Not sure if serious.
England Cricket 2016 - Sri Lanka & Pakistan
- Thread starter ChrisNelson
- Start date
Not sure if serious.
Well if their decision making was so off, then surely he's inside their heads? Bairstow is knocking that for four off any other leggie, Moeen is not playing that shot and Ballance is also pulling it for four. They played Yasir much better in the 2nd innings but they still could not score off him and that's ok if the other end can be exploited but with it reversing they couldn't. There is clearly a little bit of doubt and lack of clarity vs. Yasir still IMO.
Can't see Stokes' scoring much against the Pakistani bowling line-up.
On about with the bat as much as anything else.
I hated it for the fact he's a fixer & I still don't think he should be playing, but that discussion has been done over and over again
Can't believe I forgot to reply to this, though...
If James Anderson can potentially become leading pace bowler.. then I don't see why a talent like Amir couldn't have gone past 500w.
I wasn't on about Murali numbers.
He can be a match winner with the bat and throw the bowlers off their game.
IDK, the pitches in UAE are roads (and Amir's record outside of England is not great in tests) and Pakistan don't play enough away tests. Anderson had the advantage of great test pitches at home.
First test match I've watched in years. Great match, important for Pakistan to show they can put up a decent score and win a tight match but expect England to play better. The crowd at OT should be buzzing.
As long as he bats smartly no reason why not, their bowling has not been that good, the top 6 (a part from cook) got themselves out
Nice that it's not Pakistan with the selection headaches going forward for once. The side has a good balance to it, long may it continue!
I expect Anderson and Stokes to be brought into the side, will be interesting who drops out alongside Ball.
I expect Anderson and Stokes to be brought into the side, will be interesting who drops out alongside Ball.
England play a lot of test matches. It's why Anderson is on course for those numbers.
I agree just saying before those lost years he looked like a Wasim level talent so I don't see what is so outrageous about my comment. An average quality world class bowler can.expect 300-400w these days and Amir definitely looked above that level.
England's decision making is always off and add in the pressure of the situation which explains it more.
Don't get me wrong, he bowled fine and with nice control which allowed him to keep the pressure on. I just don't really buy it that 'they couldn't score off him' or he was completely unplayable. They need to rotate the strike against him a bit better and not let him bowl at them so much, but there was little to suggest he was some unplayable proposition.
I mean case in point. Woakes ended up with better match figures at a comparable ER but you wouldn't say he was unplayable no?
Understood. Why is that by the way.. why isnt it more uniform in terms of games played by all countries during the calendar.
James Anderson plays more test Cricket than pretty much anybody and has a ridiculous fitness record. Amir would have had to have stayed fit through his early 20s (which most bowlers don't) and played late into his thirties.
I also don't think he's anywhere near as good as Pakistani fans decided he was in his absence, wasn't even the best bowler Pakistan lost thanks to thst scandal.
I guess it's more a part of the English culture.
The english test summer is a big deal, so you always have a couple of series during the summer. And then there's the ashes every 18 months, so they add up quite quickly.
Steyn and Anderson started pretty much around the same time, but Anderson has played 34 more matches.
I think English cricket as a whole has an irrational fear of leggies, as you say he was not unplayable but the team made very heavy weather of it. It should be noted the end he was bowling at probably was not the best for him either.
In England Amir did, outside there was nothing at the time to suggest he could do that really.
My opinion is that test cricket in England is still the most popular form of the game and so the calender remains fixed in favour of tests. It has its downsides as English players can't play the full IPL season if they get picked as test cricket starts shortly into the competition.
Whereas other countries particularly the Asian ones are more flexible regarding T20s/ODIs and their internationals can play different leagues and more domestic/franchise cricket.
In Pakistan's case test matches don't get much of a crowd in UAE but limited overs are full so revenue wise playing more limited overs is in their interest.
Did they make heavy weather of it? He's a good bowler and caused problems like all good bowlers will but I thought through most of the afternoon and most of the evening sessions the danger came from the other end (Apart from maybe when Rahat was bowling).
Warne was making out like Yasir was turning it square like he always does when a leggie bowls, but like usual with Warne I'm not 100% convinced the narrative he was creating was completely backed up by reality.
He probably was the difference between the the difference between the two sides, yet if England hadn't chucked away 3 wickets to Rahat they would have probably won.
Don't think the thread is only for England cricket fans
Cos the 'big three' (England, India, Australia) dominate and run the ICC. They make the bulk of the money and so they predominate the calender in terms of fixtures, etc.
Looking forward to the Old Trafford Test, a pitch that will likely have something in it for the seamers and with Wahab and Amir looking like they have fully acclimatised, we should be able to get 20 wickets... As ever, it all depends on our batsmen.
