*Official* Pakistan in England 2020

[trundler]

200 would require Pope to kick on and some troll lower order runs so isn't that farfetched

 

[Magrat Garlick]

is the pope a catholic? Yes, so he cant play for England

 

[Shri]

Naseem shah looks too well built to be 17 haha

 

[Shady Slim]

alpha innings from masood, who i didn't really have tickets on but has consistently performed just when i'm willing to draw a line through his name. especially in a tightly packed series where england has gone in to the game with all their bowlers, there's such an underrated value in a guy who's just blunting that new ball and putting mileage into the bowlers' bodies. cerebrally dominant and will pay dividends later in the series if his teammates back the grit up

stand by this take absolutely. beautiful stuff on masood's part and great work taking advantage of tiring bowlers - while wood is in the bank and stokes apparently isn't too far off, putting broaderson to the sword and putting miles in to their legs will undoubtedly help pak later in the series when matches are so condensed; something WI couldn't do and came back to bite them

 

[aussie tragic]

What a difference it makes when you win the toss and bat (hope Holder is watching)

Shan Massod has a new fan. Amazing that he has now hit 3 hundreds in last 3 innings against 3 different countries

 

[Flem274*]

stand by this take absolutely. beautiful stuff on masood's part and great work taking advantage of tiring bowlers - while wood is in the bank and stokes apparently isn't too far off, putting broaderson to the sword and putting miles in to their legs will undoubtedly help pak later in the series when matches are so condensed; something WI couldn't do and came back to bite them

yea i don't know why trying to injure opposition bowlers by grinding them into a hospital ward isn't more of a tactic.

 

[wpdavid]

I really don't get our team selection at all, we've completely messed with a structure that was working. We may have won the last game with it, but it obviously can't last.

And it's not like there haven't been any successful teams with only four bowlers, even if we'd prefer to play five. Whereas this batting line-up always looked optimistic. Perhaps it was easier than having to make a tough call about dropping one of the bowlers. Has Stokes' injury led to any belated criticism of Root's decision to make him bowl those 10 or 11 over spells in the 2nd WI test? It was worrying at the time and it's come back to bite our collective arse here. Of course, if Pope and Buttler add another 200 then I'll deny ever posting this.

Changing the subject, do we know if the current generation of Pakistan quicks are as good at reversing the old ball as they are with the new one? if so, we're in even bigger trouble than we thought.

 

[Woodster]

Could be a painful day if we lose Pope and Buttler early and end up narrowly avoiding the follow on. Fingers crossed these two boys ride the early storm, stay positive, and make inroads on that Pakistan score. Hoping for another fantastic day!

 

[wpdavid]

Could be a painful day if we lose Pope and Buttler early and end up narrowly avoiding the follow on. Fingers crossed these two boys ride the early storm, stay positive, and make inroads on that Pakistan score. Hoping for another fantastic day!

I doubt whether Pakistan would enforce the follow-on even if they tale the last six wickets in a hurry. The only possible reason would be to avoid their guys bowling last in this game and maybe bowling first next week, but that's not the strongest argument.

 

[trundler]

And it's not like there haven't been any successful teams with only four bowlers, even if we'd prefer to play five. Whereas this batting line-up always looked optimistic. Perhaps it was easier than having to make a tough call about dropping one of the bowlers. Has Stokes' injury led to any belated criticism of Root's decision to make him bowl those 10 or 11 over spells in the 2nd WI test? It was worrying at the time and it's come back to bite our collective arse here. Of course, if Pope and Buttler add another 200 then I'll deny ever posting this.

Changing the subject, do we know if the current generation of Pakistan quicks are as good at reversing the old ball as they are with the new one? if so, we're in even bigger trouble than we thought.

Abbas is pretty good at reversing as is indicated by his success on dry UAE tracks that offer not much else to a medium pacer

 

[Woodster]

I doubt whether Pakistan would enforce the follow-on even if they tale the last six wickets in a hurry. The only possible reason would be to avoid their guys bowling last in this game and maybe bowling first next week, but that's not the strongest argument.

No I agree, my point was less about whether or not they’d enforce the follow on if they could and more about the fact that England will be close to 200 runs behind and a long way behind in this one.
I don’t think there’s a chance Pakistan will enforce the follow on, their whole strategy is all geared towards bowling on the last day at OT after the sun’s baked it for a couple more days. Already turning plenty enough.

 

[Woodster]

Abbas is pretty good at reversing as is indicated by his success on dry UAE tracks that offer not much else to a medium pacer

Must be easier to face a bowler reversing it at late 70’s mph though surely?

 

[trundler]

Must be easier to face a bowler reversing it at late 70’s mph though surely?

Do the phantoms of Aldermen and Philander not haunt you still?

 

[Woodster]

Do the phantoms of Aldermen and Philander not haunt you still?

Not as much as Wasim and Waqar!

 

[Woodster]

Genuinely hope we’re treated to a good few hours of Ollie Pope today, so impressed by him last night but his job isn’t even half done yet.

 

[vcs]

Pope looked good. England are still a long way back in the game. They can probably go after Naseem a little bit, his inexperience showed yesterday. Otherwise, there's very little respite in this Pakistan attack. Yasir bowled some balls that spun a mile. He'll definitely come into the picture in the 4th innings. Don't think England can chase anything over 150 batting last with this shaky lineup.

 

[Starfighter]

Abbas is pretty good at reversing as is indicated by his success on dry UAE tracks that offer not much else to a medium pacer

Nah, mainly got his wickets with the same exaggerated movement off the pitch that Asif used to get on dry tracks. For some reason they don't move the ball as much on what should be more favourable surfaces.

Can't think of any UAE test where reverse swing has played a really big role. The pitches don't seem to really rough up the ball, more just dull it down, so you don't see the big movement that often.

 

[Starfighter]

Anyway, at least Pakistan have picked what should be their best attack and not included spuds like Sohail Khan, at least yet.

 

[trundler]

Nah, mainly got his wickets with the same exaggerated movement off the pitch that Asif used to get on dry tracks. For some reason they don't move the ball as much on what should be more favourable surfaces.

Can't think of any UAE test where reverse swing has played a really big role. The pitches don't seem to really rough up the ball, more just dull it down, so you don't see the big movement that often.

There was definitely talk of reverse in the Oz series in UAE

 

[Beamer]

Btw, don;t be surprised if England lose this series handily. Hearing a few of the Windies players talk about how hard the last few weeks of their bubble lockdown was, it sounds like their might be a limit on how long they can stay in such an environment and maintain performance.

Interestingly, Jason Holder said the hardest thing was returning to Old Trafford, the place where they had spent so much time before the first test at the Rose Bowl.

I guess what I'm saying is don't forget that the mental health of the players might play a big role here and this is an unprecedented situation.