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

Niall

Niall

International Coach
wpdavid said:
No doubt there will be some idiots calling for the heads of Cook & Bayliss as and when we lose this and, in all probability, the next one by a country mile.
fwiw I have more sympathy for the current crop of youngsters than the apparently world number 1 side that went down 3-0 in 2012.
# better late than never
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I'd be astounded if anybody is calling for their heads no matter what happens in this and the next test, Cook has been awesome this year and its only the second series for Bayliss who is just after winning the Ashes! This time around unlike in 2012, Pakistan have been strong favorites, this is an inexperienced side compared to 2012 who are lacking gun spinners like Swann and Monty, nah the media will only get their knives out if its a slaughter in South Africa.
 
Black_Warrior

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
wpdavid said:
No doubt there will be some idiots calling for the heads of Cook & Bayliss as and when we lose this and, in all probability, the next one by a country mile.
fwiw I have more sympathy for the current crop of youngsters than the apparently world number 1 side that went down 3-0 in 2012. Quite how our mess of a domestic structure is supposed to prepare them in any way for this sort of challenge is beyond me. Any more than it does for Mitch and chums sending it down at 90+ mph.

On the bright side, at least Ian Bell's ability to produce a career-preserving 40 remains undiminished by the passing years. 8-)
# better late than never
Click to expand...
The idiots that you're referring to, who usually react like that after a loss are the casual fans who watch 5 games in a year. Pretty sure the casual cricket fans in England have already watched their quota of 5 games this year..don't think they care much for this series or even aware of it.
 
Jono

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Yeah no one is calling for Cook's head after the ashes surely? Especially after they were so close to winning first test here too.
 
Black_Warrior

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
Not sure what to make of Michael Vaughan here. He is calling Yasir Shah 'so called best spinner bowling around the wicket'. Seems to have an axe to grind for some inexplicable reason.
 
Niall

Niall

International Coach
Credit to Imran Khan, never understood how he got dropped in the NZ series for the useless Talha, not suggesting they would have not been hammered even if IK played, but the NZ really enjoyed the bowling of Talha in that third test.:D
 
wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Spikey said:
big earthquake in Pakistan apparently
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Ugh - perspective moment.

I read that it was felt in India and Bangladesh too, so it must be absolutely massive.
It's centre was in Islamabad, so there must be some Pakistani players out there now with families directly affected.
 
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wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Black_Warrior said:
England actually have done quite well here today. This is anything but a fold ala 2012.
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No, we haven't yet seen anything as bad as the collapses in 2012. And as others have said, that side was far more culpable given how experienced the top 7 were.
 
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flibbertyjibber

flibbertyjibber

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Fair play to Broad, he gets lots of stick over gutless crap batting and lots of it is deserved given the talent he has but when the chips are down in a fight on day 5 he always gives his all. Took a bit of magic to get rid of him.
 
flibbertyjibber

flibbertyjibber

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Babar needs to be careful. Can't go sticking the finger up aimed at the umpire as if it should be out too often without a match referee getting involved. Think he got a little over excited there.
 
theegyptian

theegyptian

International Vice-Captain
Daemon said:
Top 7 having Ali, Bairstow, Stokes and Butler is so poo. Really need some Ballance (I know he's not on tour) and Taylor in there. No sense in having 4 seamers with 2 spinners if it's going to make the batting so weak. Yes a lot of the bowlers are allrounders but proper batsmen are desperately needed atm.
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Think your argument is a facile one (which I don't blame you for as you've probably only got a passing interest in what England do with their team) which doesn't do justice to the complexity of the decision that the selectors had for this series - mainly as a result of having no spinners in which they could trust.

I feel like you're suggesting a team like

Cook
Bell
Taylor
Root
Ballance
Stokes
Buttler
Ali
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

which on the face of it looks a stronger team. Problem is that it puts an almighty burden on Broad and Anderson in the bowling especially the first innings. Swap Ali for a 2012 Swann or Panesar and you could play that team as Swann/Panesar could bowl the (35 overs in a day) holding overs in the first innings - England didn't have that here. You could mess around with combinations of different team for hours but I don't think England would have ever found a team that they were completely happy with given their resources at their disposal. They were always going to be short on either batting or bowling dependent on which way they went.

I'd have played Taylor from the start of the tour but there are also significant reasons to not see Bell, Bairstow, Stokes or Buttler dropped - so I can see why they didn't make that decision.
 
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