*Official* Pakistan in England and Ireland 2016

[Scaly piscine]

Lets put this declaration into context. Pakistan would have had to have batted 5 sessions MINIMUM, just to set a target that isn't completely trivial - ie 120+. Including some prime conditions now for bowling and the fact they've just been routed for under 200.

It's Manchester ffs. We may not even get 5 sessions. If it turns out there are 5-6 sessions to go then knowing exactly how to pace the 4th innings massively increases your chances. You don't waste potentially another 20-30 overs guessing how many runs you need before declaring. If there are less than 5 sessions in this match due to rain then all the batting now is a total waste.

In summary, this was Cook's "we'll have a bowl mate" moment.

 

[smash84]

as BW corrected me that the next test match is 8 days away so grinding pak's bowlers probably not the strategy here.

I suppose it wasn't a great idea to bat again. Although england should still win comfortably

 

[smash84]

pak bowlers giving easy singles, ass wipes, get your **** together

 

[smash84]

the only thing missing is dropped catches, must be round the corner surely

 

[Scaly piscine]

Just looking through the Cricinfo commentary... England's bowlers were all over Pakistan, even when they had a partnership Stokes could have had a wicket at any moment.

I mean what the ****ing hell in all that's holy were these ****ing idiots thinking.

 

[smash84]

Just looking through the Cricinfo commentary... England's bowlers were all over Pakistan, even when they had a partnership Stokes could have had a wicket at any moment.

I mean what the ****ing hell in all that's holy were these ****ing idiots thinking.

relax, england will win with 3 sessions to spare. This pak batting can't even survive straight deliveries

 

[flibbertyjibber]

At least we are batting at a good rate and not faffing about for the remainder of the time today. Guess we will declare after about an hour in the morning.

 

[91Jmay]

What would you have rather had, 12 overs at Pakistan in gloomy conditions with new ball or 56 more runs? That will probably be it for the day.

Simplest answer ever.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I agree that 12 overs with a new ball in good conditions would have been better but I can only think that Anderson and Stokes coming back from injury played a part in not enforcing the follow on. This is one to return to in 2 days time if we have failed to win until then what is done is done and we just wait for the declaration.

 

[grecian]

Blimey the whining at this is becoming an epidemic. It's not the right decision for me, but it really isn't the Earth-shatteringly awful thing that some are making it to be.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Blimey the whining at this is becoming an epidemic. It's not the right decision for me, but it really isn't the Earth-shatteringly awful thing that some are making it to be.

You would think there was only 1 day left not 2 days with 98 overs available the way people are going on.

 

[vcs]

England will win comfortably, barring something miraculous by Pakistan.

It's just hard to refute the logic that having a few overs at their fragile top order, in overcast conditions, would probably have been far more valuable.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Blimey the whining at this is becoming an epidemic. It's not the right decision for me, but it really isn't the Earth-shatteringly awful thing that some are making it to be.

It is a huge blunder. The sort that should result in a lot of questions being asked, regardless of the result. You can't just say ah well the captain has just made a decision that 20-30% of the time will cost England the match, that's alright. Because it isn't. They pay a fortune to having an entourage and the all the rest of it. Surely between them they could have rubbed a couple of brain cells together and come to the correct decision. It's not a subjective thing like deciding to bat or bowl first, which even still can be influenced by stats. This is something you can analyse pretty thoroughly in a pretty dry and soulless way. Or you can look at more from a cricketing perspective and use common sense. Either way the correct option should be blatantly obvious.

A decision this horrendous should never happen again.

 

[Tom Flint]

As if Cook was going to pass up an opportunity to add easy runs to push him closer to those above him in the all time list

 

[smash84]

said it at the start of the series and will say it again. Root is sangakkara-esque against us

 

[GIMH]

I've seen us burned by the follow on so many times that anytime we dismiss a side for three figures, I'm never going to be too upset if we don't enforce it

I personally would have. But it's not hard to see why they didn't, and the overreaction to it is quite staggering.

There are two days left in the match. Two.

I remember Ponting doing this to us in Brisbane 06. The psychological impact of setting a side an unchaseable target with 160 overs to bat out the draw is huuuuge.

I wouldn't have done it, but let's calm down.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

It is a huge blunder. The sort that should result in a lot of questions being asked, regardless of the result. You can't just say ah well the captain has just made a decision that 20-30% of the time will cost England the match, that's alright. Because it isn't. They pay a fortune to having an entourage and the all the rest of it. Surely between them they could have rubbed a couple of brain cells together and come to the correct decision. It's not a subjective thing like deciding to bat or bowl first, which even still can be influenced by stats. This is something you can analyse pretty thoroughly in a pretty dry and soulless way. Or you can look at more from a cricketing perspective and use common sense. Either way the correct option should be blatantly obvious.

A decision this horrendous should never happen again.

You just want to argue, had we bowled again you would criticising the decision saying there is a chance Stokes would get injured again.

 

[Daemon]

I've seen us burned by the follow on so many times that anytime we dismiss a side for three figures, I'm never going to be too upset if we don't enforce it

I personally would have. But it's not hard to see why they didn't, and the overreaction to it is quite staggering.

There are two days left in the match. Two.

I remember Ponting doing this to us in Brisbane 06. The psychological impact of setting a side an unchaseable target with 160 overs to bat out the draw is huuuuge.

I wouldn't have done it, but let's calm down.

it's pretty much just scaly at this point

 

[Scaly piscine]

I've seen us burned by the follow on so many times that anytime we dismiss a side for three figures, I'm never going to be too upset if we don't enforce it

I personally would have. But it's not hard to see why they didn't, and the overreaction to it is quite staggering.

There are two days left in the match. Two.

I remember Ponting doing this to us in Brisbane 06. The psychological impact of setting a side an unchaseable target with 160 overs to bat out the draw is huuuuge.

I wouldn't have done it, but let's calm down.

You're familiar with Manchester? Cloud forecast for the entirety of the remaining couple of days. Rain forecast both days.

England have been fortunate they've had as many overs as they've had, because a lot of umpires would have took them off for bad light around an hour ago. The fact that they didn't improves England's chances because it will probably be similarly murky the next couple of days. That itself could save England 20-30 overs.

Hypothetically there are nearly 200 overs left. But it's not beyond Manchester to wipe out a good chunk of those. A few forecasts I've looked at predict around 4 hours to be lost to rain.

 

[91Jmay]

I think it was a bad decision but getting to watch Root again has soothed me totally. If Hales fails 4 more times is his place under threat? Or do we just have to pick him because we have literally no more batsmen?