***Official*** England in Pakistan

[Shahid Afridi]

they took it for the last 2 overs.

 

[Neil Pickup]

And it's England's day.

 

[Shahid Afridi]

238/6 -- 1st day

 

[Beleg]

Akmal's stroke was one of the most pig-headed I have seen in some time. He saw Inzamam leaving three deliveries outside the off-stump, knew the ball was swinging away, the light was fading, the fielders were standing in anticipation of the very mistake he was going to make - and he still flashed at it away from the body.

Stupid, stupid, stupid shot.

 

[luckyeddie]

Close of Day Report

 

[Shahid Afridi]

pakistan wud be lucky to get over 300. alot of pressure is on pak bowlers, bet woolmer is feeling ****ed about leaving afridi

 

[luckyeddie]

pakistan wud be lucky to get over 300. alot of pressure is on pak bowlers, bet woolmer is feeling ****ed about leaving afridi

I thought that Salman Butt played extremely well, but far too often the other batsmen were pressurised into doing something silly.

 

[honestbharani]

Good commitment from England. I was really impressed with the way they hung in there and the best indicator was their fielding. I didn't watch the match completely (the ODI was where my attention was) but I was checking out the test action during the break between overs in the ODI and I was amazed at how well England kept fielding even though Pakistan were like 170/1 and all... Freddie and Harmo have shown that they are men who can be counted upon even in tough situations. Pakistan's tail can compete with the Windies for being the worst, though.

 

[simmy]

Yeah its an abysmally long tail, which should be knocked over before they reach 300, Inzy depending.

Afridi MUST be in this side..

 

[honestbharani]

So should Asim Kamal, he is the best of their young batters as far as I am concerned.

 

[superkingdave]

So should Asim Kamal, he is the best of their young batters as far as I am concerned.

though at 29 he can hardly be considered young

 

[honestbharani]

well, young in terms of international exposure.

 

[greg]

The response has always been there's no alternative. Well, on today's display, Udal was Ok and probably worth a try before now.

Except by his own admission, Udal's recent 'improvement' has only come about since his exposure to Warne at Hampshire.

nb. and the response hasn't been "there's no alternative" - it's that Giles has always done the job asked for him, and there's no alternative who would do the job better than him. The problem you seem to have is that you are requiring something of him which the rest of us, as England fans, generally don't.

 

[Dasa]

Yeah its an abysmally long tail, which should be knocked over before they reach 300, Inzy depending.

Afridi MUST be in this side..

Their tail isn't THAT bad. Shoaib can hit a bit, and Sami has a basically sound defense - I remember him making a very good 49 against India when India were over there, and his record suggests he can block it for a bit. An average of ~12 at a strike rate of 29 is OK...certainly, their tail is better than the Windies.

 

[social]

Except by his own admission, Udal's recent 'improvement' has only come about since his exposure to Warne at Hampshire.

nb. and the response hasn't been "there's no alternative" - it's that Giles has always done the job asked for him, and there's no alternative who would do the job better than him. The problem you seem to have is that you are requiring something of him which the rest of us, as England fans, generally don't.

No, the response is always "there's no-one else."

Why else would anyone defend persevering with someone who averages nearly 40. That's not doing the job asked of him, that's not being good enough to achieve anything better.

Well Udal showed today that he's capable, on this showing at least, of doing at least the same job.

 

[Pothas]

Their tail isn't THAT bad. Shoaib can hit a bit, and Sami has a basically sound defense - I remember him making a very good 49 against India when India were over there, and his record suggests he can block it for a bit. An average of ~12 at a strike rate of 29 is OK...certainly, their tail is better than the Windies.

An average of 12 for a number 8 shows it is a very long tail

 

[greg]

No, the response is always "there's no-one else."

Why else would anyone defend persevering with someone who averages nearly 40. That's not doing the job asked of him, that's not being good enough to achieve anything better.

Well Udal showed today that he's capable, on this showing at least, of doing at least the same job.

Udal bowled well... and he took 1 for 47. That's an average of 47.

 

[Shahid Afridi]

sami and akhtar can get only like 20 runs each, however shabbir and kaneira are poo

 

[a massive zebra]

Udal bowled well... and he took 1 for 47. That's an average of 47.

Mathematical genius amongst us here.

Udal outbowled the King of Spain by quite a margin, and fully deserved that wicket with the top order batsmen having little choice but to treat his accurate, teasing deliveries with not inconsiderable caution.

 

[greg]

Mathematical genius amongst us here.

Udal outbowled the King of Spain by quite a margin, and fully deserved that wicket with the top order batsmen having little choice but to treat his accurate, teasing deliveries with not inconsiderable caution.

That's not the point. I don't think anyone would suggest that Udal didn't outbowl Giles today, but then Giles didn't bowl well. It was Social who said that Udal had demonstrated that he could do a better job than averaging nearly 40.