England v Pakistan- test series thread.

Rjd2

England four wickets down thanks to Aamer bowling like the marvel he is.

Sadly however no matter what he, Asif and to a lesser extent Gul do, you fear their flimsy batting line up will be their downfall at the end.

125-4 with Morgan and Colly at the crease.

Royale with Cheese

Morgan up to 44, nice to see him going well.

I have tickets to the final day of the 3rd test at the Oval. It was the only day I could go so I'm praying it somehow lasts the 5 days.

RoyMcC

Morgan has his half-ton, including 10 x 4s

D3PO

Come on Moggy lets get the ton and then double it

whatawaster

Hits a six to get his hundred. Delighted for him

booth70

Morgan cements his place in the starting XI for the Ashes:)

Beasty

booth70 wrote: »

Morgan cements his place in the starting XI for the Ashes:)

Not with one innings he doesn't. Was listening to TMS commentry most of the day, and they were all talking about Bopara, and Morgan cannot afford to rest on his laurels. He has been criticised for not exploiting Bangladesh more, and needs to show some consistency at Test level before he can be guaranteed his place (personally I would stick with him regardless, but the argument for Bopara is he is not only in tremendous batting form, but can also offer something to the bowling)

The real pressure is now on Trott, although there will almost certainly be a place in the squad for Bell if he shows any form when he gets back from injury

Rjd2

Beasty wrote: »

Not with one innings he doesn't. Was listening to TMS commentry most of the day, and they were all talking about Bopara, and Morgan cannot afford to rest on his laurels. He has been criticised for not exploiting Bangladesh more, and needs to show some consistency at Test level before he can be guaranteed his place (personally I would stick with him regardless, but the argument for Bopara is he is not only in tremendous batting form, but can also offer something to the bowling)

The real pressure is now on Trott, although there will almost certainly be a place in the squad for Bell if he shows any form when he gets back from injury

True, but what does Cook have to do for people to even question his guaranteed inclusion all the time?:pac:

djimi

Beasty wrote: »

Not with one innings he doesn't. Was listening to TMS commentry most of the day, and they were all talking about Bopara, and Morgan cannot afford to rest on his laurels. He has been criticised for not exploiting Bangladesh more, and needs to show some consistency at Test level before he can be guaranteed his place (personally I would stick with him regardless, but the argument for Bopara is he is not only in tremendous batting form, but can also offer something to the bowling)

The real pressure is now on Trott, although there will almost certainly be a place in the squad for Bell if he shows any form when he gets back from injury

I like Bopara but honestly I just dont see him playing an innings like that having coming in with the team under pressure. I think that Ashes spot is Morgans to lose tbh, and frankly there are at least two players in that current team whos place is more shakey that Eoins right now; Cook needs to find form fast and KP has some convincing to do to show he actually remembers how to play test cricket. In the case of KP I dont think he will be dropped, but there is only so many times he can get away with playing outragous shots without getting a big score and coming out with "well thats just how I play".

djimi

Rjd2 wrote: »

True, but what does Cook have to do for people to even question his guaranteed inclusion all the time?:pac:

This is the first time in a while that Ive heard both TMS and Sky talk about dropping Cook. Great player, all the talent in the world to be a top class opening batsman, but needs to find some form and consistency. He no longer warrants the automatic inclusion he once enjoyed.

TheDrog

cook, pietersen and trott are all under pressure

Rjd2

TheDrog wrote: »

cook, pietersen and trott are all under pressure

Trott is under pressure, the other two are untouchable.

Beasty

Rjd2 wrote: »

Trott is under pressure, the other two are untouchable.

I think in the current set-up this is pretty much the case.

The problem England have is they have no back-up opener, which is why Cook will probably go whatever his form. Interestingly it goes in Trott's favour also, as he could act as back-up opener on tour - he may end up as the spare batsman in the squad for this reason.

The fact England have no proper all-rounder at present works in Bopara's favour and, like it or not, Bell has been the blue-eyed boy for some time now.

This is why Morgan must keep performing, as the selectors will not need much of an excuse to leave him out of the Test squad for Australia (and he was already under pressure coming into the present match) - so far he has done everything he can to cement his place, but he could undo it all with a bad run during the rest of the series

Mothman

Interesting morning ahead.
New day, fairly new ball
Asif and Aamar and possibly cloudy.

Needless to say that Morgan will be looking to kick on to big score but I think he'll need to see off the 2 front line bowlers and then make hay.

booth70

Beasty wrote: »

Not with one innings he doesn't. Was listening to TMS commentry most of the day, and they were all talking about Bopara, and Morgan cannot afford to rest on his laurels.
The real pressure is now on Trott, although there will almost certainly be a place in the squad for Bell if he shows any form when he gets back from injury

England starting X1 for the Ashes

Strauss
Cook
Trott/Bell
Petersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Prior
Swann
Broad
Bresnan
Anderson

Mothman

Pakistan making progress during first hour.
3 wickets, England adding 20 runs.

Collingwood, Morgan and Prior all back in pavilion, latter run out.

Mothman

Swan gone, 3rd LBW for Asif this morning

Edit,
Asif on hattrick another LBW

PeteEd

Anderson gone 1st ball! england back to their usual self destruct mode!

Mothman

Innings over
354 runs.

Anderson may well be in wickets soon. Good bowling conditions

djimi

Well that was an English collapse to bring me back to the good old days of watching England in the 1990s! Shame Collingwood and Morgan couldnt have stuck around for longer.

The run out was a joke; what on earth were they at trying to take a third run like that?

djimi

Beasty wrote: »

I think in the current set-up this is pretty much the case.

The problem England have is they have no back-up opener, which is why Cook will probably go whatever his form. Interestingly it goes in Trott's favour also, as he could act as back-up opener on tour - he may end up as the spare batsman in the squad for this reason.

