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.

lol its like watching trott and bell together in a limited overs game

Sounds like that was an excellent spell from Jimmy ... over to Broad now...

Unfortunately only one wicket in the spell but few runs so a breakthrough now could still keep this lead manageable.

Need a couple more wickets tonight though as the bowlers have done a bit of work today and won't want to have too many to work through tomorrow ...

This I think can be Misbah's problem. He tends to "get stuck" and either plays a big shot or blocks. He's not very good at just rotating the strike around. England keeping Pakistan under control at the moment, just bowling good areas.

In some ways, you can't help but admire Misbah. Yes his scoring rate is effectively 2 an over, but he's still there - and probably slowly demoralising England.

Time for a clatter of wickets please!

Welcome, BuLioli, good to see you posting at the cricket section.

I know what you're saying, and he is doing a great job for Pakistan now, but he is a) very frustrating to the opposition fans and b) incredibly boring!

time for a useless statistic:

the 15 wickets in this match have all been either bowled, LBW or caught behind (keeper).

So no runouts?

Thanks Fists! Tried to do a Zimbabwe best XI, but as biltong already pointed out, most of the players come from a period of 2 years about 2001-2003!
Back on topic, i'm afraid i can see this partnership staying till the close of play. Am surprised that Pietersen hasn't been tried as a bowler yet. Or an even more left-field bowler choice, Bell....

here comes Swann

Misbah is certainly doing a job for his team. If he'd lost his wicket early to this new ball , Pakistan may well have been all out tonight. With a lead of under 100 , and batting last , which would nearly have been evens ...

As it is , with three days to play , if Pakistan can restart with 5 still in hand tomorrow , England may have a mountain to climb.

Still , England's bowlers have contested well today , with no help from the pitch, which gives hope for the remaining Tests , whatever happens here.

Just got to get those batsmen to do their jobs ...

Game rapidly slipping away from England now. Pakistan are scoring a little more freely, and they still have five in hand, the lead is going to be insurmountable.

Ha, Bulioli that would have been tough indeed and as you say, mostly limited to a short time period. Hopefully see you contributing here regularly.

bit pessimistic Fists, good pitch for batting on, and we know it's unlikely to get much worse. No reason England can't apply themselves and bat for two days in the second innings, we know they've done it before. Could do with a wicket before stumps though.

Well in my often ignorant opinion when it comes to cricket, I think Pakistan is doing the right thing here. They know it is the first test, they do not want to give away any momentum or advantage to England if they can help it.

So by applying themselves for as long as it takes against the number 1 team in the world (did you see how I brought that into the conversation?).

They managed to draw two tests on flat pitches against SA in 2010, and if they manage to do it here without playing risky cricket and risking to lose quick wickets, then good on them.

Trott is probably the bowler against whom Misbah has looked most uncomfortable, sooooo close to bowling him there.

Interesting to hear the commentators discussing the makeup of the attack - as no doubt it will be a major topic on here between Tests.

The fact that only five wickets have gone down in 100 overs will have the Monty fans saying "Told you so" , but considering Swann has managed only one of the five and has been less economical than the pace men , have we any reason to suppose a second spinner would really be any better as an option?

Seems to me this pitch isn't offering anyone much help so I don't think the issue is clear cut at all.

Aha! An appeal and a review ...

...and now Swann has two

Needed that

Biltong
I agree that the Pakistan batsmen are doing exactly the right thing - Occupy the crease and see off any shine and hardness from the ball. Had another wicket fallen quickly, England could have been right back into the match facing a first innings deficit of only about 100 and with Pakistan having to bat last on a (probably) deteriorating wicket.

As it is, it looks like England's objective in the second innings will be to play out a draw rather than look to pressurise for a possible (if somewhat unlikely) win.

Swannny

GONE I think! Yes! Swann gets one to turn back sharply, Strauss calls for the review, the lights are all red, and England have a huge wicket just before the close!

lovely ball that, Swann seems to have got more spin bowling from this end.

Well that's one less to get tomorrow . Unless a Caddick-style over comes next.....

Great stuff from Swanny! Massive wicket and gives us access to the Pakistan tail now, hopefully we can wrap this up quickly.

Dance for joy!!

England's day now, as Jimmy takes another

Anderson back for the last over ... good idea I think...

... in fact a [b]brilliant[b] idea ...bowled him

England hanging in here ...

GONE! WHAT A BALL! cracker from Anderson and England end the day on a high. Just 245 runs scored and England take 7 wickets, that's a very good day's work from England's bowlers.

2 late wickets

as alfie points out, excellent captaincy from Strauss to bring back on his main strike bowler there.

This may not be a big lead. Hopefully the Pakistani innings will be wraped up in the first 30mins.

7 wickets for under 250 in the day on a pitch the umpires and Vaughan reckoned should have been a 400+ wicket is a very good come back after the appalling first day we had.

Still behind, but still in the game. Just need a much improved batting performance in the second go.

both teams will be pretty pleased with their day. Pakistan because they've put themselves into a strong position, England because they bowled very well, fought hard, and stuck at it.

Still all wickets bowled, LBW or caught behind

Actually a pretty decent day for England all round , 7/245 on a flat deck is very good work. Anderson and Broad in particular should be pleased with their efforts.

Had it not followed that inadequate 192 we'd all be rather happy.

Michael Vaughan sounds a bit pessimistic , but I cannot see why England can't set Pakistan 200 plus at the end (assuming these last three wickets don't take it right away from them)

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Well a first innings lead of likely 125 is better than a kick in the teeth.

