*Official* Pakistan in England 2010

[BoyBrumby]

- Its interesting that Afridi was possibly the most technically correct Pakistan batsman in that game. I dont know what that says for Pakistan. For all Afridis silly decisions and big hitting he often gets his feet into good positions and has decent fundamentals-- at least compared with the rest.

A very fair point, I'd have gone for Yousuf (at least until he started hitting across the line to try to force the pace), but Afridi does look better technically than most of his confreres, yeah.

Sorta give weight to Holding's suggestion that he actually does have the temperament for tests, just not the discipline. Although, given what we now know or at least suspect, his public reasons for giving test cricket away may not be the whole truth.

The key moment in deciding the match was Shoaib's dropped catch off Morgan.

Kamran shelled a (much harder) chance off Yardy too. Tough, but the kind of catch better keeper might've nabbed.

With those two gone it'd have been a lot more ticklish a chase.

 

[Uppercut]

True that- Shoaib's was much more crucial though- Morgan could easily have finished the job without Yardy but it's tough to see Yardy finishing the job without Morgan. Morgan's a great man to have on a bunsen in LO cricket, which is hardly surprising for someone who grew up in Ireland. Not the first time he's seemed to have been batting on a different surface from everybody else.

 

[aussie]

Im not a fan of Bopara and Davies but at least they are cricketers. Kieswetter just guesses. To completely disagree with a poster on here, I have seldom seen any one less capable of dealing with 90mph balls. Not just out of his depth but appeared to be playing a different sport..

Ha no way. One little swipe of Shoaib has made you come to this conclusion on Kieswetter?. On another day that could have flown over the keeper for 4 & we possibly could have been treated to an interesting battle with Craig vs Akhtar.

Of course since the T20 WC as Nasser Hussain said in the psot-match commentary teams have noticed Kiewswetter preffered scoring area is to give him self room outside off-stump & smash it through the off-side. Thus bowler like Akthar on sunday & AUS during the ODI series tucked him up & he has struggled to score. But no way does Kieswetter look out of his depth facing 90 mph new-ball bowlers - like alll batsmen who are new to scene he is been worked out quickly aftet a brightish start & he needs to work on it. Whether he fails or comes out of it successful is to be seen - but personally have confidence him, since i've seen players with worse techniques succeed as ODI openers.

If he works it out & gets going he remains without a doubt the best we have in ENG of taking full advantage & smoke it during the power-play overs againts international new-ball bowlers. He may not be super consistent @ it - but we should not let perfection be the any of the good. ENG dont produce quality ODI cricketers as consistently as other nations - so if we can find someone who can do a role (Yardy currently), we should work with it & not expect everyone to be like Morgan instantly.

Davies although he fine is not going to provide such impetus as opener & ENG need that presuming Strauss is going to open in the WC next year. Davies certainly as i've contionous said before - @ international his game is not suited to taking full-adavtange of the power-play overs. He relies on timing & placement - we dont need two of that @ the top of the order in ODIs - somebody needs to given a license to go crazy early on.

Bopara is a cricketer yeah - but not a international quality one.

Looking forward to 2moro for sure.

 

[Goughy]

Ha no way. One little swipe of Shoaib has made you come to this conclusion on Kieswetter?. On another day that could have flown over the keeper for 4 & we possibly could have been treated to an interesting battle with Craig vs Akhtar.
.

No, based on him being completely technically incapable of playing the correct shots or getting his feet in good positions. Horrible. It wasnt the one that got him out but the ones before that made him look a clown.

 

[King Pietersen]

Aussie brought up a point on PC about Kieswetter, and him not looking 'clueless' against 'the likes of Nannes, Tait, Steyn, Morkel, Bond, Malinga.' This comment led me to look up some stats, and have to say, they definitely back up the theory that Kieswetter is awful against pace bowling.

