Pakistan vs England, 1st Test - Dubai

First topic message reminder :

Early start for this one tomorrow. I hope to catch half hour of play before I head to work.

Bat first is the key on these pitches I feel.

Anyway, thought I'd create the match discussion thread now so that it is there when we wake up. England are playing Test cricket again, I'm going to bed feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve.

Looking forward to the Test and the discussion.

I think England have seriously ballsed this up. Even with 2 spinners i think they would struggle to bowl Pakistan out. The pitch is a batsmans paradise. It gives nothing to pace bowlers, and any potential for turn won't show until day 4/5.

honestly if England can bowl Pakistan out for under 400 on this they'll have done pretty well. It's then up to the batsmen to get us out of the mess. Think Brisbane, this pitch isn't really that different.

I still have this wee hope that they will bowl them out for under 300.......

Thank god for that

GONE! Ump's call on outside the line, Hafeez can consider himself maybe a bit unlucky there, but England probably deserve a bit of luck.

good bowling from Swann that, anticipated that Hafeez would be looking to sweep (after a few dots, he has done pretty consistently) so fired it in quicker and fuller. Big wicket for England, they really need a few more quick ones though.

Get Broad back on after the drinks break. England can still do this :-)

Why no Broad?

Thankyou Strauss.......

Controversial but should teh question not be shoudl England have picked two spinners but since they didnts hould they hav had the guts to drop Swann?
I dont beleive it was relaistic to do that at the time but in hindsight its a " what if". The Pakistan batsmen seem very confident playing him even when hes mixing it up.

Trott picks up a wicket

actually that was a very good ball from Trott, cut back in sharply from outside off, just about caught Younus in line, and would have taken out middle and off. Bonus for England, and good captaincy from Strauss.

We need a flurry of wickets still or this lead is going to get beyond our reach.

Misbah a key wicket now.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:actually that was a very good ball from Trott, cut back in sharply from outside off, just about caught Younus in line, and would have taken out middle and off. Bonus for England, and good captaincy from Strauss.

Shouldve played two diddly dobbler medium pacers, wheres Bopara?

tea, and decent work from England in that session, kept the runs down and picked up a couple of wickets. They need a big last session though to get back into this.

Tea. Pakistan 213-4 and cruising toward a big first innings lead. Regardless of how well England bat I don't think they can take enough time out of this game to win it, and have my doubts about them setting a big total for Pakistan to chase - that would require a monumental effort.

First 10-15 overs of the evening session are crucial to the outcome of this match, you feel.

Fists
Remember last winter's first Ashes test? England all out on day 1 for an under par score (admittedly not this bad, but still 100+ short of where they should have been), with the Aussies then batting pretty well to establish a big lead.
England's second innings? 500+ for 1 wicket.
I still think this was the key to the whole series - broke the Aussies belief that they were the better team by swinging the shape of the match entirely, with the Aussies ending up batting to save the match rather than looking to win it.

Hope the same thing happens here - certainly don't think there's enough in the pitch to make our guys seriously worried, and if it becomes a battle of concentration and application you have to fancy Cook and Trott to come good again.

2 or 3 quick wickets and England are right back in this match. A 50 run partnership here and England will struggle...

I don't hold out such hope, DH, as you can tell I am in an entirely pessimistic mood.

Jaysus Fists, grab a pint in your lunch hour. You will feel better for it

Lets say they ship a minimum lead of 100 here. taht would leave them needing 300 to have a fighting chance. According to the pre match reports theres cracks in the pitch they expect to widen and give some variable bounce. It doesnt matter how good the batsman is, that cane get you out.
Its not impossible but another stand or another bad batting perofmrnace for England is curtains.
Historicaly it would be huge for England to come back form this point.

Pakistan doing well- here,hOWEVER cant see pakistan beating us up mind- we have to much quailty and i am sure the lads will bat a long time second innings-

draw for me!

where is everyone?

Yeah I'd agree PSW>

WIth the new ball in sight, I wish they'd take Trott out of the attack now and bowl Swann. The Trott experiment worked, but he isn't going to take another one, realistically.

The new ball is absolutely key, we simply need to take a few wickets with it.

Post deleted - redundant

I see no reason to go back on what I said last night - whatever Pakistan make now , England must at least match in their second innings. If cracks are appearing , a target of 200 in the 4th innings may be very tough.

Of course , to do that England need to bat much better than the first innings.

But if they can't bat better than that , we might indeed just as well give up now...

ok there is a match thred- where did it go???

come on england a cople of wickets please

Agree alfie, England must at least match the Pakistan score. With three days left, and the track breaking up, its hard to see a draw.

its a sticky lol- dont confuse me people

Yes Jimmy A!!! Shafiq gone, caught Prior. Come on boys, a couple more now.

Jimmy strikes! lovely outswinger, takes the edge, and Prior takes a very good catch away to his right. England with a way into the tail with the new ball!

Alfie & eirebilly

I think you're pretty much right, although it may also depend a bit on the time remaining. If England can get Pakistan out for around 325 (so 100 more than now, and a lead of about 130), they'll be batting again either end of today or early tomorrow (i.e. day 3). They'll need to bat for the best part of 2 days, which would be about 400-450 runs (seems to be quite slow scoring) to set a target of about 300 in a day and an hour or so.

A bit of time pressure on the Pakistani batsmen second time up might be helpful - this looks (so far) like a wicket where it's not too difficult to stay in (other than with the new ball - well done Jimmy), but one where playing fluently is not so simple.

If england can get pakistan out for 340 its gonna be a cracker

does anyone know what this pitch is like-

is it more your aussie,british or south asian style.

I am still standing by my 288 prediction

Tremlett's bowling had been a bit below par in this innings for me.

good aggresion from anderson- come on lads dig deep

Get Broady on.

Some pressure building here

Myst
Dubai pitches are generally slow and low, and don't offer all that much seam or swing movement. They don't spin as much or as early as the sub-continental wickets though, which is what makes England's first session performance yesterday such a disappointment.

cheers dummy

mystiroakey wrote:does anyone know what this pitch is like-

is it more your aussie,british or south asian style.

It sounds almost late summer NZ style (early summer NZ pitches are more "English" as atmospherics make for more swing and seam). Slow, low and will turn later but not dangerously, and the new ball does a little bit. Better for accurate spinners and skiddy seamers than bounce bowlers unless it's a really good bounce bowler.

Lets see if Broad can now deliver the stuff

I am unable to see this live but am getting an impression this partnership really is the crucial one now - pressure on the batsmen , and a wicket now could bring a swift mop up ... but if Akmal somehow survives the new ball it could get away from England ... big half dozen overs coming up ...

Yep alfie, one more wicket may see this Pakistan innings end quickly

they are grinding this out- scoring like 2 an over, there are letting england back into this- they are not applying enough pressure

Akmal very lucky there, almost a terrific catch by KP, by the sounds of things.

how many empty seats

Said yesterday that so often this England team has come out fighting when their backs are against the wall and they've done it again. Come on England!

England have really not had much luck today, but they've worked hard, and haven't let Pakistan get away from them. Jimmy still getting plenty of swing 11 overs into the new ball, that's a good sign.

i suppose if you cant get wickets- dont let them score.

there certainly arnt scoring