*Official* England in Pakistan (T20, September 2022)

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Why no Topley?

He's injured.

Weird England squad with Topley, Woakes, Wood and Buttler all brought over despite not being fit currently.

 

[kevinw]

This is not a good bowling line-up, the batting at least has some potential.

It's a seven match series, so a chance to try a few things out, but an obvious chance they could get pummelled if they try too much. Why they had to name the WC side before these series, I don't know.

I like L Wood, and would definitely have him as a late contender. Not sure you need Willey/Curran or even either if you've got Wood/Topley. Hopefully Helm gets a chance at some point. Gleeson's a fairly pointless pick if you ask me.

 

[grecian]

It's a seven match series, so a chance to try a few things out, but an obvious chance they could get pummelled if they try too much. Why they had to name the WC side before these series, I don't know.

I like L Wood, and would definitely have him as a late contender. Not sure you need Willey/Curran or even either if you've got Wood/Topley. Hopefully Helm gets a chance at some point. Gleeson's a fairly pointless pick if you ask me.

I don't really see it with Wood, probably prefer Willey, just don't get three left-armers, but as you say, who is actually fit, is always the major question with our pace-bowling nowadays.

Anyway we've stemmed them a bit now, so maybe as ever I was over-reacting.

 

[kevinw]

I don't really see it with Wood, probably prefer Willey, just don't get three left-armers, but as you say, who is actually fit, is always the major question with our pace-bowling nowadays.

Anyway we've stemmed them a bit now, so maybe as ever I was over-reacting.

L Wood is a natural death bowler, which we seriously lack. The likes of Woakes and Willey are best bowled out in the PP. Jordan is up and down but about as good as we have besides Topley perhaps. Basically England should just offer the batting side 50 more as soon as they hit 16 overs in. Usually it's worse than that.

 

[grecian]

L Wood is a natural death bowler, which we seriously lack. The likes of Woakes and Willey are best bowled out in the PP. Jordan is up and down but about as good as we have besides Topley perhaps. Basically England should just offer the batting side 50 more as soon as they hit 16 overs in. Usually it's worse than that.

Well you've been proven right here, think Curran and Willey will be fearful.

 

[trundler]

That's an appalling, disgusting and depressing finish given the quality of this attack. You can't expect to win games if you regularly score much less in the second half with 9 wickets in hand. Disgusting.

 

[honestbharani]

That's an appalling, disgusting and depressing finish given the quality of this attack. You can't expect to win games if you regularly score much less in the second half with 9 wickets in hand. Disgusting.

Relax man, its just game 1. They will get better.

Also, play Faheem FFS.

 

[trundler]

Relax man, its just game 1. They will get better.

Also, play Faheem FFS.

Nah, it's the downward spiral they're in since the Afghanistan match. Yeah, Faheem Ashraf would definitely add to this side. And Haris Sohail.

 

[honestbharani]

Nah, it's the downward spiral they're in since the Afghanistan match. Yeah, Faheem Ashraf would definitely add to this side. And Haris Sohail.

Not sure if Sohail is better than (3) but I would definitely play Faheem in all of the formats for Pak.

 

[trundler]

Not sure if Sohail is better than (3) but I would definitely play Faheem in all of the formats for Pak.

They need someone who can build an innings at 3 and someone who can accelerate at the death. These roles are supposed to be filled by Iftikhar and Asif Ali but the former's ceiling is 30 off 25 and the latter's is 16 off 8. I think Shan Masood is worth persisting with in the top 4 for sure but I don't know who's capable of doing what guys like Miller, Wade and Livingstone do. It seems no one knows how to construct an innings in the middle order.

 

[honestbharani]

They need someone who can build an innings at 3 and someone who can accelerate at the death. These roles are supposed to be filled by Iftikhar and Asif Ali but the former's ceiling is 30 off 25 and the latter's is 16 off 8. I think Shan Masood is worth persisting with in the top 4 for sure but I don't know who's capable of doing what guys like Miller, Wade and Livingstone do. It seems no one knows how to construct an innings in the middle order.

Your ideal T20 side would be

Fakhar
Rizwan (wk)
Babar (c)
Shan
Shadab
hitter
Faheem
(3)
Naseem
Shaheen
Rauf

Not sure Haris fulfills any major missing role here. Maybe if you guys brought back Shoaib Malik or Hafeez to bat 5, then u can have Shadab at 6.

 

[trundler]

Your ideal T20 side would be

Fakhar
Rizwan (wk)
Babar (c)
Shan
Shadab
hitter
Faheem
(3)
Naseem
Shaheen
Rauf

Not sure Haris fulfills any major missing role here. Maybe if you guys brought back Shoaib Malik or Hafeez to bat 5, then u can have Shadab at 6.

People wanted to get rid of Malik and Hafeez for a decade but fmd those guys were genuinely quality. Granted even our best T20 middle order never had someone who was going to play Hardik's knock today but they still got to 180 somehow.

 

[Socerer 01]

People wanted to get rid of Malik and Hafeez for a decade but fmd those guys were genuinely quality. Granted even our best T20 middle order never had someone who was going to play Hardik's knock today but they still got to 180 somehow.

Hafeez in his later years was a very underrated middle order bat imo

 

[honestbharani]

People confuse their chucking with the ball with their batting, I think. They are both fine #4/5s in LO cricket. But yes, both playing could be overkill. Would have definitely kept one of them around though.

It all goes back to opening with Babar and Rizwan. Others will hardly get enough balls to play coz those two are good enough to stick around for 10 overs or so on almost any T20 wicket in the world (given most are made batter friendly by design). So it meant they just started packing hitters 3-7 and when sudddenly there is a collapse, there is no batsman who is capable of steadying the ship in T20 run rates.

 

[kevinw]

Glad to see Brook getting a score. England could do with another middle order option, particularly in terms of seeing games out. Hales doing well after a period out was predictable.

 

[trundler]

People confuse their chucking with the ball with their batting, I think. They are both fine #4/5s in LO cricket. But yes, both playing could be overkill. Would have definitely kept one of them around though.

It all goes back to opening with Babar and Rizwan. Others will hardly get enough balls to play coz those two are good enough to stick around for 10 overs or so on almost any T20 wicket in the world (given most are made batter friendly by design). So it meant they just started packing hitters 3-7 and when sudddenly there is a collapse, there is no batsman who is capable of steadying the ship in T20 run rates.

Fakhar going down the shitter is the problem. I suppose you can't trust such technically deficient LO hacks over the long term considering Roy's rapid decline too but he was decently quick scoring and could play a long innings when he was in good form.

 

[grecian]

Glad to see Brook getting a score. England could do with another middle order option, particularly in terms of seeing games out. Hales doing well after a period out was predictable.

Yeah agree, he's had a few chances now, so good he's shown some quality for England, previous best 28 after 5 innings, but this was needed with a long tail after Moeen, who isn't looking in great form.

 

[kevinw]

Yeah agree, he's had a few chances now, so good he's shown some quality for England, previous best 28 after 5 innings, but this was needed with a long tail after Moeen, who isn't looking in great form.

If England play Mo, Livingstone and Stokes then they don't need Curran or Willey at seven. They can play a specialist batter there. Not sure Brook is going to break into the top four yet but he can bed in later down the order.

 

[slippy888]

If Hales was managed properly he would have been a famous sportsman worldwide

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Is that blue on the Pakistan kit?
It’s the most dominant color