***Official*** Pakistan in England

[tooextracool]

come on tec, you can't be serious & you know thats not going to happen.

if bell goes on to make another century tomorrow, how do you drop someone whos scored 3 centuries in 3 games and only been dismissed by andrew strauss thus far this series?

 

[andyc]

How did Read bat, to anyone who was watching?

 

[tooextracool]

How did Read bat, to anyone who was watching?

quite poorly once the new ball was out and still has very poor footwork, which was the reason for his failure in his last stint. A large majority of his innings was against the part timers just before the new ball was due.

 

[marc71178]

Pitching the ball up is, unfortunately, an alien concept to certain of England's bowlers as well though

We don't know.

At OT that wasn't the way to go about the job to be honest.

 

[marc71178]

Hoggard naturally bowls the right length for this pitch

Not with much success though - 7 @ 38.57

 

[marc71178]

come on tec, you can't be serious & you know thats not going to happen.

If it's his own opinion then yes, he can be serious in making it.

 

[tooextracool]

Not with much success though - 7 @ 38.57

2002 was flat as a pancake though....

 

[Gloucefan]

quite poorly once the new ball was out and still has very poor footwork, which was the reason for his failure in his last stint. A large majority of his innings was against the part timers just before the new ball was due.

Did score more than Tres, Strauss, Cook and Collingwood though. Granted was a poor ball to get out too but there is no sense criticising him as we no at best he is on the same level as Jones with the bat. England don't have a true wicketkeeper batsman so might aswell have the best gloveman available, especially when he's not likely to do worse than Jones with the bat.

 

[tooextracool]

Did score more than Tres, Strauss, Cook and Collingwood though. Granted was a poor ball to get out too but there is no sense criticising him as we no at best he is on the same level as Jones with the bat. England don't have a true wicketkeeper batsman so might aswell have the best gloveman available, especially when he's not likely to do worse than Jones with the bat.

I didnt say that he should be dropped, as i said earlier one inning doesnt prove anything and you can put it down to nervousness. However, i dont see why it shouldnt be pointed out that he didnt bat very well, and that the same fault we saw in him in his last test stint was repeated yesterday.

 

[Xuhaib]

Well Played Darell Hair,a certain MOM for England

Seriously with this bowling attack the last thing you want is crucial decisions going against you. Hair has the knack of screwing Pakistan he did it in 99 he is doing it now.

 

[Xuhaib]

I don't think you follow Headingley pitches. Pakistan have a good middle order... and that's about it really. Hoggard naturally bowls the right length for this pitch and GBH has his confidence up so those two will take some playing (there's very occasional uneven bounce which Harmison might find a bit more as well). Also Pakistan's bowling would make any pitch look good and I think there's plenty in it if you bowl well enough.

And if Darell Hair has his way then any non sub-continent batting side can get a good or bad score no matter what the state of the pitch is

 

[honestbharani]

quite poorly once the new ball was out and still has very poor footwork, which was the reason for his failure in his last stint. A large majority of his innings was against the part timers just before the new ball was due.

I agree that his footwork to the seamers wasn't that good, but at least, as Nasser Hussain pointed out, he is staying still at the crease. And his footwork was quite excellent to the spinners. A particular cut off Kaneria stood out really, for the ball wasn't short at all. He just picked the length and moved really deep into the crease and cut it away. His footwork to the seamers is like Sehwag's though and I don't think he is as talented as Viru, unfortunately. Still, I think he is worth trying out for an extended period. IF nothing else, he will at least play Shane Warne better than Jones.

 

[Gloucefan]

I didnt say that he should be dropped, as i said earlier one inning doesnt prove anything and you can put it down to nervousness. However, i dont see why it shouldnt be pointed out that he didnt bat very well, and that the same fault we saw in him in his last test stint was repeated yesterday.

Fair point, but we have all been calling for his return in the knowledge of your last point. I just think that since most of us have been calling for his return on the basis he is a far better keeper in the knowledge that his batting is probably not even on a par with Jones (despite todays 38, although I'd imagine he can average around the same as Jones in the last 10 tests) to start criticising his batting would be a little rich. In fact a main justification of his involvement is that Jones doesn't score more than Read probably would, not that Read would do much better with the bat. Just pointing this out, granted it doesn't really apply to constructive criticism which is what you were doing really.

 

[marc71178]

A good first hour again this morning - no real threat from what I can gather and another Bell ton.

When Fred comes back, who misses out?!

 

[superkingdave]

preferrably Mahmood, other than that Collingwood

 

[marc71178]

I'm more and more coming around to 4 bowlers (since the 5th isn't likely to be Jones)

If Jones is fit, I think they'll play the 5 bowlers again and Giles will return.

If Jones isn't fit, Monty plays in a 4 man attack.

 

[Craig]

How good has Bell been lately? I'm happy for him and I hope he keeps on showing his talent towards the Ashes.

It is hypothetical, but if Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan came suddenly fit, who would miss out for those two?

 

[andyc]

Bell's average is currently 52.29, or 50.2 if he gets out now, and he's just hit three centuries in a row. Would be a bit hard to drop him now, one would think, especially considering Collingwood's averaging in the low 40's.

Edit: Didn't see your post while I was writing mine, Craig. Was obviously thinking along the same lines though-- I think that, at the moment, it would most likely be Collingwood and a bowler (Mahmood, obviously) making way for Vaughan and Flintoff, with England just going with the four bowlers.

 

[Craig]

Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
*Vaughan
Bell
Pietersen
Flintoff
+Read

Nice batting line up.

 

[Craig]

440 up, outside chance of 500?