***Official** West Indies in Pakistan

[Xuhaib]

Gul bowling some big in-swingers.

 

[Nate]

Farhat making me feel rewarded after this.

http://forum.cricketweb.net/showpost.php?p=977708&postcount=79

Two speckies now. C`mon Pakistan.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Whod've thunk that Daren Ganga would be the lone man offering resistance.

 

[Nate]

Satan.

 

[TT Boy]

Not a bad effort from the West Indies so far, pitch is supposedly ridiculously hard to bat on. And since I’ve been following the game nearly ever over is seemingly proving to be perilously close for the West Indies batsman. Ganga since I've been following it (about an hour now) has edged the ball three times, had five 'decent' to 'good' LBW shouts whereas Bravo has offered a 'chance' nearly every other ball.

 

[Dravid]

Bravo gone. Fooled by the googly of Kaneria.

 

[PY]

Just noticed MoYo's conversion rate (haha, there's a pun in there somewhere) of 50s into 100s, 21 100s and 26 50s, that's 45%.

Ponting's lies at 48%, Lara's is 41%, Dravid's is 33.3%, Inzi's is 36% and Tendulkar's is 46%.

That's comparable to some of the greats (in this era and all-time)!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Just noticed MoYo's conversion rate (haha, there's a pun in there somewhere) of 50s into 100s, 21 100s and 26 50s, that's 45%.

Ponting's lies at 48%, Lara's is 41%, Dravid's is 33.3%, Inzi's is 36% and Tendulkar's is 46%.

That's comparable to some of the greats (in this era and all-time)!

It helps when you score 8 hundreds as opposed to 3 fifties in a calendar year.

 

[Nishant]

Umar Gul has bowled quite well today! Its good to see for the sake of paksitan cricket, that in the absense of Akhtar and Asif, someone else is willing to take on the responsibility!

With that said, any chance of those two coming back?

 

[PY]

It helps when you score 8 hundreds as opposed to 3 fifties in a calendar year.

He still scored them.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He still scored them.

He's had a great year. Now we shall see if he can truly impose himself as having had a great career.

 

[nightprowler10]

That ball that dismissed Sarwan brought back memories of the Giles dismissal last year by Akhtar. Good stuff.

 

[marc71178]

Why is it I check on the live scoring and on the scoring summary it had Runako Morten listed as captain yet on the scorecard Brian Lara is captain.

This is definatly a 'What the' moment.

I think the * means the batsman who is on strike.

 

[steds]

Oh Craigos....

 

[nightprowler10]

Was just watching the tape of the West Indies innings. Its too bad that Yousuf won't be having anymore children.

 

[Mister Wright]

The Pakistan team should stay as it is really, until somebody strikes some poor form or they start to lose a few games. I would be happy if this game was rained off so that Mohammad Yousuf couldn't break Viv's record, no offence to Yousuf but I think such a superb record deserves to be held by Viv.

Bit harsh IMO. Yousuf has proven to be a very successful batsman with great powers of concerntration and the ability to continually pour on the runs. Once Lara and Tendulkar retire he and Ponting will be fighting it out for best batsman in the world. Records were meant to be broken, and it is a tribute to Yousuf's ability that he is the first man in something like 15 years to get this close, if not beat it. He deserves it IMO.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Yousuf is already the 3rd or 4th best batsman in the world, IMO. Ponting is the clear #1 right now, followed by Dravid and Lara, but Yousuf has had an amazing year and would be one of the most feared batsmen in world cricket right now.

Obviously on an overall career scale he's not in that league yet, but right now he most certainly is.

 

[nightprowler10]

Also, its not as if people will forget about Viv if Yousuf breaks this record. The man is well known in the world and probably more so than Yousuf. I would be more worried if someone were to score past Anwar's 194 in ODI's since he is more well known for that than anything else.

 

[Mister Wright]

Yousuf is already the 3rd or 4th best batsman in the world, IMO. Ponting is the clear #1 right now, followed by Dravid and Lara, but Yousuf has had an amazing year and would be one of the most feared batsmen in world cricket right now.

Obviously on an overall career scale he's not in that league yet, but right now he most certainly is.

My reference to Lara and Tendulkar was meant to mean the debate about which was the best batsman when they were both at that peak (around the same time). Which is probably, once they (Lara & Tendulkar) retire, the same type of debate that will occur between Ponting and Yousuf.

 

[silentstriker]

But we also saw batsmen being fully tested and only one came through the examination unscathed. If you had to pick one batsman, on reputation at least, from this West Indies side to last (not score but last) on this surface, it would have to be Daren Ganga. The batting textbook from which he draws his base was handy, but not as much, perhaps, as natural reserves of patience and discipline. For over five hours, he stood firm, inching along happily and going through, at one stage, a 16-over period in the afternoon, without hitting a boundary.

He admitted later, while speaking to reporters, that sometimes it wasn't so bad to play on such pitches. "This is a true test of character, a real test of skill as a batsman. I am enjoying the challenge though and as all great batsmen have done in the past, you have to prove yourself on all types of pitches." This pitch may be deteriorating rapidly as time passes but in doing so the story of this match is being furthered. Batsmen have been tested, so too have bowlers and after the second day it remains hazardous to place bets on a winner. What you can place a bet on is that there will be a result. And since when has that ever been bad for Test cricket?

Hell yea. Separate the men from the boys.