The Battle for Number 2 (no pun intended)

[adharcric]

Tom,

You were right. It is 2) England 3) Pakistan and 4) India. England outplayed India without five of their starters, and although most of the fill ins performed admirably, it was more India who just played like ****. They don't deserve to be anywhere near #2. I want to puke on every single member of that team right now.

let's puke together, shall we. honestbharani, SJS welcome to join in. our cricketers deserve it. just remember to separate munaf, sreesanth, kumble and dravid from the rest when completing the task. well, dravid can get slapped for opting to bowl first, fair punishment.

p.s. cut off dhoni's golden mane as his punishment, i'll never forget that scoop to monty

 

[silentstriker]

let's puke together, shall we. honestbharani, SJS welcome to join in. our cricketers deserve it. just remember to separate munaf, sreesanth, kumble and dravid from the rest when completing the task. well, dravid can get slapped for opting to bowl first, fair punishment.

p.s. cut off dhoni's golden mane as his punishment, i'll never forget that scoop to monty

Two scoops to Monty. You know, I am wondering how we can set an example. I say we drop every single batsman (except Dravid) and just put all the batters from the 'A' team to tour the west indies. Yes, we will probably lose, but it will send a message that this **** isn't going to be tolerated anymore.

Oh, and Dhoni should have his pay docked until he scores a century in the second innings with an S/R of less than 50.

 

[Jono]

Yeah I don't know about the puking... but it was very disappointing indeed and that win with such an undermanned side very much bolstered England's ranking. The key series now is obviously England vs. Pakistan in England. Can't wait.

 

[Sanz]

I am dissappointed at the surrender, no fightin spirit at all. England deserve to be no, 2 followed by Pakistan and then everyone else.

 

[Beleg]

There is no clear out number two in test cricket. They never was one after England were decimated by Pakistan and there never will be until Pakistan beat South Africa (and Sri Lanka and England - something which I can't envision happening in my lifetime) or someone else conquers three-fourth of the subcontinent as well as the Aussies.

 

[open365]

Maybe it's cause i'm an England fan, but i reckon we have more fight and are just genrally better than most sides now.

 

[Swervy]

Maybe it's cause i'm an England fan, but i reckon we have more fight and are just genrally better than most sides now.

I think most people who know what they are talking about would recognise England to be number two in the world.
fair enough Pakistan did beat England 2-0, but the scoreline did flatter Pakistan somewhat, and I think the edge is with England at home.

India have just shown today that they just cannot cut it in tests consistantly. .. they are well out of the reckoning for second place in the world

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yeah my current rankings probably are England, Pakistan, and then India.

If Pakistan win in England, they go 2nd, but I'd be very, very surpsied.

 

[Dasa]

Yeah I don't know about the puking... but it was very disappointing indeed and that win with such an undermanned side very much bolstered England's ranking. The key series now is obviously England vs. Pakistan in England. Can't wait.

Oddly enough, I'm not that disappointed. I think this loss will be better for India in the long run...some people can finally wake up to the fact that their batting is brittle and needs a lot of work, and apparently simple things like fielding and catching need work too.

There are positives to take out of the series as well. It finally looks as if India'll have a decent to good pace bowling attack, if nothing else, this series has given some exposure to Munaf and Sreesanth. It bodes well for the future, particularly away where the India bowling has often been toothless. Kaif also played very well in the one chance he was given, and the 5 bowler strategy has been shown to be pointless, particularly with the hit and miss nature of the batting.

 

[marc71178]

So, if the 5 bowler thing isn't going to happen, and they go back to 4 bowlers - which 4 is it?

Is it 2 seamers and 2 spinners (in which case you probably need a batsman who can bowl some medium pace) or is it 3 and 1?

If 2 and 2, which seamer drops out?

 

[Dasa]

So, if the 5 bowler thing isn't going to happen, and they go back to 4 bowlers - which 4 is it?

Is it 2 seamers and 2 spinners (in which case you probably need a batsman who can bowl some medium pace) or is it 3 and 1?