Well by getting out, bar Ballance, to not particularly great deliveries would suggest they did make heavy weather of it eventually. I missed the morning session but I note that the top order dealt with Yasir well and that his opening 11 overs went for 32? Then he went to the Nursery End and Ballance dealt with him ok until his wicket then Moeen did a brainfade and then Yasir went back to the Pavillion End and tied up one end whilst Wahab and Amir reversed it.
As you say not unplayable, but once he did strike England did seem reluctant to play him on merit as much as it appeared previously. I agree though that had the top order not been so flippant England probably would have won this.
Great win for us, hopefully the seamers come to the party in the second test. I was disappointed with Amir, i thought he would have been our Woakes, so hopefully he is more confident and performs better in the second test. Make no mistake our openers are weak and with Jimmy Anderson bowling against them i won't be surprised if we get out for a low total.
Pretty sure Amir will look 5x the bowler in swinging conditions much like Anderson.
I am certainly hoping for that. The only reason why our team will give England a fight in seaming conditions is due to our bowling attack and ofcourse our Messi, otherwise our batting is hopeless.
Then where do you draw the line? Misbah played a horrific shot off Mooen, was Mooen in his head? Hafeez played a crap shot off Broad, was he in Hafeez's head? And Rahat ran through the top order without really bowling that well.
Ironically, I think its a little unfair to Yasir. By treating leg-spin as some unknowable, arcane, voodoo magic and acting like he's bowling spitting cobras every time he gets a wicket it downplays the times that he genuinely does get batsmen out and out thinks them. Sure leg spinners will always get people out who can't pick them, and mop up the tail, but England's batsmen generally picked him well and scored off him without taking risks.
His control was impressive today (it almost always is) and that does create pressure, but I don't think his wickets today were particularly special. Ali's was an awful shot and I really think Ballance should have done better to what he got out to, it spun a long way yeah, but it was so short and wide enough that he had time to react, got a better pair of balls in the first innings.
You're right, with respect to Moeen I always feel that his gets wickets because of batsmen being overconfident against him, but really I was looking far too much into things anyway.
Brilliant test match. Last year's Lords test against NZ was a cracker and this one matched it.
Think the emergence of Woakes means we need to replace Moeen. If we've got Stokes, bairstow and Woakes we can do without another all-rounder.
I reckon there are three options: Rashid Ansari or Crane at Hampshire. The first two will contribute runs but Crane is the most exciting bowler. I'd go for Rashid at the moment though, he seems to be improving and maybe now's a good time to see what he's got at test level.
Batting still poor. Not sure what Ballance did to justify a recall. Think Bell has gone at the top level but maybe time to look at Borthwick.
Think the emergence of Woakes means we need to replace Moeen. If we've got Stokes, bairstow and Woakes we can do without another all-rounder.
I reckon there are three options: Rashid Ansari or Crane at Hampshire. The first two will contribute runs but Crane is the most exciting bowler. I'd go for Rashid at the moment though, he seems to be improving and maybe now's a good time to see what he's got at test level.
Batting still poor. Not sure what Ballance did to justify a recall. Think Bell has gone at the top level but maybe time to look at Borthwick.
Will be loads of support for Pakistan at Old Trafford and the pitch will help spin and reverse swing provided it doesn't rain. Reckon eng will have a tough job to win there.
Ballance has been playing well for Yorkshire, deserved his recall. He has 6 Test match hundreds and averages around 45. He will be a England regular, just needs to find that consistency.
To be honest Moeen is in the side for his off-spin, not his batting which is why Woakes' development won't effect him. Not sure how good Crane is yet but Moeen probably is the best spinner England have got in the county circuit.
He's been playing 'ok' for Yorkshire, certainly if we're calling up players who have been playing well in county cricket, Ballance would be nowhere near the front of the queue.
From 15 innings this year he's hit 471 runs at 33.64 and only passed 50 twice. He lies 59th in the County Championship batting averages.
How his average is still so high for England baffles me, I'm sure someone must be using a broken calculator. I agree with @JohnnyKills and cannot see why he was recalled.
I thought Rashid was a better spinner, but Moeen got in due to being a better batsman?
Moeen averages 30 in Tests with the bat compared to Rashid 20. With the ball Moeen averages 41.5 and Rashid 69.5 although that's only from 3 matches to Moeen's 27. Rashid has twice as many FC wickets as Moeen at a better average.
I certainly would be tempted to try Rashid before the series is out. Even if that particular gamble doesn't pay off, our bowling (and to a fair extent batting) will be massively boosted by bringing in Stokes and Anderson for Finn and Ball.
I certainly would be tempted to try Rashid before the series is out. Even if that particular gamble doesn't pay off, our bowling (and to a fair extent batting) will be massively boosted by bringing in Stokes and Anderson for Finn and Ball.
I would drop Ali and play Rashid, with Anderson and Stokes coming in for Ball and Finn.
We're back to the good old Ashley Giles - shit spinner who can bat a bit era, after the golden age of Graeme Swann.
Yep would go with this as well.