*Official* Pakistan in England and Ireland 2016

[Grumpy]

Sun Jul 3 - Tue Jul 5 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)
Somerset v Pakistanis
County Ground, Taunton

Fri Jul 8 - Sun Jul 10 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)
Sussex v Pakistanis
County Ground, Hove

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Thu Jul 14 - Mon Jul 18 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)
1st Investec Test - England v Pakistan
Lord's, London

Fri Jul 22 - Tue Jul 26 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)
2nd Investec Test - England v Pakistan
Old Trafford, Manchester

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Fri Jul 29 - Sat Jul 30 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)
Worcestershire v Pakistanis
County Ground, New Road, Worcester

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Wed Aug 3 - Sun Aug 7 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)
3rd Investec Test - England v Pakistan
Edgbaston, Birmingham

Thu Aug 11 - Mon Aug 15 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)
4th Investec Test - England v Pakistan
Kennington Oval, London

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Thu Aug 18 (50 ovs) 10:45 local (09:45 GMT)
1st ODI - Ireland v Pakistan
The Village, Malahide, Dublin

Sat Aug 20 (50 ovs) 10:45 local (09:45 GMT)
2nd ODI - Ireland v Pakistan
The Village, Malahide, Dublin

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Wed Aug 24 (50 ovs) 14:00 local (13:00 GMT)
1st ODI - England v Pakistan
The Rose Bowl, Southampton

Sat Aug 27 (50 ovs) 10:30 local (09:30 GMT)
2nd ODI - England v Pakistan
Lord's, London

Tue Aug 30 (50 ovs) 14:00 local (13:00 GMT)
3rd ODI - England v Pakistan
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Thu Sep 1 (50 ovs) 14:00 local (13:00 GMT)
4th ODI - England v Pakistan
Headingley, Leeds

Sun Sep 4 (50 ovs) 10:30 local (09:30 GMT)
5th ODI - England v Pakistan
Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

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Wed Sep 7 (20 ovs) 18:30 local (17:30 GMT)
Only T20I - England v Pakistan
Old Trafford, Manchester

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Pakistan Test Squad

Openers

1. Mohammad Hafeez
2. Shan Masood
3. Sami Aslam

Middle Order Batsmen

4. Azhar Ali
5. Younis Khan
6. Misbah-ul-Haq
7. Asad Shafiq
8. Iftikhar Ahmed

Wicket-keepers

9. Sarfraz Ahmed
10. Mohammad Rizwan

Seamers

11. Wahab Riaz
12. Mohammad Amir
13. Rahat Ali
14. Sohail Khan
15. Imran Khan

Spinners

16. Yasir Shah
17. Zulfiqar Babar



The Pakistan squad will be arriving in June 14 for a 2 week training camp at the Rose Bowl cricket ground in Hampshire prior to the series starting.

No news on the England squad yet as the Sri Lanka series is still ongoing. Saqlain Mushtaq has been hired by the ECB for a brief consultancy period for the week leading to the 2nd Test in Old Trafford.

 

[Grumpy]

Thought I would create the thread as the Pak Test squad has been announced and people have started reacting to Amir's selection.

Hoping for a more competitive series than Sri Lanka. Shan Masood selection says so otherwise.

 

[smash84]

Actually Shan Masood might make for a competitive opener in English conditions. He's lived in England and he has played cricket there too. good on the selectors to try sami aslam. Mohd Hafeez would be a walking wicket in overcast conditions.

 

[smash84]

Pakistan squad looks reasonably strong. The middle order looks solid and the bowling attack not too shoddy

 

[the big bambino]

Bowling attack very good imo. I think they'll go with Imran or Sohail (in that order) as the 3rd seamer instead of Rahat.

 

[Niall]

Zulfi is a bland as hell pick although I suppose Wasim/Ashgar or Gohar would also have been risks, so not exactly blessed with options.

Shezhad out is a tricky one, yes the guy is a ****, but he has done really well in test cricket. I know some will scream "roads" etc, but he hasn't failed in this format whatsoever, so he really should be their. Drop him from the formats he is toilet in ffs.

Shan v Anderson will be tremendous banter, He has actually faced Anderson before but that was a long time ago

Iftikhar Ahmed I suspect is their in the hope we get a pitch that spins, highly unlikely he will be picked otherwise with Yasir and Hefeez bowling, if he has been picked as the main back up middle order batsman than Babar Azam should be fuming.