Against Sri Lanka - T20 WC Semi Final

vs Malinga - 0 off 3 balls - dismissed by the 3rd ball
vs Mathews - 10 off 6 balls
vs Randiv - 10 off 5 balls
vs Jayasuriya - 8 off 3 balls
vs Mendis - 9 off 10 balls

Against Australia T20 WC Final

vs Tait - 9 off 9 balls
vs Johnson - 4 off 7 balls - dismissed by the 7th ball
vs Nannes - 22 off 16 balls
vs Watson - 24 off 10 balls
vs Smith - 4 off 7 balls

vs South Africa - T20 WC

vs Morkel - 3 off 4
vs Steyn - 6 off 4
vs Langeveldt - 15 off 10
vs Kallis - 5 off 12
vs Botha - 6 off 9
vs Duminy - 6 off 3

Against Pakistan - T20 WC

vs Asif - 10 off 5
vs Aamer - 6 off 10
vs Razzaq - 0 off 5
vs Hafeez - 7 off 4

Against New Zealand

vs Bond - 1 off 4
vs Mills - 2 off 3 - dismissed by 3rd ball
vs McCullum - 12 off 5

Against Pakistan - Sunday

vs Razzaq - 6 off 3
vs Akhtar - 0 off 4 - dismissed by 4th ball

The only genuinely quick bowler he's scored remotely quickly off by T20 standards is Dirk Nannes, the rest, he's looked pretty clueless against. The stats show that he's pretty good against Medium pace, the likes of Watson, Langeveldt, Asif, Razzaq and Mathews have been slapped around; and he's proven in the past that he's decent against spin, so it begs the question as to why he's opening the batting. Surely, if they wanted a guy like Kieswetter in the side it'd make much more sense to have him in the middle order? He can't cope with 90+mph bowling early on, yet carves medium pace and spin around with relative ease, batting in the middle order would be ideal for him. AFAIC he has no future opening the batting in International cricket, but then again he's not good enough to replace Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood or Morgan in the middle order either, so he's pretty stuffed really.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Aussie brought up a point on PC about Kieswetter, and him not looking 'clueless' against 'the likes of Nannes, Tait, Steyn, Morkel, Bond, Malinga.' This comment led me to look up some stats, and have to say, they definitely back up the theory that Kieswetter is awful against pace bowling.

Against Sri Lanka - T20 WC Semi Final

vs Malinga - 0 off 3 balls - dismissed by the 3rd ball
vs Mathews - 10 off 6 balls
vs Randiv - 10 off 5 balls
vs Jayasuriya - 8 off 3 balls
vs Mendis - 9 off 10 balls

Against Australia T20 WC Final

vs Tait - 9 off 9 balls
vs Johnson - 4 off 7 balls - dismissed by the 7th ball
vs Nannes - 22 off 16 balls
vs Watson - 24 off 10 balls
vs Smith - 4 off 7 balls

vs South Africa - T20 WC

vs Morkel - 3 off 4
vs Steyn - 6 off 4
vs Langeveldt - 15 off 10
vs Kallis - 5 off 12
vs Botha - 6 off 9
vs Duminy - 6 off 3

Against Pakistan - T20 WC

vs Asif - 10 off 5
vs Aamer - 6 off 10
vs Razzaq - 0 off 5
vs Hafeez - 7 off 4

Against New Zealand

vs Bond - 1 off 4
vs Mills - 2 off 3 - dismissed by 3rd ball
vs McCullum - 12 off 5

Against Pakistan - Sunday

vs Razzaq - 6 off 3
vs Akhtar - 0 off 4 - dismissed by 4th ball

The only genuinely quick bowler he's scored remotely quickly off by T20 standards is Dirk Nannes, the rest, he's looked pretty clueless against. The stats show that he's pretty good against Medium pace, the likes of Watson, Langeveldt, Asif, Razzaq and Mathews have been slapped around; and he's proven in the past that he's decent against spin, so it begs the question as to why he's opening the batting. Surely, if they wanted a guy like Kieswetter in the side it'd make much more sense to have him in the middle order? He can't cope with 90+mph bowling early on, yet carves medium pace and spin around with relative ease, batting in the middle order would be ideal for him. AFAIC he has no future opening the batting in International cricket, but then again he's not good enough to replace Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood or Morgan in the middle order either, so he's pretty stuffed really.

Wow, good leg work, fella.

Internet porn yet to reach sunny Suffolk, one assumes?

 

[King Pietersen]

There actually wasn't much leg work required at all, every scorecard of late on Cricinfo has "Player vs Player", so I just grabbed the stats from there and didn't end up wasting much porn time at all.

 

[The_roc]

More rain in Cardiff, but still planned to start on time.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Why are we praying for mere drizzle for a few hours playing cricket in Cardiff again?

 

[four_or_six]

Why are we praying for mere drizzle for a few hours playing cricket in Cardiff again?

