*Official* Pakistan in England 2020

[trundler]

Who is the #6 they will select with Harris out? That is the only question with their selection AFAIC.

Gonna bet somehow Imam makes it and opens and they push everyone down by 1

Faheem Ashraf might play. Did well at Lord's last time. Should go for Alam though.

 

[Howe_zat]

I think the bowling Sohail in the squad is Sohail Khan: 36 yo and who has had intermittent odi and test success.

Yeah just misspoke there.

 

[vcs]

Daemons suggestion maybe? Someone posted on PP about Waqar mulling two spinners, which could mean any of Faheem at 7 with Bhatti, Shadab at 7, or both Shadab and Faheem.

None of those are options that should fill any Pakistan supporter with joy.

Shadab would be a very, very dumb call. Faheem is no world beater but has a chance of doing OK in these conditions.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Really hope Alam doesnt do a Pankaj.

 

[honestbharani]

Faheem Ashraf might play. Did well at Lord's last time. Should go for Alam though.

Alam can bowl some left arm filth when needed too, so I would go with Alam and bank on Yasir, Fawad and maybe even Azhar Ali sending down whatever support bowling is needed.

 

[Howe_zat]

England unchanged for first Pakistan Test

England name an unchanged 14-man squad for the first of three Tests against Pakistan, which begins on 5 August at Old Trafford.

www.bbc.co.uk

England squad for first Test: Joe Root (Yorkshire, capt), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Dominic Bess (Somerset), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

Reserves: James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Ben Foakes (Surrey, wk), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset).

Smith: "County cricket now restarts on Saturday 1 August. We want to have sufficient reserves inside the Test match 'bubble', but we may also want to give opportunities, where possible, for the reserves to play county cricket."

I don't quite get what is the difference between the reserves and the squad players. They've also said that "England may make changes to the reserves during the series against Pakistan." So it's not like a definite group of players to last the whole summer either. It kinda sounds a lot like not really selecting.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Smith: "County cricket now restarts on Saturday 1 August. We want to have sufficient reserves inside the Test match 'bubble', but we may also want to give opportunities, where possible, for the reserves to play county cricket."

I don't quite get what is the difference between the reserves and the squad players. They've also said that "England may make changes to the reserves during the series against Pakistan." So it's not like a definite group of players to last the whole summer either. It kinda sounds a lot like not really selecting.

I would guess that reserves that were released to play county cricket then can't come back? otherwise it seems to break the whole bubble idea.

 

[Bijed]

I would guess that reserves that were released to play county cricket then can't come back? otherwise it seems to break the whole bubble idea.

Makes sense and, if so, I hope they don't tell Foakes and/or Leach to go and play county cricket. I guess Pope is technically a backup keeper but given that Buttler and Bess are still on somewhat shaky ground (I know Buttler played well in the 3rd test but I'm not taking it as anything like a guarantee of a good series against Pakistan) you'd want those two in particular to be avaiable to play imo

 

[smash84]

Don't quite understand Misbah's love affair with Sohail Khan but also the fast bowling cupboard is quite bare.

Shaheen seemed to be getting better before the pandemic hit, and hopefully he doesn't fall by the wayside.

Wouldn't be surprised if Alam doesn't get a single game.

Should be an interesting series.

 

[Starfighter]

Sorry, Leach is better than Bess and I don't see what England are going for in their selection there.

 

[cricketsavant]

Sorry, Leach is better than Bess and I don't see what England are going for in their selection there.

I'm with you on that one but is Leach injured or what? The rest of the squad is pretty straight forward and they should beat a weak Pakistani team, especially one that must be pulling their hair out stuck in this nonsense biosecure bubble for a month. I think England can probably beat this Pakistan side with a B team.

 

[trundler]

I'm with you on that one but is Leach injured or what? The rest of the squad is pretty straight forward and they should beat a weak Pakistani team, especially one that must be pulling their hair out stuck in this nonsense biosecure bubble for a month. I think England can probably beat this Pakistan side with a B team.

First time watching Pakistan in England, eh?

 

[cricketsavant]

First time watching Pakistan in England, eh?

Watched them plenty but this is a different time altogether. Remember how bad they were in 2010? This may well be worse, minus the fixing one hopes.

 

[trundler]

2010 was awful but they randomly punch above their weight in England usually. Batting looks better than it has recently, nothing stellar overall but not too bad. Better than the West Indies certainly. Bowling is rather inexperienced but if Abbas is back at his best he can very much do a Philander.

 

[Howe_zat]

Pakistan's top three have scored a lot more runs than ours in the last couple of years. Babar Azam is world class and Azhar Ali would make the England side.

Really doesn't compare to the 2010 side at all. They had hack openers as well as ditching Younis & Yusuf for complete newbies in the middle order, and 18-year old Mohammed Amir at 8. That was one of the worst batting lineups to tour here I've ever seen.

 

[cricketsavant]

2010 was awful but they randomly punch above their weight in England usually. Batting looks better than it has recently, nothing stellar overall but not too bad. Better than the West Indies certainly. Bowling is rather inexperienced but if Abbas is back at his best he can very much do a Philander.

I don't think Pakistan have punched above their weight in England. Through much of the 70s, 80s and 90s they were much the better side and in 2016 they were one of the very best test sides of the previous four years.

Pakistan's batting is fragile at the moment, Ali has not been in the runs for a long time now, Babar is exceptional of course but can an ageing Shafiq provide support? And what about the newbies?

Abbas is quality but again, there is too much inconsistency elsewhere. I think someone like Afridi is the best young bowler out there but he is still only 20, to be stuck in a foreign country for months, with little relief outside of your hotel and training, will not have helped. Key factor here, poor side + MOVEMENT AND HEALTH RESTRICTIONS = poor overseas performance. Especially against an England side which have played a tonne of int cricket comparatively and can still see their families on a break.

 

[Howe_zat]

A combined England-Pakistan side for me would probably be

Burns/Sibley
Azhar Ali
Babar Azam
Joe Root
Ben Stokes
Asad Shafiq
Mohammed Rizwan+
Yasir Shah
Stuart Broad
James Anderson
Mohammed Abbas

I don't really mind which of Burns/Sibley opens with Ali but I can't in good conscience pick Shan Masood to open in England, he's probably going to struggle. Shafiq would get a game over Ollie Pope in most circumstances even though I'm hopeful that Pope will go on to be the better player. Not sure Rizwan will get a game at the start of the series but he's the form keeper-bat on both sides. Woakes maybe adds more value than Abbas in England given the former's batting, but I expect Abbas to be a tough proposition on this tour.

So I ended up with six Pakistan players to England's five, but my gut feeling is that the England players that don't make this side like Woakes and Pope will generally do better than the shakier Pakistan players and we will probably see a similar series to that the Windies gave us.

 

[smash84]

I expect Shaheen Shah to perform better than Abbas on this tour.

Shaheen seemed to be getting better and was on an upswing before the pandemic hit. Assuming (its a big if) he can pick up from where he left, I would expect him to be the best bowler from the pak side.

 

[honestbharani]

Naseem to be awesome

 

[smash84]

Naseem to be awesome

More style than substance tbh