***Official*** England in Pakistan

[tooextracool]

So which 2 spinners would you go for then tec - obviously Giles, but do you go for Loudon or Udal to support him?

i havent seen either of them, and am therefore not in a position to be able to pick between those 2. based on what i've read about those 2, id probably pick loudon, simply because he appears to be the more unorthodox one.

 

[marc71178]

I'd agree, personally I think the thing against picking Udal is he is similar in style to Giles, whereas Loudon offers more variation, as well as greater depth to the batting line-up.

If they do go for Loudon, where will they bat him though?

I would suggest he'd slot in at 7 with Jones at 8, but not sure.

 

[greg]

I'd agree, personally I think the thing against picking Udal is he is similar in style to Giles, whereas Loudon offers more variation, as well as greater depth to the batting line-up.

If they do go for Loudon, where will they bat him though?

I would suggest he'd slot in at 7 with Jones at 8, but not sure.

Udal's an OK bat, and if you mean "greater variation" you mean his 'doosra', then I would counter it with an enormous amount of experience (a VERY important thing in a finger spinner) and an ability to consistently pitch his stock ball in the right place I think an offspinner offers more than enough variation to a left-arm orthodox anyway.

Where do you get the idea that Loudon is a better bat than Jones? In general anyway, if Jones were to bat at 8 then he shouldn't be playing.

 

[Barney Rubble]

there is no like-for-like replacement to jones. nobody comes close to bowling at nearly 90mph while getting the ball to swing conventionally and reverse. AFAIC the one bowler in all of england even remotely similar to Jones is flintoff.

Yeah, but I meant like for like in terms of his role - being the 3rd seamer and batting no11. I just meant there shouldn't have to be much of a changearound in terms of the balance of the side - Anderson is the only one who wouldn't force a batting reshuffle from 7 or 8 downwards, and he can swing the new ball like Jones can, even if he doesn't have the ability to reverse the ball.

 

[luckyeddie]

That'd be my guess too. I can't think we'd be taking a 36 year old along to gain experience alone!

You've been reading my preview

 

[chalky]

Udal's an OK bat, and if you mean "greater variation" you mean his 'doosra', then I would counter it with an enormous amount of experience (a VERY important thing in a finger spinner) and an ability to consistently pitch his stock ball in the right place I think an offspinner offers more than enough variation to a left-arm orthodox anyway.

Where do you get the idea that Loudon is a better bat than Jones? In general anyway, if Jones were to bat at 8 then he shouldn't be playing.

I would agree with point on Jones he only gets in the side because he can balance the side by batting at 7. If you have a bowler who can bat at 7 then you could get away with a lesser batsmen specialist keeper batting at 8.

 

[marc71178]

Udal's an OK bat, and if you mean "greater variation" you mean his 'doosra', then I would counter it with an enormous amount of experience (a VERY important thing in a finger spinner) and an ability to consistently pitch his stock ball in the right place I think an offspinner offers more than enough variation to a left-arm orthodox anyway.

My bad.

For some reason I had it in my head that Udal was a slow leftie - must be confusing him with someone else (Patel or something)

Where do you get the idea that Loudon is a better bat than Jones? In general anyway, if Jones were to bat at 8 then he shouldn't be playing.

If they're picking Loudon over Udal they must be doing it on batting ability.

So they can't really then put him at 8.

 

[SquidAU]

I found out tonight that FoxSports here in Australia is going to be telecasting the England Tour of Pakistan next month.

I hope that means they will be doing the Indian tour as well. Lotsa cricket to be watched!

 

[howardj]

I found out tonight that FoxSports here in Australia is going to be telecasting the England Tour of Pakistan next month.

I hope that means they will be doing the Indian tour as well. Lotsa cricket to be watched!

Yes, it's great news. Test Matches in Pakistan usually start at about 2pm (Australian East Coast Time), which is pretty viewer friendly.

 

[Tom Halsey]

If they're picking Loudon over Udal they must be doing it on batting ability.

So they can't really then put him at 8.

But equally Jones is playing (supposedly) on batting ability - so they can't really put him at 8 either by the same logic.

 

[greg]

:

If they're picking Loudon over Udal they must be doing it on batting ability.

So they can't really then put him at 8.

Well they're not

 

[SpaceMonkey]

.

 

[Jamee999]

Agreed

 

[greg]

Agreed

Yeah, can't disagree with that.

 

[marc71178]

But equally Jones is playing (supposedly) on batting ability - so they can't really put him at 8 either by the same logic.

But they already have done.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yes but by your logic they shouldn't have done, which means there's an equal chance Loudon might bat at 8.

 

[superkingdave]

He batted 8 against Australia because Collingwood is an accomplished batsman, both more experienced that Jones and in better form. Louden has yet to make a first class 100

 

[marc71178]

He did actually make 172 against Durham.

 

[superkingdave]

my bad, he hasn't made a championship one

 

[GladiatrsInBlue]

The likely Pakistani team for first test match appears to be,


Shoaib Malik
Bazid Khan
Younis
Inzi
Yousuf
Asim Kamal
Akmal+
Mushtaq Ahmad
Shabbir
Sami
Danish

Woolmer has already said that Malik and Bazid will open the innings for Pakistan. Pakistan is likely to attack England with spinners as Englishmen are considered to be suspect against spin bowling, and also because Pak has a very weak & sub-standard pace attack.

Akhtar is likly to be left out of the team as Woolmer and co aren't happy with his fitness and his form and frankly the guy apperas to be past his best.

Sami shouldn't be in the team, but would find a place as he's highly rated by Pak think tank.

Afridi might find a way in the team at the expense of either Asim Kamal or Mushtaq Ahmad.