***Official*** Pakistan in England

[wpdavid]

Tres has pulled himself out of the Champions Trophy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/5318880.stm

Well, is he a doubt for the World Cup now? He says he still wants to play in the Ashes, but this is just going to get very irritating for Fletcher and co. if he feels he can pick and chose which tours to go on. That got Croft and Gough in the bad books, don't see why it couldn't affect him (although he is more important than either of those two were at the stage in their respective careers).

He certainly shouldn't play in the remaining Pakistan games - we should give Cook a couple of games now rather than wait until the CT. This looks like the beginning of the end for me. Citing "personal reasons" once is fair game, but this is becoming a habit, and it does smack of established players picking which tours they fancy and which one they don't. It's tough, because he was our best bat for 18 months or so, but if his heart's not in it then maybe we should move on. Of course, if he aveages 50+ in the Ashes I will deny ever writing that last bit

 

[Isolator]

Trescothick should just quit now and make a career out of playing Skeletor in He-Man movies.

 

[ClownSymonds]

Trescothick should just quit now and make a career out of playing Skeletor in He-Man movies.

Yes!
But there are other candidates for that role - such as the long line of young female pop stars that have become Skeletor wannabes.

 

[sideshowtim]

Trescothick is certainly in earth shatteringly good form. England are really going to miss him in the Champions Trophy...

 

[Barney Rubble]

He certainly shouldn't play in the remaining Pakistan games - we should give Cook a couple of games now rather than wait until the CT. This looks like the beginning of the end for me. Citing "personal reasons" once is fair game, but this is becoming a habit, and it does smack of established players picking which tours they fancy and which one they don't. It's tough, because he was our best bat for 18 months or so, but if his heart's not in it then maybe we should move on. Of course, if he aveages 50+ in the Ashes I will deny ever writing that last bit

Well said. I can't help thinking Trescothick is going to struggle to win back a regular place in our lineup if he misses a sizeable chunk of action.

I also think that if he comes to the realisation that he can no longer tour with England, he will retire from international cricket. He's a big enough man to know that you can't pick and choose which games you play.

 

[Nate]

Mahmood gathering Mick Lewis type career figures...

Lewis has been superb thus far. And Read continues to do his bit.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Mahmood gathering Mick Lewis type career figures...

Lewis has been superb thus far. And Read continues to do his bit.

Mick Lewis > Mahmood. At least the few career wickets Mick Lewis got were actually out, unlike Saj's wicket last night.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Another pathetic decision over Shoaib thumb flicking antics. As Cricinfo says:

It is quite possible that Shoaib was removing mud or dirt from the ball, but if so that is still illegal as only the umpire can do so

How the hell can be cleared when he's blatantly doing something illegal?!? I'm not saying he tampered with the ball, but you set a very bad precedent by clearing him - and we know how nitpicky the ICC and match referees usually are.

 

[Pothas]

Well said. I can't help thinking Trescothick is going to struggle to win back a regular place in our lineup if he misses a sizeable chunk of action.

I also think that if he comes to the realisation that he can no longer tour with England, he will retire from international cricket. He's a big enough man to know that you can't pick and choose which games you play.

Its going to be very difficult i agree and im not sure the selectors will be able to trust his mindset for the ashes.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Its going to be very difficult i agree and im not sure the selectors will be able to trust his mindset for the ashes.

Much as I hate to say it, this lineup:

Strauss (c)
Cook
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
Read (wk)
Plunkett
Hoggard
Harmison
Panesar

has next to no hope of winning the Ashes. Add to that the fact that we're still not sure about Flintoff, Harmison or Plunkett, and we could see Joyce, Broad and Mahmood in the side. That'd be ridiculous.

 

[GIMH]

If Richard was here, he'd tell us that Tresco has exhausted all his luck and has finally been found out.

It's a shame the way 2006 has gone for him, and you do wonder if he will ever recapture his best form at the moment, because he really does seem to be in a rut.

 

[Steulen]

Could have been a great finish yesterday, with three over to play and Jon Lewis still to bowl two. Unfortunately the 49th over would always be the one that'd give England headaches and so it was...

I'm really far from impressed by this England line-up. Surely even an attack with Kirtley, Bruce and Monty would do better than the tripe served up by Mahmood an co.

And Inzamam was just taking the mickey when he won the toss and decided to bat under lights (a recipe for disaster in England this time of year).

 

[nightprowler10]

The general concensus was that this was going to be a bowler's pitch. And with the bowling attack we have right now, how could you not field first on what he thought were bowling conditions.

 

[Neil Pickup]

The general concensus was that this was going to be a bowler's pitch. And with the bowling attack we have right now, how could you not field first on what he thought were bowling conditions.

Because it was a day night game and chasing at night is bloody difficult...

 

[nightprowler10]

Because it was a day night game and chasing at night is bloody difficult...

Not for Inzi Remember, when he thinks about chasing a target, he thinks about chasing it all by himself, and he could see the ball just fine three days ago when apparently nobody else could.

Seriously though, I think it may have been a case of "what's the worst that could happen?"

Anybody notice that Inzi seemed frustrated talking to Akhtar after hitting the winning runs?

 

[Fusion]

Anybody notice that Inzi seemed frustrated talking to Akhtar after hitting the winning runs?

Yeah I saw that. I wondered what they were talking about. Most likely Inzi was talking about the late batting collapse that happened. And I got the feeling he was most displeased with Naveed's dismisal, which almost lost the game for us.

 

[Langeveldt]

Wow Saj Mahmood and Rikki Clarke in the same side!!

Whats the reckoning Khaled Mahmud will have qualified for England by the time the WC2011 arrives? chris.hinton playing on an illegal Kolpak?

 

[dinu23]

why the hell is Mahmood still in the england side? surely they can find a better replacement.

 

[Pratters]

http://forum.cricketweb.net/forumdisplay.php?f=65

Cool..

 

[marc71178]

why the hell is Mahmood still in the england side? surely they can find a better replacement.

If you can find one that's fit, then please tell us who.

Not to mention that Mahmood's last appearance for Lancashire hardly displayed weakness.