England test tour of Pakistan December 2022

[Xuhaib]

They are planning to drop Mohammad Ali fir Hassan ali. Hassan is a weird bowler when he is inform he is world class and pick wickets in clusters but often he is off the boil and leaks runs and this fc season he averaged 40 odd which means he is not bowling well.
I liked what little i saw of Ali mostly the 2nd innings i think he deserves the next test. My XI woud look like this based in current options.

Imam
Abdullah
Shakeel
Babar
Rizwan
Salman
Faheem
Nawaz
Naseem
Ali
Abrar

 

[Kirkut]

I honestly think there is a distinct floor below which a pitch can't really realistically go. Like, once there's no movement or extra bounce or extra pace then how much worse can it actually get?

This is especially case if we're talking about a Day 1 pitch because what distinguishes the truly irredeemable pitches are how they look on Day 4 or 5 in comparison.

I've watched a lot of featherbeds in my years of following the game and can tell the difference between Day 1 pitches where you may achieve some success if hitting the right areas vs pitches good enough for the game to be abandoned.

 

[Adders]

Probably the only bowling attack against which bazball won't work, Cummins/Starc/Hazlewood are just too good for that.

If Rishbah ****ing Pant can take them down then I think thats a bit of a stretch.

 

[slow deck]

Bazball so far has been tested on flatter than normal pitches in England and an extraordinarily flat pitch in Pakistan.
There was also analysis this year how the dodgy batch of duke balls used in England that went soft meant all middle orders across all the touring nations (except SA maybe) + Eng had massive batting averages in overs 30-80 compared to the normal situation.

You don't go from having one of the weaker batting groups by first class numbers to suddenly being unable to be got out anywhere ever lmao. Even though England dominated their home summer their batting still looked all at sea in quite a few of the tests they ended up winning (against India, multiple times against NZ, against SA).

Who knows England might take over the world but the hype gets a bit old, and isn't based on that much yet.

 

[Xuhaib]

Why does Ramiz Raja think Pakistan have a problem with their pitches?

Surfaces have not been bad there historically. Ironically, they have been since he became chairman

www.espncricinfo.com

Its good that respected journalists like Osman are calling out Rambo for the fraud he is. He can hoodwinked the foreign media in to believeing he has the best interests for everone to give good competitive pitches but anyone who follows cricket in Pakistan knows what's happening.

Amir Sohail said it best boss you have to make a cricket pitch not a nuclear bomb that everyone is scratching their heads, any curator in pakistan can make a spinning track in 5 days its not like people are asking you to make a Perth style pitch.

 

[Starfighter]

You don't go from having one of the weaker batting groups by first class numbers to suddenly being unable to be got out anywhere ever lmao.

Crawley's FC average even crept below thirty, off a larger number of matches than most players ever play. Sure BMac might have given him faith and belief, but you don't iron out massive technical flaws in your game in an instant.

This does pose an interesting question though. Over the past decade England have ruled on moister, greener pitches and the big seamed Dukes ball to support Anderson and Broad. With them both coming to the end of their careers and this new strategy, will they go with much flatter pitches in the near future? Will we see them use their ODI strategy of having an unremarkable bowling attack but massively out-batting the opposition?

Also it must really suck to be a traditional, slower-scoring batsman in England right now.

 

[Kirkut]

If Rishbah ****ing Pant can take them down then I think thats a bit of a stretch.

Nah, it was freakish batting from a team that had a freak of a series. Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice.

Bazballing the current Aussie pace attack? Haha, good luck with that.

 

[Adders]

Nah, it was freakish batting from a team that had a freak of a series. Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice.

Bazballing the current Aussie pace attack? Haha, good luck with that.

The Headingly Stokes test? The only time I've seen that Aussie bowling attack fall apart is when they've been taken to town.

 

[Kirkut]

The Headingly Stokes test? The only time I've seen that Aussie bowling attack fall apart is when they've been taken to town.

I don't classify that as the bazball approach, great knock from Stokes who hit 8 sixes but nothing similar to the brand of cricket England are playing currently.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Stokes innings at Headingley wasn’t “Bazball” but it did show the Australian bowling and fielding could get a bit ragged under pressure,

 

[Adders]

Stokes innings at Headingley wasn’t “Bazball” but it did show the Australian bowling and fielding could get a bit ragged under pressure,

Thats exactly it......and the same happened in the Pant test.

They are a top notch bowling outfit absolutely, but we've seen they are suspect when the opposition is looking to take them apart.

I'm confident Eng can win the Ashes next year just because they are clearly a better performing, better managed side than last time which was a drawn series.

 

[grecian]

So Wood in for Livingstone, not sure it's what I would have done, but in Baball we trust and all that.

 

[morgieb]

Really feel for Foakes. Even if you think he's over-rated, it seems really harsh to lose his spot when he was originally selected in the XI because of illness and not get it back even despite someone getting injured.

 

[Prince EWS]

Really feel for Foakes. Even if you think he's over-rated, it seems really harsh to lose his spot when he was originally selected in the XI because of illness and not get it back even despite someone getting injured.

Surely Pope batting 3 and keeping is unstainable long term, especially since he's **** at the latter and still proving himself in the former. Seems insane unless Foakes is still sick.

 

[Shady Slim]

Surely Pope batting 3 and keeping is unstainable long term, especially since he's **** at the latter and still proving himself in the former. Seems insane unless Foakes is still sick.

yeah this is peak soup for brain selection

if pakistan in theory held on, on account of that no-go with the last wicket between him and root the entire narrative would be how pope soused them of the win however because leach was able to crack the last pair, they roll with him again

 

[BoyBrumby]

Surely Pope batting 3 and keeping is unstainable long term, especially since he's **** at the latter and still proving himself in the former. Seems insane unless Foakes is still sick.

Yeah, absolutely. As Duckett ably demonstrated in the second innings he's only a ball from opening and, after 150 overs in the field, that's a big ask.

Really not sure about a chap with a bung shoulder diving around as much as a keeper needs to either. Seems an unnecessary risk.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Pope at 6, Root up to 3.

 

[OverratedSanity]

The Headingly Stokes test? The only time I've seen that Aussie bowling attack fall apart is when they've been taken to town.

They got frustrated as hell against Vihari and Ashwin at Sydney. And Pujara buried them under a mountain of runs slowly brick by brick in the tour 2 years prior.

It obviously helps if you can go after them, especially in Australia because those pitches reward it, but I'm not sure it's necessary. It's clearly working for England though, it'd be dumb if they went into their shells just because the attack is Australian instead of Indian/SA

 

[Shady Slim]

Nah, it was freakish batting from a team that had a freak of a series. Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice.

Bazballing the current Aussie pace attack? Haha, good luck with that.

let's also not forget the current aussie pace attack aren't built for english conditions

starc can always breathe fire and haze can always contain, the cumster is the cumster, but you don't feel like any one aussie bowler can run train on you at any moment like you do when they're at home - they're hardly as much of a force majeure in any overseas tour

 

[OverratedSanity]

Surely Pope batting 3 and keeping is unstainable long term, especially since he's **** at the latter and still proving himself in the former. Seems insane unless Foakes is still sick.

Butler's going to be called back soon anyway. He fits their current philosophy too much to just be a white ball specialist.