Surprised the umpire just didn't give cook out anyway,
Edit, he is now FFS
Edit, he is now FFS
England Cricket 2016 - Sri Lanka & Pakistan
- Thread starter ChrisNelson
- Start date
Completely forgot about this!
Good start by Pakistan. Assuming he is dropped, I am glad Hafeez is not playing. rather someone else be given a chance.
Good start by Pakistan. Assuming he is dropped, I am glad Hafeez is not playing. rather someone else be given a chance.
That Iftikhar Ahmed looks almost 50 years old. And he is meant to be 25!
same nearly forgot but managed to catch wickets of Root and Cook. Brilliant start. Why do Pakistan not play with 4 seamers
Surprised England batted first good conditions for bowling. But then again Pakistan have been pathetic against scoreboard pressure.
Haven't seen it what happened
Hales middled one to Yasir at mid-wicket. He claimed the catch and Hales stood his ground umpires gave him out but went upstairs to check it and Sky had the work experience kids on the cameras or something so that you couldn't see what happened.
It was harsh on Hales, but if the umpires have given it out you can't overturn it based on not much more than the batsman looking a bit miffed.
Wahab on fire.
Wahab you beauty!!
Bloody hell, we must be Pakistan in disguise
Pakistan's over-rate this morning is abysmal.
I see, tbf it was Hales.. he'd have got out fairly soon anyway.
Cook should carry the can for this.
You've got a good wicket and two days of sunshine coming up. The best chance of taking wickets is by bowling on the first day, when it's overcast and there's grass on the strip. So what does Cook do? He bats.
Hopefully Root's promotion isn't delayed too long. Cook is a great player but he's always struck me as a very cautious and unimaginative bloke in interview. Obviously we're not in the dressing room but that sort of personality has to come through.
Also, James Vince's best score for England is lower than Ian Bell's average. Maybe the selectors should think about that.
You've got a good wicket and two days of sunshine coming up. The best chance of taking wickets is by bowling on the first day, when it's overcast and there's grass on the strip. So what does Cook do? He bats.
Hopefully Root's promotion isn't delayed too long. Cook is a great player but he's always struck me as a very cautious and unimaginative bloke in interview. Obviously we're not in the dressing room but that sort of personality has to come through.
Also, James Vince's best score for England is lower than Ian Bell's average. Maybe the selectors should think about that.
Nah don't agree. The pitch is a bit spicier than the last two but its not a 73-4 pitch, England just haven't batted very well.
Pakistan are similarly incompetent with the bat at times, so I'm sure we'd have chiselled out some early wickets, but that doesn't mean its a bowl first pitch.
Should be dropped. His best shot is the drive which is also his weakness as he gets out so often to it. Talented but not currently good enough IMO.
Yeah but the best chance Pakistan have is to bat tomorrow and Friday and fill their boots when the sun is out. It's swung this morning and, had they been batting, I'm sure they'd have lost plenty of wickets.
Agree that England have batted poorly. We can't expect Cook and Root to do it every time though - someone else has to start helping out.
Disagree with that completely, Alec Stewart said he'd have batted, Misbah did too and I would have as well. Cook's captaincy in the last test was excellent and this cautious, unimaginative schtick is still being peddled. The ball isn't doing too much and England could have batted a lot better.
Pakistan are going to go from batting poorly to batting great in one day because it's sunny? A green pitch is a usually a signifier of seam movement, of which there hasn't been much really. England bowled Pakistan out in the last test because it was sunny and dry and it was reversing as a result.
It might not be doing a lot but it's doing a lot more than it will tomorrow, when the forecast is 26 degrees, meaning prime batting conditions.
Alec Stewart was a great player but the team he coaches is near the foot of Championship Div 1 despite having one of the strongest squads in the country. And they've only won one game at the Oval.
England don't need it to do much, just a little bit and the bowlers have the skillset to do damage, on the last day in the last test it was sunny and flat and all was needed was a bit of reverse. Stewart still knows more about pitches at the Oval than any of us, irrespective of his ability to coach or draw the best out of his players. The bounce and pace of this pitch is good and I suspect it will break down a lot more than the Edgbaston pitch and I'd rather be bowling in the 4th innings than batting vs. Yasir.
I'd rather bowl them out today when conditions are good for bowling, then get a big score Thursday-Friday when conditions were good for batting, then bowl them out again when the pitch starts to deteriorate, so obviating the need for a second innings.
But then I guess we'll have to agree to disagree mate. Hopefully the Yawkshire pair will dig us out of a hole and we can get to 350, which should leave us in the game.
Looks like we shall, still think it's harsh to say Cook should carry the can for anything until both teams bat mind.
RIP Hanif Mohammad.
That's a game changer right there.
Surprised its taken this long for it to happen to Pakistan this series. Front foots been all over the place.
Ffs Wahab
What has happened to Amir's pace? He used to consistently bowl 90mph+.
Carrying an injury?
Carrying an injury?
Bat is a million miles away from the pad but let's check the hotspot regardless and waste more time.
If Moeen gets runs here I think he'll bat 5 in India. He looks at least as good a player as Vince or Ballance, and by picking him in the top 6 England give themselves the option of six bowlers and two spinners.
Think they've got that option but personally I hope they go with this:
Cook, Hales, Root, Borthwick, Ballance, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes/Broad, Rashid, Anderson
I'm almost certain we're going to get absolutely shocking wickets like South Africa got and will need all the batting and spin bowling we can get.
Yeah they're going to give us absolute dustbowls aren't they.
Borthwick is a good shout as he bowls spin, as is Ansari at Surrey. Think Moeen is just as a good a batsman and bowler as either of them though.
Not sure about the need for three spinners as a slow bowler can bowl all day, but they might well go with three as you suggest.
I know it's a big call but I'd leave out Anderson and pick Wood if he's back up and running. His pace will make a difference on those dead pitches and he can reverse-swing it as well.
Pakistan trying to take 20 wickets in one day, shocking discipline.
One thing England have done well in this series is always keep the runrate high even while losing wickets.
How many times have they dropped off Amir's bowling 
Its not really about picking 3 spinners, but just a happy coincidence that the next man in line for a batting spot happens to bowl some decent leggies.
Definitely would keep Anderson in. His record in Asia is excellent for a quick: 55 wickets at 28 in 17 matches and 22 in 7 in India.
I'm almost certain they'll just replace Vince with Rashid and play 4 quicks for no reason, but there you go.
That's a lot of lefties in the middle order, do think Borthwick with his leggies or Ansari with his SLA will get a spot though. Wonder if Root drops to 4 again or do we promote Bairstow and play another spinner
. It's a shame Broad's batting has gone to shit because it does make him slightly disposable with Woakes and Stokes around. Cook, Hales, Root, Borthwick, Bairstow, Stokes, Ansari, Ali, Woakes/Broad, Rashid, Anderson.
3 spinners with Borthwick, Root and Stokes also able to float a few up and 3 seamers
India were selecting Jadeja, Mishra and Ashwin all together vs. South Africa with only one seamer at times.
How many times have they dropped off Amir's bowling
Commentators saying 5 dopped over the series, he's currently averaging 37 if those catches were taken he would be averaging 25. Dropping Moeen will probably turn out to be very costly and also the stupid no ball wicket of bairstow.
These pair are having a great series. Bravo to both.
Why are they not bowling short bowls to Moeen Ali?