How long will England be no.1 for?

[Burgey]

Wouldn say he "owned" him , but yeah he played him well enough. But it is only partly relevant to the whole picture and in anycase the pitches in UAE are a bit different to both Srilankan or Australian pitches.

True. It would be a pretty good match up. I can't see our middle order being as passive as England's has been, but that doesn't mean the result would necessarily be different.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Ponting owned Murali though. Played him superbly.

In Australia or in Sri Lanka?

 

[Spark]

Can see Ponting struggling a bit particularly against Ajmal when it is turning. Though he may have become a better player of spin now, he has never been a good reader of spin from the hand. Has even in the recent past looked a bit iffy against the likes of Chawla and Ashwin's wrong one's too. Plus there is still a question mark on his form, despite whatever he might have done against the Indian attack.

He's not but he knows how to compensate. He plays with far softer hands nowadays and is very decisive in his footwork - that should at least let him make some runs.

Clarke is so odd. Most of the times he'll look brilliant against spin moving his feet to get to the pitch of the ball and all, but sometimes he'll move around too much resulting in getting himelf in a tight spot and getting out softly. But i guess, with his form right now he is likely to do pretty well.

Nah DWTA. I like to think of it this way - when he's annoyed or doesn't rate the bowler, that's when he does well (ie. is trying to smash him out of the park). It's when he gets bored, plays from the crease (like he did first dig at Melbourne, actually) and goes nowhere that he gets himself in trouble.

When he's on song, he's simply just no fun to bowl to at all. He can cut on length alone, can manipulate the ball to any part of the field with his hands and obviously his down-the-track play speaks for itself

Hussey i think will probably take a couple of innings to get used to the bowlers/conditions and then do pretty well in his usual style.

Yeah this is a fair call.

But in anycase relying on these 3 so heavily would be a big problem, plus reversing it can't see Lyon doing as well as Monty or Swann even.

Well, it's the entire middle order, which along with the #3 is basically the key against spin. A good thing too because I'm fairly certain both Warner and Cowan would be roundly owned by Hafeez. Ajmal vs Watson could be a fairly amusing sight for the neutral too, in a similar manner to the way Ajmal vs Bell currently is.

 

[Spark]

In Australia or in Sri Lanka?

Both IIRC.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Ajmal's quite a different bowler to Murali, tbf. There are some superficial similarities that have been discussed elsewhere and would be uncharitable to bring up here, but Ajmal, being a much, much lesser turner arguably has the more effective Doosra. Because Murali could rag it square on glass batsman should, in theory at least, have had more of a clue when he was bowling it because of the change of line even if they couldn't pick him from hand.

Ajmal tho, because he doesn't turn it all that much at all has to adjust that bit less. IMHO Ajmal might present similar issues to Kumble and Harby, both of whom Punter has had his travails with, as Burgey said before.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Both IIRC.

Just had a look at his record against Sri Lanka. A good record for sure but wouldn't say he owned him tbh. Just has 1 century against Sri lanka.

 

[Cevno]

He's not but he knows how to compensate. He plays with far softer hands nowadays and is very decisive in his footwork - that should at least let him make some runs.

Yeah, he won't get owned like the English middle order but don't think he'd do too well either. He'd make possibly one or 2 good scores, but also be a candidate for LBW and bowled all along. Still not sure about his form fully too.

Nah DWTA. I like to think of it this way - when he's annoyed or doesn't rate the bowler, that's when he does well (ie. is trying to smash him out of the park). It's when he gets bored, plays from the crease (like he did first dig at Melbourne, actually) and goes nowhere that he gets himself in trouble.

When he's on song, he's simply just no fun to bowl to at all. He can cut on length alone, can manipulate the ball to any part of the field with his hands and obviously his down-the-track play speaks for itself

Was referring mostly to his last 2 tours to India. Was moving around too much against the spinners and got out softly to all of Harbhaja, Ojha and Mishra and even struggled at some times.
In his current form though, i guess he is more likely to do well as i said before.

Well, it's the entire middle order, which along with the #3 is basically the key against spin. A good thing too because I'm fairly certain both Warner and Cowan would be roundly owned by Hafeez. Ajmal vs Watson could be a fairly amusing sight for the neutral too, in a similar manner to the way Ajmal vs Bell currently is.

If the pitches are like this, then though the middle order is better against spin than the English, the top order is actually worse.
Starting with Ajmal or Hafeez against Warner, Watson, Marsh, Cowan, Khawaja et al should be pretty much certain for Pakistan. Plus Haddin is pretty much struggling against anything at the moment and the tail isn't as good either. So the reliance on these 3 is pretty much massive and could be a problem is what i meant.

 

[Spark]

Ah yeah, I agree with that. But as I said a strong middle order is more important than a strong top order against spin, IMO.

I honestly have no idea what happened to Clarke in the last tour of India (I can't comment on the 08 tour since I didn't watch any of it myself), but then again that applies to basically all of last summer in general, so...

 

[Cevno]

So, South Africa go top if they beat NZ 3 - 0 or if England draws with Srilanka.

Someone to do the math and tell me is it possible for India to invite say a England / South Africa quickly for a 2/3 test series at home, beat them and get back to no.1 ? So BCCI can then claim everything is fine?

[/NotputtingthoughtsintoSrinivasan's mind ].

 

[Furball]

Someone to do the math and tell me is it possible for India to invite say a England / South Africa quickly for a 2/3 test series at home, beat them and get back to no.1 ? So BCCI can then claim everything is fine?

[/NotputtingthoughtsintoSrinivasan's mind ].

No.

 

[Cevno]

Willing to give us the details of the maths done, to arrive at that conclusion? Or is it mandatory to take a paid account first before getting access to full specifics?

 

[Furball]

Willing to give us the details of the maths done, to arrive at that conclusion? Or is it mandatory to take a paid account first before getting access to full specifics?

Unless the BCCI are able to invent a 13th month (or agree to scrap the Champions League), there isn't the space in the calendar to do it.

 

[Cevno]

What are South Africa doing in June?

They have April, May and June free it seems and most of their players will be in India for the IPL in anycase.

Champions league is supposed to be after the t20 WC IIRC at the end of the year.

 

[Cevno]

So if England win the 2nd test against Srilanka they are level with South Africa at no.1 and if they draw or lose the 2nd test then they slip even further down and SA are clear no.1.

A loss in the 2nd test and Australia whitewashing west indies would mean England and Australia are equal at 113 rating points.

 

[Cevno]

So, South Africa go top if they beat NZ 3 - 0 or if England draws with Srilanka.

Someone to do the math and tell me is it possible for India to invite say a England / South Africa quickly for a 2/3 test series at home, beat them and get back to no.1 ? So BCCI can then claim everything is fine?

[/NotputtingthoughtsintoSrinivasan's mind ].

Even more possible now.

 

[Cabinet96]

Cringing at my vote.

 

[smash84]

you vote is not as cringeworthy as some of the more knowledgeable posters on here for e.g. Fred and Uppercut lol

 

[Cabinet96]

What are you saying about my knowledge

To be fair, England's performances in Asia were pretty hard to predict as we hadn't toured there for 3 years. Most people thought they would improve a lot, and quite rightfully too.

 

[GIMH]

We'll win both series this summer, as has recently become the norm. Don't fear Saffa at all tbh.

We'll have to see whether the lessons learned from this winter that have been displayed in this Test can be carried into the India series. But I think it's safe to say we'll win 4-0 out there.

 

[smash84]