Yeah, daft to play two matches in the same place. It's not like it's far to go and play in Birmingham or something, let more people watch the game.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Talk is that Afridi and Razzaq are both going to be coming in earlier.

Horrifically small crowd. Even allowing for the recent unpleasantness surely a lot are usually sold well in advance? I guess that's another argument against havin two back-to-back games at the same ground.

 

[King Pietersen]

Another quality start from Sidebottom....

 

[Scaly piscine]

It's beyond moronic. The scheduling is a joke for future seasons in Test cricket as well. One season there's no Tests in the north, another there's no Test in London.

Not only do they schedule games back to back in the same venue. They schedule it at the same time as international football. ****wits.

 

[King Pietersen]

This has been an eerily similar start to the game the other night. Weird.

 

[King Pietersen]

Excellent over from Bresnan that. This definitely appears to be his strongest format. Not so sure about him in the other forms of the game, but in T20's he looks good.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Good hostile stuff from Chris jr first up. 89.5mph bumper, followed by 90.5mph length ball.

& has a chance shelled off his third. Sitter too, really. Disappointing.

 

[Jayzamann]

Are some front line bowlers being rested? This doesn't look like a first choice opening combination for the world champs.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Are some front line bowlers being rested? This doesn't look like a first choice opening combination for the world champs.

As an attempted troll I give it 1/10.

2nd for Tiny Tim. Yousuf not a T20 player, clearly.

 

[grecian]

Are some front line bowlers being rested? This doesn't look like a first choice opening combination for the world champs.

It's the opening bowlers that won the World Cup, and as stated before Bresnan does a job in this format.

Not so convinced about Sidey, time running out on his England career methinks.

 

[The_roc]

Aussie brought up a point on PC about Kieswetter, and him not looking 'clueless' against 'the likes of Nannes, Tait, Steyn, Morkel, Bond, Malinga.' This comment led me to look up some stats, and have to say, they definitely back up the theory that Kieswetter is awful against pace bowling.

Against Sri Lanka - T20 WC Semi Final

vs Malinga - 0 off 3 balls - dismissed by the 3rd ball
vs Mathews - 10 off 6 balls
vs Randiv - 10 off 5 balls
vs Jayasuriya - 8 off 3 balls
vs Mendis - 9 off 10 balls

Against Australia T20 WC Final

vs Tait - 9 off 9 balls
vs Johnson - 4 off 7 balls - dismissed by the 7th ball
vs Nannes - 22 off 16 balls
vs Watson - 24 off 10 balls
vs Smith - 4 off 7 balls

vs South Africa - T20 WC

vs Morkel - 3 off 4
vs Steyn - 6 off 4
vs Langeveldt - 15 off 10
vs Kallis - 5 off 12
vs Botha - 6 off 9
vs Duminy - 6 off 3

Against Pakistan - T20 WC

vs Asif - 10 off 5
vs Aamer - 6 off 10
vs Razzaq - 0 off 5
vs Hafeez - 7 off 4

Against New Zealand

vs Bond - 1 off 4
vs Mills - 2 off 3 - dismissed by 3rd ball
vs McCullum - 12 off 5

Against Pakistan - Sunday

vs Razzaq - 6 off 3
vs Akhtar - 0 off 4 - dismissed by 4th ball

The only genuinely quick bowler he's scored remotely quickly off by T20 standards is Dirk Nannes, the rest, he's looked pretty clueless against. The stats show that he's pretty good against Medium pace, the likes of Watson, Langeveldt, Asif, Razzaq and Mathews have been slapped around; and he's proven in the past that he's decent against spin, so it begs the question as to why he's opening the batting. Surely, if they wanted a guy like Kieswetter in the side it'd make much more sense to have him in the middle order? He can't cope with 90+mph bowling early on, yet carves medium pace and spin around with relative ease, batting in the middle order would be ideal for him. AFAIC he has no future opening the batting in International cricket, but then again he's not good enough to replace Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood or Morgan in the middle order either, so he's pretty stuffed really.

Would have thought the important thing was how many runs does he score, not how does he get out!

I agree that his 50 over form is dissapointing, but cannot believe that anyone is suggesting he doesn't deserve a place in the T20 side.

Kieswetter - 8 games, one single digit score, 5 times over 20. Compare that to Collingwood, once over 20 in the last 17 knocks, single digit score 4 of the last 8 knocks.

You tell me who deserves to get dropped first?