The fact England have no proper all-rounder at present works in Bopara's favour and, like it or not, Bell has been the blue-eyed boy for some time now.

This is why Morgan must keep performing, as the selectors will not need much of an excuse to leave him out of the Test squad for Australia (and he was already under pressure coming into the present match) - so far he has done everything he can to cement his place, but he could undo it all with a bad run during the rest of the series

I honestly think that Cook is no longer as untouchable as he once was. There was a time when it could have been said he was going thru a lean patch, but that lean patch has been going on for too long in my opinion, and I think a lot of people are coming to that conclusion. Im not saying that the selectors need to drop him never to be seen again, but I do think they need to be seen to be actively looking for a backup opener, let Cook know that his place is not a god given right.

I dont think the selectors see Bopara as an all rounder tbh; not so that it would be much of a factor in terms of selection anyway. The impression I get is that the England selectors see Bopara as either a number 3 or a number 6/7 batsman who can bowl a bit if necessary.

I think Morgans test place is his to lose for the Ashes tbh. The biggest thing working in his favour is public opinion; everyone from fans to pundits to commentators love him, hes exciting to watch and he makes things happen. He is a match winner, which they havent had since KP and Freddie. I get the impression that the ECB want him in the team, and unless he hits a real stinker of a rough patch of form I think they will persevere with him for the Ashes. Im not for a second saying that he can afford to sit back and relax; he very much needs to keep the runs flowing, especially seeing as how his reputation for England has been based on limited overs cricket and he is still proving himself as a test cricketer, but I think the likes of Bopara are going to have one hell of a job dislodging him from that test team.

Adamcp898

Well judging by what Test Match Special is telling me at work, Pakistan are collapsing big style, couldn't hit the ball with a barn door

EDIT: 48/6

Dozen Wicked Words

Pakistan (sort of) steady the ship. 90 for 6 at tea. Very bowler friendly pitch, but I would prefer that to the ridiculous track India and SL just bored their way through 5 days of.

Rjd2

Some useful resistance from Malik and the tail, but its not enough is it?

I hate to rattle on about it, but they must do something about the batting line up, either

A .. Bring back Younis and Yousef
B.. Bring back one at least! Their seems to be bad blood towards both so pick the one that is liked the most if worried about upsetting team morale.:)
C... Malik must move the order, he has the experience to play the number three role.Its not going to make the batting invincible but its a start.


Then the Kamran issue! the amount of runs he cost Pakistan this test has been disgraceful. His batting today as well..:mad:

Sadly they can't really drop him, as his brother may throw a tantrum like he did in Oz, and we can't can't have that can we! :pac:


I

boksmashoffice

It is embarrasing watching Pakistan at the moment. The so called batsman would struggle if the Brits were bowling with a beachball.

They have no 'Guts' to tough it out. The 3 and 4 guys are out of depth and belong on a sunday league team.

The PCB need to swallow their pride and bring back the 2 Y's. They will stiffen the middle order and Malik needs to move up the order.

The Akmals need to start switching to Test match cricket and earn their runs.

Plastic 'Englishman' Morgan should have been caught way before he got into double figures.

The Tigers of Bangladesh would beat Paskistan at the moment.

Enough of my rant

Cremated

The Akmal's can not play Test Cricket, they just want to get in and score quick runs, it was shown today and also against Australia in the last Test,

Umar tried to grind the runs against Australia but failed,

Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan would add great strength to the team, now maybe not the players you would want for the 20/20 Cricket and ODI's, but certainly they are the players you bring in when you are struggling in Test Cricket,

and should be brought in for the Akmal brothers,

who else is a Wicket-keeper for Pakistan?, I don't see how he could be worse than Kamran right now...

Dozen Wicked Words

Is Kamran as bad outside england? I thought he just had problem with the late swing there.

Rjd2

Cremated wrote: »

The Akmal's can not play Test Cricket, they just want to get in and score quick runs, it was shown today and also against Australia in the last Test,

Umar tried to grind the runs against Australia but failed,

Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan would add great strength to the team, now maybe not the players you would want for the 20/20 Cricket and ODI's, but certainly they are the players you bring in when you are struggling in Test Cricket,

and should be brought in for the Akmal brothers,

who else is a Wicket-keeper for Pakistan?, I don't see how he could be worse than Kamran right now...

Thats a bit of a knee jerk reaction regarding Umar. The lad is struggling right now but he has done the business before in test cricket. He was the top overall run scorer in the New Zealand series and Butt is the only Pakistan player who outscored him in Australia. He is a special talent who they should persist with despite his poor run of form.

Assuming either of the Y's come back then you suspect Amin is ****ed. Ali while no Ponting has been a little unlucky this summer.

Kamran has always been flaky with the gloves but his batting always saves him. The other option would be Sarfraz Ahmed who kept wicket in the third test in Australia. He is really good with the gloves but as a batsman nobody really thinks he is as dangerous as Kamran.


He's also very inexperienced in international cricket, and their is only so many kids you can have in your team!

Cremated

Maybe it's a bit harsh on Umar, he has youth on his side, I just seen that Umar is only 20 years old, plenty of time to improve,

and poor Azhar Ali, he left the field without going for the Referral, when replays shown the ball went against his pocket...

Rjd2

Cremated wrote: »

Maybe it's a bit harsh on Umar, he has youth on his side, I just seen that Umar is only 20 years old, plenty of time to improve,

and poor Azhar Ali, he left the field without going for the Referral, when replays shown the ball went against his pocket...

Ali has had no luck really in England, very few of his dismissals have been down to poor shots unlike most of the other batsman.:)

Umar Gul should open from now on. :pac:

Rjd2

From hero to zero for Kamran in two balls. :pac: