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

[Prince EWS]

You've gotta fix that.

I will when someone fixes this.

He's just gotta stop being injured so he can play and be average for a bit. He conveniently stopped playing right after his stupid epic h4x bowling period; injury is a myth to keep his ridiculous bowling ranking IMO.

 

[Athlai]

Hope he comes back just after the simming of cpl starts

 

[BoyBrumby]

Flower "not afraid to drop batsman"

From the BBC.

We must pick what we think is best XI to win the game. If that means making the odd change here and there then we won't be afraid to do that.

Think we can expect Ravi for the third test then.

Quite right too; been a ****ing shambles.

 

[Spark]

Won't make any difference IMO.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Won't make any difference IMO.

Possibly and even probably so, but if the selectors genuinely rate Ravi as the next cab off the rank he has to be given a go.

Ravinder's problems have been well discussed and, tbh, I share a lot of those reservations too, but there's no point taking a bloke they're afraid to play.

 

[Prince EWS]

Possibly and even probably so, but if the selectors genuinely rate Ravi as the next cab off the rank he has to be given a go.

Ravinder's problems have been well discussed and, tbh, I share a lot of those reservations too, but there's no point taking a bloke they're afraid to play.

Yeah, completely AWTA. If they've taken him on tour they obviously rate him a bit higher than most of us do, in which case he has to play now. And lets face it - even if he's rubbish, the quicker he gets in the side the quicker he can fail and we drop the guy and get a real batsman in. Clinging on to Morgan because there's no faith in Bopara will just keep both those players in the squad longer than necessary.

 

[Woodster]

Nah DWTA. There are ways to counter that (such as getting to the pitch, disrupting the bowlers' length etc etc), this was a way easier pitch to play than Galle, for example. England were just useless.

Not sure you can compare SL's current attack to Pakistan's though. It's easy to say get to the pitch of the ball and try and disrupt the bowlers length, which is absolutely true, but you can't come dancing down the pitch when you're not picking which way the ball's turning and when some turn sharply and some intended turners go straight on. The right-handers knew that both Ajmal and Rehman could comfortably take it past their outside edge with them in no-man's land.

Also the pace and trajectory Ajmal especially bowled with made it tough to get down the pitch, he was flat and bowled around 90-95kph. Not disputing England did not perform well at all, don't think we're the only side that would have struggled on that. Would have liked to see how a top player of spin like Michael Clarke would have played it.

 

[Spark]

He wouldn't be patting half volleys down the pitch, that's for sure.

 

[Woodster]

He wouldn't be patting half volleys down the pitch, that's for sure.

No probably not, I genuinely mean it when I said I'd like to see how Clarke would have operated or any other top, top player of spin. Players in our side that I thought were very good players of spin have really struggled against Ajmal and to a lesser extent Rehman.

 

[Furball]

Here's a question - when was the last time England successfully chased a total to win a Test?

In hindsight the key moment was Cook's dismissal in the first innings. Up until that point, we were cruising nicely along the 'bowl out opposition cheaply, bat big and win by an innings' path that has been so well trodden by this side. A chase was always going to be difficult, although that does.'t excuse yesterday's capitulation. But how much experience of chasing tough targets does this side actually have?

 

[smash84]

so are you implying that England is usually ****e in the 4th innings in any case?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Here's a question - when was the last time England successfully chased a total to win a Test?

In hindsight the key moment was Cook's dismissal in the first innings. Up until that point, we were cruising nicely along the 'bowl out opposition cheaply, bat big and win by an innings' path that has been so well trodden by this side. A chase was always going to be difficult, although that does.'t excuse yesterday's capitulation. But how much experience of chasing tough targets does this side actually have?

Edgbaston in 2010 is my guess. Similar sort of total against the same oppo and achieved one down.

 

[Furball]

so are you implying that England is usually ****e in the 4th innings in any case?

No, most of our recent victories have either been by an innings or when we've bowled in the 4th innings. We haven't chsed much in Test recently because we haven't needed to.

 

[smash84]

btw.....Agent has given you a pretty good avatar so far

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

No, most of our recent victories have either been by an innings or when we've bowled in the 4th innings. We haven't chsed much in Test recently because we haven't needed to.

Hmmm yeah.. England do seem to be great front runners and tend to win most of their games by massive margins. But when they lose, they also seem to lose heavily... so it's almost like if you hold them early and stop them dominating then they go into their shell and you can turn the tables on them.

Be interesting to know how many really close games England have had in the last 5 or so years, say since the Ashes 2005.. say a margin of less than 5 wickets or less than 50 runs.

Edit: There were the 2x Onions draws, and Cardiff... holding out for tight draws is pretty neat... wonder how many other close ones there've been

 

[Spark]

All draws, but Cardiff 09, the two vs SA.

 

[GIMH]

Here's a question - when was the last time England successfully chased a total to win a Test?

In hindsight the key moment was Cook's dismissal in the first innings. Up until that point, we were cruising nicely along the 'bowl out opposition cheaply, bat big and win by an innings' path that has been so well trodden by this side. A chase was always going to be difficult, although that does.'t excuse yesterday's capitulation. But how much experience of chasing tough targets does this side actually have?

Yeah I said that to AN via VM...we either seem to win by an innings or when it does go the distance it's when we've batted first...hardly ever had to chase targets down

All draws, but Cardiff 09, the two vs SA.

The Cardiff one wasn't the 4th innings, and we didn't really attempt to chase either target in the Saffa games so it's not really the same anyway. The first draw I think we did a bit of 'see where we are' on because at one point it definitely looked possible, but realistically we were playing for a draw both times.

 

[Spark]

Yeah, but they definitely counted as close games which was what I was answering.

 

[GIMH]

Sorry, somehow missed the post above yours and thought we were still talking about 4th innings chases

Still wouldn't call them 'close' games though

 

[salman85]

I love my team

Now where is Smaslishah and his doomsday prediction for the 3rd test where we will get beaten by an innings and 350 runs?