Sohail I have doubts over him lasting the summer, but supposedly worked really hard on his fitness recently and he has good numbers in recent four day cricket. Hamza would have been an absolute punt and Adil is meh.



Shan
Hafeez
Azhar
Younis
Misbah
Sarfraz

Amir
Riaz
Rahat
Imran

That will more than likely be the starting line up.

 

[the big bambino]

What no Yasir?

 

[Niall]

What no Yasir?

my bad, forgot him

He plays ahead of Rahat then.

Overall though, a few meh choices, but nothing to get that worked up about whatsoever.

 

[the big bambino]

Sweet. That's about the team I'd go with for the test. Sohail is an interesting choice and it seems he's favoured by the selectors. I mean wasn't he a surprise choice for the ODI WC? Tbf he did a good job back then, been bowling well in FC cricket (according to Inzi) and bowling well at the boot camp. I think he'll be the back up seamer but it does seem he's justified his tour spot.

 

[smash84]

Yep. Sohail is decent. At the very least i think he can be relied upon to keep things accurate. He's reasonably accurate. I think wahab will probably sit out with rahat amir and sohail or imran khan as the 3 seamers with yasir or xulfi depending on fitness of yasir as the 4th bowker. If pak can open well then i can see this being a good series. Shan masoods experience playing in English conditions will be key.

 

[the big bambino]

Wahab sitting out would surprise me. I would have thought him a lock.

 

[OverratedSanity]

How close are Harris Sohail and Babar Azam to test selection? Really like the look of them.

 

[smash84]

Wahab sitting out would surprise me. I would have thought him a lock.

Wahab hasn't been that great at test level (or any other level for that matter). He's 3rd choice at best in terms of the test team. Isn't very penetrative and except for some pacy spells doesn't have much to show for. He also hasn't played too many tests either because of it.

How close are Harris Sohail and Babar Azam to test selection? Really like the look of them.

They both have potential but the problem is that Pakistan's test batting isn't too shabby while Misbah and Younis are still around. Also Shafiq is decent at test level too and combined with Azhar Ali the middle order is reasonably solid. So its hard to see them fitting in unless they can prove themselves to be great fits for the opening slots.

 

[vcs]

One reasonably close Test that could go either way depending on toss/conditions, and England dominating the rest of the matches is my prediction.

 

[Howe_zat]

Be interesting to see how Pakistan approach batting in this series. Their tactics in the UAE were very effective, but I doubt 'block the seamers and hit the spinners' is going to be much of an option with 75 overs of seam each day.

 

[Flametree]

Some questions - I seem to have been away from cricket for a while..

Can Hafeez bowl? If not with that middle order 3-6 seemingly locked in will they be stuck with just four bowlers?

Wasn't Yasir going to be banned for drug use or did I dream that?

Where's Junaid Khan? Seems to be a lot of left arm pacers in contention, is he injured or just fourth?

 

[Howe_zat]

Imran Khan should play, bowled well against us in the UAE and was last seen taking plenty of domestic wickets.

Reckon the attack will be Wahab, Amir, Imran and Yasir Shah.

 

[Howe_zat]

Where's Junaid Khan? Seems to be a lot of left arm pacers in contention, is he injured or just fourth?

Got dropped in SL last year. Wasn't the same after coming back from injury.

 

[Niall]

Wahab hasn't been that great at test level (or any other level for that matter). He's 3rd choice at best in terms of the test team. Isn't very penetrative and except for some pacy spells doesn't have much to show for. He also hasn't played too many tests either because of it.

.

He was really good in the England series to be fair, his spell in the second test broke England, so I can't see him been dropped while Rahat has been very inconsistent. He can also bat a little which as England proved is very important to have lower order batsmen who can hang around. Rahat on the other hand is a rabbit.

Babar is captain of the a team for the England tour so close enough to selection. He just needs to wait for either one of Misbah or Younis to retire. Misbah will probably walk away after the Aussie tour, he is 42!

Harris has been out for close to 18 months and no timeline for his return, he was the reserve batsman before that, but it will be very hard to come back.

Junaid?

They gave him enough chances, Misbah clearly rated him, but he is crap these days. He doesn't deserve to be in the squad.

 

[NUFAN]

How close are Harris Sohail and Babar Azam to test selection? Really like the look of them.

I was wondering what's been happening with Haris Sohail too but he hasn't played a first class match for almost 2 1/2 years! He hasn't played any competitive game for almost 9 months, a T20. Apparently he was injured at the end of 2015.