*Official* Pakistan in England and Ireland 2016

[honestbharani]

Stop throwing about 'atmosphere' and tell me what exactly the ball's doing so differently in cricket terms

Ohkieeee... the breeze helps the ball swing... The drier sand tends to create surfaces where the ball grips and whatever grass u can assumably grow on these pitches will not be the same you will get in Lahore or Karachi which means the swing and how the ball holds up will all vary. And the outfield being more lush and sandy underneath than Pakistan means reverse swing is more likely earlier in any of the Pak grounds than in the UAE. And again, atmosphere and climate dictate how a pitch behaves all the time and no one can keep pointing out how it is different each time.

 

[honestbharani]

hmm I think you've had a communication breakdown somewhere but rest assured no one disagrees with you that Pakistan deserve extra credit for not playing at home

Again, try reading every post since my first one on this topic.

 

[Howe_zat]

Team of the series

Alastair Cook
Sami Aslam
Joe Root
Younis Khan
Misbah Ul-Haq*
Johnny Bairstow
Moeen Ali
Chris Woakes
Yasir Shah
Mohammed Amir
James Anderson

 

[Xuhaib]

Team of the series

Alastair Cook
Sami Aslam
Joe Root
Younis Khan
Misbah Ul-Haq*
Johnny Bairstow
Moeen Ali
Chris Woakes
Yasir Shah
Mohammed Amir
James Anderson

Sohail Khan for Amir rest is fine maybe even Asad for Younis whio apart from that masterclass looked terrible. Not many stand outs in this series apart from Woakes.

 

[morgieb]

Team of the series

Alastair Cook
Sami Aslam
Joe Root
Younis Khan
Misbah Ul-Haq*
Johnny Bairstow
Moeen Ali
Chris Woakes
Yasir Shah
Mohammed Amir
James Anderson

I know he had some catches dropped but was Amir really the 3rd best quick in the series? Not sure Younis should be there either - I feel like Azhar and Shafiq were a bit more consistent.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Again, try reading every post since my first one on this topic.

Again, no

 

[Zinzan]

Team of the series

Alastair Cook
Sami Aslam
Joe Root
Younis Khan
Misbah Ul-Haq*
Johnny Bairstow
Moeen Ali
Chris Woakes
Yasir Shah
Mohammed Amir
James Anderson

Assume you've included Amir since he bowled without luck & hence was better than his 12 wickets @ 42 suggest, but even so, hard leave out Sohail Khan with his 13 wickets @ 25 from just 2 matches isn't it?

 

[Zinzan]

I know he had some catches dropped but was Amir really the 3rd best quick in the series? Not sure Younis should be there either - I feel like Azhar and Shafiq were a bit more consistent.

Younis should be based on that 1 innings alone for me.

 

[Xuhaib]

yeah Amir stats look worse then what he deserved and he did ok for a guy with no test cricket for six years but its hard to put him ahead of Sohail who had a lot of impact.

 

[SeamUp]

Interesting to see what England move forward with :

Under the micro-scope

Alex Hales - Mental fragility creeping in but at least got a couple of scores. But how much longer do you give him considering past openers ?
James Vince - One of the frustrating ones but there have been so many batsman like him. Does he have the fight & the intelligence to overcome his short-comings ? Aesthetics mean nothing.
Gary Ballance - Can survive at the crease and got starts. There just seems the inevitable about him. May score runs in Asia but bowl pace against him and he is nowhere.


Playing it safe :

Adam Lyth : Looked fragile for the top level but looked compact. Not sure he has done enough averaging 30-odd.
Sam Robson : Scored the runs but where does he fit in with Bayliss and selectors. Seems ages ago he was in possession.
Scott Borthwick : Much talked about but when the rumours were around he has steadily not stepped up and piled the runs necessary.

Young but not unexpected if picked : Daniel Bell-Drummond , Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke (2nd division runs)

Too young but possibly believe they have the talent to succeed at the next level long-term : Haseeb Hameed , Daniel Lawrence, Jack Burnham



What route will be taken ?

 

[Zinzan]

Presumably Nick Compton's out of contention completely after failing in Africa is he?

 

[Howe_zat]

Assume you've included Amir since he bowled without luck & hence was better than his 12 wickets @ 42 suggest, but even so, hard leave out Sohail Khan with his 13 wickets @ 25 from just 2 matches isn't it?

Didn't check the figures at all, included Amir as he was a consistent threat right the way through the series and should have had 16+ wickets for his efforts. But yeah Sohail would be fair enough.

 

[Howe_zat]

Interesting to see what England move forward with :

Under the micro-scope

Alex Hales - Mental fragility creeping in but at least got a couple of scores. But how much longer do you give him considering past openers ?
James Vince - One of the frustrating ones but there have been so many batsman like him. Does he have the fight & the intelligence to overcome his short-comings ? Aesthetics mean nothing.
Gary Ballance - Can survive at the crease and got starts. There just seems the inevitable about him. May score runs in Asia but bowl pace against him and he is nowhere.


Playing it safe :

Adam Lyth : Looked fragile for the top level but looked compact. Not sure he has done enough averaging 30-odd.
Sam Robson : Scored the runs but where does he fit in with Bayliss and selectors. Seems ages ago he was in possession.
Scott Borthwick : Much talked about but when the rumours were around he has steadily not stepped up and piled the runs necessary.

Young but not unexpected if picked : Daniel Bell-Drummond , Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke (2nd division runs)

Too young but possibly believe they have the talent to succeed at the next level long-term : Haseeb Hameed , Daniel Lawrence, Jack Burnham



What route will be taken ?

I think they'll take Borthwick and Bell-Drummond to Bangladesh and possibly play hem alongside Hales as well to see what's what. If they want to pick a new number four they could do a lot worse than picking James Hildreth.

 

[Daemon]

Yeah, awta re: amir, but it's still pretty funny how after all the hype, arguably the most impact Amir had in an innings was with the bat in that partnership with Younis.

 

[Zinzan]

Has Hales actually got the temperament and/or skill to be a bonifide Test opener though? I called him England's Martin Guptill because there appears to be so many ways in which to dismiss him.

 

[Furball]

With Hales I wonder if it's the same sort of thing as the likes of Bairstow and Smith had where they had a bit of a mental block about scoring their first ton. I don't necessarily have an issue with him failing, he's an opening bat, but he just seems unable to score runs at times. Reallu needs to work on his strike rotation.

I don't see the point in dropping him unless someone is hammering the door down though.

 

[DriveClub]

What happened to broad this series? Went completely missing, he's not an all rounder anymore either so bowling extra important from him nnow

 

[Daemon]

Just wait for a few more tests, when the calls get louder he'll run through a team and have a great series.

 

[Black_Warrior]

A few more tests would be sometime in India then

 

[Howe_zat]

Broad averaged 28 in this series, has some high standards for going completely missing these days.