What Pakistan have managed to do is force England to score at least 300 uns in their second innings.

hopefully we can get them out below 320- howevr we are still in the game even if they reach 380

true enough biltong, a lead of over 100 looks very handy, but we've seen England produce big second innings after going behind before (Brisbane, Trent Bridge). No doubt England will feel heartened by the way their bowlers stuck to their task today, they'll need another good day tomorrow.

Wow, cause for some optimisism. Swann and Jimmy, I love you both.

However, been as I have been utterly pessimistic all day, I shall refuse to openly express my hopes of gaining anything other than a defeat in this match. Makes it a little more interesting, though

Very well done by England today. Stout batting from Pakistan, but we never let them get away from us and there isn't much else we could have done. Overall, I'm happy with the day, but we really do need to wrap up the Pakistan innings early tomorrow. Allowing the tail to wag will kill off what little chance we have left.

Considering i didn't see or hear much about England's 1st innings, do they need to take a leaf out of Matt Prior's book, or can they just play their own game and try to cut out the silly shots (sweeping in case of Morgan and Broad)?

they just need to oviously get them out first-them we need to bat and get a quickish 600 in one and a half days- then bowl out pakistan in the 4 sessions(not asking for two much surely).

we have done it before

BuLioli wrote:Considering i didn't see or hear much about England's 1st innings, do they need to take a leaf out of Matt Prior's book, or can they just play their own game and try to cut out the silly shots (sweeping in case of Morgan and Broad)?

They could try paying for a few no balls.

I feel the BBC Sport website is being a bit optimistic "England fightback rocks Pakistan".

Mysti - i wish 600 runs could be scored in a day and a half!! That's 400 runs a day - 4.4-4.5 runs an over against a decent bowling attack. Probably won't happen - but i'm sure a good score can be made.

So I suppose the mantra is still: OPTIMISM!!!

I would say: get Pakistan out quickly, then look to bat minimum five sessions. If we manage that we should have a lead of close to 400 with a day and a session left, enough to ensure we shouldn't lose. So basically aim for 500 second time around.

That would mean of course making Pakistan work a little harder for their wickets. I'm not too fussed about Morgan, he plays the shot well, and it's the first time I can remember him getting out sweeping. Moreover, it's important England don't just let the spinners bowl at them (the way they did in the first session, and the way Pakistan didn't let Swann just bowl).

BuLioli
Morgan in particular is a pretty good sweeper of the ball most times - just got it wrong yesterday. Against quality spinners you can't exclude the sweep from your arsenal, especially if you aren't that good at punching through mid off / mid on, otherwise you have no scoring shots against an OK ball.

The bigger problem in the first innings was that Cook and Strauss both got out to overly aggressive back foot shots to balls that were not there for the shot. Hopefully, the efforts of Prior and the lower order with the bat and then the discipline of the bowlers today will rub off on the top 6 and get their minds focussed on the job in hand.

BuLioli wrote:I feel the BBC Sport website is being a bit optimistic "England fightback rocks Pakistan".

Mysti - i wish 600 runs could be scored in a day and a half!! That's 400 runs a day - 4.4-4.5 runs an over against a decent bowling attack. Probably won't happen - but i'm sure a good score can be made.

So I suppose the mantra is still: OPTIMISM!!!

yeah i am being seriously optimistic- however this is based on what we have done before, england have turned around 500/1 against shots in previous years!!!

Mad4,

Just to point out theres only ever been 1 score over 400 made on this pitch.
Given England struggled to get close to 200 latst time even with a massive all round improvement 500+ would be an epic acheivement. Itsrare to get that against any attack on any pitch in a second innings.
A lead of 300 would take a very good second innings for England, and leave them with a fair crack at victory. I reckon theyll a lead around 200 though, and at least have a sprotinmg 4th innings.

fair enough PSW, but it's what England should be aiming for anyway. Besides, they've only been about two tests played on this pitch anyway, so it's not like there's a lot of history there. Before the first day no side had been bowled out for less than 200 either.

The only concern when talking about any lead we may get is that we will likely have lost a few wickets by the time we even draw level with Pakistan. It is a big, big ask to set a competitive total from this point, and we need to blast their tail out first.

Brisbane?

England know how to bat long, they've done so several times over the last 12 months, they just need to do it again here.

Quite FOF. England are more likley to have a small lead than a big one.
But they are also still capable of bowling out Pakistan reasonably cheaply, so any lead of 200+ will be competitive and testing for a 4th innings target.
Getting Pakistans tail out shouldnt be too difficult, they havent got much real batting down there but it just takes one guy to hit a rapid 30 and England really are up against it.

Its more Pakistans game to screw up here than Englands to win.

A great day for England. Make no mistake this is a 450 pitch and while our batters f***ed it up, our bowlers did extremely well given the conditions. Now we need to get them out for less than 320, which means a lead of around 130, and then bat solidly for near-enough 2 days. We are well capable, despite our first innings failure of getting a lead of 350 because time is on our side. I would to see Pakistan batting on the last day against Swann!

It's quite an interestingly poised game now - Pakistan will have a healthy but not overwhelming first innings lead, but there is plenty of time available, and batting conditions should still be OK through tomorrow but might deteriorate over the last 2 days.

So, the targets for England:
1 - Obviously, get the last 3 Pakistan wickets quieckly in the morning. We won't keep the lead below 100, but <150 would be acceptable.

2 - Bat through tomorrow with the first aim being to not get out. Pick off the bad balls, but don't do much to force the issue. If we can get to the end of the day leading by 50-100 for at worst 3 down we are still well in the game.

3 - Day 4 strategy seriously depends on the match position. If we get to 250-3 or better then we can start to look at the chances of forcing a win, whereas more wickets down will need someone to put in a Hanif-esque defensive performance.