Well innings complete at 204-9. Here's a quick run through of my thoughts (I'll try and keep it brief):
- England got off to a flyer and were 45-0 after 6 but after changing ends Sami bowled a top over, a wicket maiden in which he dismissed Trescothick with some very good bowling.
- Solanki looked quite good but rode his luck a little (this was the lbw which was clipping leg though I thought he was out, and he was dropped off a difficult return chance to Hafeez). Still showed some promise and looks a different player.
- Troughton played a good shot but before he got going fell to a good ball from Gul so I'll have to wait to make a better judgment.
- Vaughan should have been lbw to Sami (he was plumb to a full yorker and I can only assume the umpire (Hair?) thought there was an inside edge), but didn't make use of the lifeline, getting out to a poor shot. I thought it was irresponsible as captain to expose two debutants inside the first 20 overs, especially as after the flying we didn't need to take risks, just build a platform.
- Flintoff played with responsibility but after an assured partnership with McGrath he threw it away again. You could see he was disappointed (rightly so). To be fair the hot was on just didn't get it right and again this left the tail exposed.
- Clarke, well didn't have a clue quite honestly. Schoolboy shot from a supposed batting allrounder. If that's what his batting is like I can't (or should that be can) wait to see his bowling! I mean with all due respect Shoaib Malik is not a world class bowler.
- Chris Read disappointed me. He and McGrath should have looked to push it around for three or four an over and get us up to 220, instead he holed out. Needs to do better than that, though it's unfair to expect him to replace Alec Stewart batting wise.
- Giles showed more maturity and discipline than most but stupid run out.
- McGrath again played well a guided us through that tough period just as we could have been all out 170-180, but again just a soft dismissal. Why reverse sweep?
- Gough showed a rare maturity, which was nice because usually he gets a rush of blood quite quickly but he and Anderson did the best they could.
- As for Pakistan, well Latif good captaincy. Interesting he brought Hafeez on in the sixth over rather than Gul or Razzaq but most of what he did came off really well and Pakistan fielded well generally, although they missed two or three chances and there were a couple of poor misfields. Good direct hit from Sami to run out Giles.
- I thought Sami bowled really well although he was expensive (10-2-52-1). I didn't realise he was that fast, and got up to 96mph+ (~154k) for the yorker to Vaughan. Definitely impressed with him.
- Mahmood bowled well but surprisingly wasn't bowled out, probably because England committed suicide against the other bowlers!
- Gul bowled a crap first ball but got Troughton with a good delivery and made things happen (he got Vaughan and another one, Read?). He was expensive though.
Overall England at one stage would have been looking towards 300 but after losing the recognised and experienced batsman all they could do was bat out the overs. Most batsman were irresponsible or got out to poor/tame shots against bowlers and deliveries which shouldn't be taking wickets.
As always I've been hyper-critical but there are some points we really need to sort out. As Botham said they are young and need to learn, but they must learn quickly.
Still it should be an interesting run chase, so I'm off to watch it!
) he played the slog sweep quite well and even with the slight top edge he was taken right on the ropes... had he conneted slighty better it would have been out the ground.
