***Official*** Pakistan and England in UAE

[Outswinger@Pace]

Disagree, express pace and genuine reverse swing is distinctly lacking, which is s big hole given the reputation.

I'm not sure which reputation you are talking about. Everyone knows that there is no express speed merchant in the English team; even the media never made such claims. And by and large, Anderson has been a very effective reverse swing exponent.

The reputation is that they are a good, disciplined bunch of performers who complement each other well and strike collectively. No individual superstars, but a world class bowling attack as a group. Not a million miles away from the truth that, huh?

 

[Spark]

Yeah Morkel hasn't been in good form, but that doesn't mean much. He is by no means a bad bowler. I certainly wouldn't be calling him 'crap'.

This isn't the first time he's gone completely missing though, and he's almost Johnsonesque in how bad he gets when he does...

Meanwhile, Broad bowls an absolutely ridiculous ball. Play that.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Haha Ramiz has just said that there are 7 Akmal brothers

 

[r3alist]

Orthodox swing is infinitely more important than reverse swing. But Anderson is a decent reverse merchant.

The point was about bowling in these conditions, and reverse swing in this case is more important than conventional swing, on balance.

Anderson has tried but not been that successful, an attack with genuine pace and ability to reverse would have bowled pak out by now.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Yeah Morkel hasn't been in good form, but that doesn't mean much. He is by no means a bad bowler. I certainly wouldn't be calling him 'crap'.

Not on the whole. But since small sample sizes are being considered, Morkel's abysmal bowling in the last year ought to be weighed heavily. That's only fair!

Either that or Philander should not be rated so highly either because of such a small sample size.

 

[Furball]

Misbah ul Haq please retire from cricket.

I would rather have the likes of Umar Amin and Asad Shafiq in the team who will fail but at least they'll fail because they are not good enough..they won't hand the match to England on a platter from a commanding position like this.

 

[Spark]

The point was about bowling in these conditions, and reverse swing in this case is more important than conventional swing, on balance.

Anderson has tried but not been that successful, an attack with genuine pace and ability to reverse would have bowled pak out by now.

A flat, subcontinental style pitch doesn't automatically mean reverse.

 

[r3alist]

I'm not sure which reputation you are talking about. Everyone knows that there is no express speed merchant in the English team; even the media never made such claims. And by and large, Anderson has been a very effective reverse swing exponent.

The reputation is that they are a good, disciplined bunch of performers who complement each other well and strike collectively. No individual superstars, but a world class bowling attack as a group. Not a million miles away from the truth that, huh?

Not a million miles away from the truth, maybe 750,000 miles away? so england has no superstars but a worldclass attack?

I would like to see Anderson prove his adeptness at reverse in these conditions, a few have argued how good he is at it.

 

[smash84]

Misbah ul Haq please retire from cricket.

I would rather have the likes of Umar Amin and Asad Shafiq in the team who will fail but at least they'll fail because they are not good enough..they won't hand the match to England on a platter from a commanding position like this.

BW please retire from CW.

 

[Prince EWS]

P

That's an on-paper comparison.

In practice it's been a non-contest for a couple of years now. England have been miles and miles and miles better.

Philander has only been playing five seconds though. Since he's come into the side they've won three and lost one (by two wickets, which was the fault of their first innings batting).

It reminds me of when I said England had a better team than India. Sure, if you looked at medium-term results then India were ahead, but that didn't change the fact that the team England were putting out at the time was better; some personnel had changed and some had noticeably improved. Look how that debate worked out.

Its very close between the attacks now, IMO, and I think anyone trying to suggest one is "a good deal" better than the other is a bit off. I'd probably take South Africa's right now if I really had to choose, with Kallis's admittedly deteriorating bowling the tie-breaker. its really close though and I don't have any issue with people saying its England; I just take issue with people saying its comfortably one or the other based on pretty silly reasons like Tremlett not taking a stack of wickeys today or a bowler who's not even amongst South Africa's first six choices anymore being ineffective two years ago.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

BW please retire from CW.

 

[Spark]

Not a million miles away from the truth, maybe 750,000 miles away? so england has no superstars but a worldclass attack?

I would like to see Anderson prove his adeptness at reverse in these conditions, a few have argued how good he is at it.

I think you'll find that's based on Anderson actually bowling reverse swing in Test matches. cf Sydney last year.

 

[Xuhaib]

Misbah is a sort of bloke he needs a flair to be batting with him this is why his partnership with Younis was so important.

 

[NasserFan207]

A flat, subcontinental style pitch doesn't automatically mean reverse.

Yeah, you need a dry, abrasive surface, not a pancake like this.

 

[benchmark00]

Beautiful hands by Misbah.

 

[Furball]

Just some bad, bad posts over the last couple of pages.

This deck has had absolutely nothing in it for the bowlers. It's to the English attack's credit that a) they've got Pakistan 5 down and b) they haven't let Pakistan run away with the match and dictate terms. England are still very much in the game, if they can restrict Pakistan to a lead of less than 100, then the bowlers will have done a great job.

They're up against a good, disciplined batting lineup on a pitch with nothing in it. Anyone expecting England to just turn up and run through the Pakistani line up is just stupid.

 

[r3alist]

A flat, subcontinental style pitch doesn't automatically mean reverse.

Um that truly depends on who it is that's bowling.

In fact I am pissed at seeing gul not even do the few things he is good at!!

 

[weldone]

Misbah ul Haq please retire from cricket.

I would rather have the likes of Umar Amin and Asad Shafiq in the team who will fail but at least they'll fail because they are not good enough..they won't hand the match to England on a platter from a commanding position like this.

 

[Spark]

Um that truly depends on who it is that's bowling.

In fact I am pissed at seeing gul not even do the few things he is good at!!

Or maybe that could because this pitch isn't conducive to reverse swing...

 

[vic_orthdox]

Always thought Bres was the Poms' best reverse swing bowler.