If 2 and 2, which seamer drops out?

Depending on conditions, I'd say it should be 3 seamers and a spinner most of the time - Munaf, Sreesanth, Pathan and Kumble (Kumble's not going to be around for much longer though, so then it'd be Harbhajan). If the pitch is very flat (like the first two in the Pakistan vs India series), then I'd go for 3 seamers and 2 spinners, or possibly 4 and 1 (the 4th seamer being RP Singh). On turning pitches, it'd have to be Harbhajan and Kumble along with the best two pace bowlers - likely to be Sreesanth and Munaf.
I think the key is to be flexible, and be prepared to drop players like Pathan and Harbhajan if the conditions don't suit.

In most cases 5 bowlers shouldn't be needed...and what tends to happen with 5 is that one bowler is left underbowled and the 4 main bowlers do most of the job.

 

[luckyeddie]

Should Inzy's proud boys come to England and win, I shall stand and applaud them as the second-best team in the world (I shall stand and applaud them anyway because Inzy is a hero, just for single-handedly keeping so many pie manufacturers in business).

If they don't, then I reckon I'd put England just about there, but not by a lot.

 

[luckyeddie]

So, if the 5 bowler thing isn't going to happen, and they go back to 4 bowlers - which 4 is it?

Is it 2 seamers and 2 spinners (in which case you probably need a batsman who can bowl some medium pace) or is it 3 and 1?

If 2 and 2, which seamer drops out?

2 and 2 is only an option at home (or at least in the subcontinent). Just imagine India playing at Headingley with two seamers.

Actually, forget that. They did - and thrashed us.

Mind you, one of them WAS AA.

 

[aussie]

well after England's performances in India they are surely 2nd. But to nail it down they just have to beat Pakistan at home this summer which will be a good series. For me i would like to see these sides playing TBH:

ENGLAND:

Trescothick
Strauss
Vaughan
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
G Jones
Giles
Hoggard
Harmsion
S Jones

PAKISTAN:

Butt
Farhat
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Inzamam
Shaid Afridi
Abdur Razzaq
Kamran Akmal
Naved-ul-hasan
Shoaib Akhtar
Mohammad Asif

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Surely Akmal has to bat above Razzaq?

 

[adharcric]

well after England's performances in India they are surely 2nd. But to nail it down they just have to beat Pakistan at home this summer which will be a good series. For me i would like to see these sides playing TBH: .....

I'm assuming those are test sides. Do you really think Pakistan will go without Kaneria in the tests? Apart from that, the sides look good to me. Shoaib Malik is a one-day player and should stick to that.

 

[RolledOver]

First and Foremost I must add that I think Australia are head and shoulders above everyone else right now

Id say that Its very close between India and England for second but Id probably just give it to England based on the Ashes win and performance in India (which hasnt been too bad). Pakistan a distant 4th.

Agreed. England have an edge over India as they drew with India in the test series in India, but these two teams are the only one that can be considered candidates for number two slot.

Pakistan don't deserve to be up there, they won two home series on messed up pitches, and had ICC taken toice of that earlier(they are now talking about dealing with unsporting pitches) then i have no doubt as to which teams would have ended up victorious in Pak.


As things stand i would say,

2 England
3 India just behind Eng
4 SA

And the rest!

 

[aussie]

I'm assuming those are test sides. Do you really think Pakistan will go without Kaneria in the tests?

its an option i think i'm sure once they get over here they would be considering TBH. I think these days Afridi can be a fairly good bowler in test, plus picking both him & Razzaq gives Pakistan a stronger look. Also i dont know if they will miss him that badly sine i think a seam attack of SHoaib/Asif/Naved/Razzaq would do well.

 

[marc71178]

its an option i think i'm sure once they get over here they would be considering TBH.

You really want that Greigy award don't you?

 

[aussie]

You really want that Greigy award don't you?

come again, dont quite understand what you are trying to say.