he can make it to UAE before the first test match tomorrow

 

[Black_Warrior]

Wow wow wow

Look who's writing for cricket.com.au these days


Spinners, experience give us the edge over England: Misbah | cricket.com.au

 

[smash84]

azhar and yasir out,

we are well and truly ****ed

 

[Prince EWS]

Someone should check Malik's credit card records for voodoo doll purchases.

 

[Black_Warrior]

So any calls for the series score line? Last time GIMH nailed it with 3-0 prediction.

 

[nightprowler10]

We're probably ****ed in the first Test but I am so ****ing pumped.

 

[Howe_zat]

Honestly no idea. But christ knows I'm pining for some red ball cricket.

Enough previewing, start the bloody test match!

 

[weldone]

If Yasir doesn't play (or an injured Yasir plays) and Pakistan struggles, that will be unpleasant viewing for a (Pak-inclined) neutral like me.

 

[GIMH]

So any calls for the series score line? Last time GIMH nailed it with 3-0 prediction.

3-0 to the good guys

 

[weldone]

I'm predicting 2-1 to Pakistan... England to win the first test

 

[theegyptian]

Pakistan easy winners I'd guess. England playing spin and their spin bowlers being so poor is a pretty big thing to overlook. Pakistan may be missing key players and I won't pretend to know much about the qualities of the team and where they are at but with their formidable record in UAE I can't see them having many problems with England.

Journalists seem to be speculating that Taylor won't play. ******** thing will be that he won't play this tour and then he'll play in SA. IMO he's clearly a better bat than Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, and probably Bell in these conditions even with no test experience, but all of those will be better than him in South Africa. I don't see why if you play a second spinner because of the conditions, why can't you play a batsman because of the conditions.

That Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler middle order looks a giant disaster waiting to happen. Gotta hope that Cook or Root have standout performances and that Moeen is a revelation if England are going to win.

Still I'm looking forward to it from an England perspective. Some will fail but hopefully there are improvements from some.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Looking forward to the series, expect us to lose heavily though. Just want to see a few put in decent performances to give us hope for the future.

 

[Pothas]

Yep, just being competitive would be a good series, playing Pakistan in the UAE is pretty much the hardest thing in world cricket, especially for a side like England. Can't wait though, tours are probably my favourite, and it feels like we have not really had a proper one in ages, the West Indies tour was at such a strange time.

 

[Kippax]

 

[Niall]

Perplexed by the above negativity, you do know how huge the loss of Azhar and Yasir would be?