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.

thanks LB

remeber guys its 5 day test match, not a 1 session day.

Fists of Fury wrote: ... Can I ask what not picking a 2nd spinner has got to do with us being 52/5?

A lack of appreciation of the conditions perhaps? Pakistan should be rolled over given their circumstances.

Duty281 wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:You can plug in your predicted scores in the ICC Calculator, Biltong.

ICC Test Predictor

I think they would be safe at No.1 for a while yet.

FoF - that is so bloody annoying... also the "shabbah...shabbah" would drive anyone nuts. Someone should tell him to simmer down - a little.

We can lose 3-0 and still be no.1. Safe.

Phew, that's a relief.

Yeah good summary cricketfan.

2 spinners is a very valid point in regards to the bowling attack Fists. I also thought that it was odd not to include the second spinner. It may not have anything to to with England being currently 52/5 but it will come into play during the Pakistani batting innings i would think....

thanks very much billy

Back our pace bowlers guys, they're very good, after all. Not their ideal conditions, but I think they'll still cause trouble.

Very, very important session this.

Umar Gul has been given a first warning for running on the danger area.

Gul running on the pitch...what a surprise...

This is obviously not the same pitch where SA and Pakistan drew on in 2010.

cricketfan90 wrote:Umar Gul has been given a first warning for running on the danger area.

Well at least we wont have to worry about the pitch cutting up on day 5

Biltong, it probably is, it is just that South Africa are a heck of a lot more accomplished at playing spin than we are

Fists of Fury wrote:Biltong, it probably is, it is just that South Africa are a heck of a lot more accomplished at playing spin than we are

Never thought I would hear someone make that statement.

I back the pace attack Fists, just would have prefered the extra spinner in the attack given the conditions. Gul is going to have to watch himself now.

Does anyone suspect that Pakistan have been taking payments to win this game?

Just checked and you are correct, we are indeed more adpet at playing spin.

Rehman bowled 68 overs in that match for 4/206

and

Ajmal bowled 62 overs in that match for 3/197

You see how our skills have improved?

Come on Moggs

I think SA have some terrific players of spin, Biltong. Amla, Kallis and ABDV are very adept, and Smith isn't too bad either at times.

A resurgent England blazing their way out of the blocks after lunch!!!! (i.e. we didn't just allow maidens, and went at 2 an over instead of 0.01)

lol at bumble making chicken noises

Fists of Fury wrote:I think SA have some terrific players of spin, Biltong. Amla, Kallis and ABDV are very adept, and Smith isn't too bad either at times.

A resurgent England blazing their way out of the blocks after lunch!!!! (i.e. we didn't just allow maidens, and went at 2 an over instead of 0.01)

Perhaps you are right about AB and Amla, but on the whole I am just pulling your leg.

Desmond Tutu is probably bettr than Englands top 5

Fists of Fury wrote:I think SA have some terrific players of spin, Biltong. Amla, Kallis and ABDV are very adept, and Smith isn't too bad either at times.

A resurgent England blazing their way out of the blocks after lunch!!!! (i.e. we didn't just allow maidens, and went at 2 an over instead of 0.01)

I know you are, you swine, but I thought I'd offer my actual opinion on that one regardless

England going about this the right way, but one lapse and we are right back in the mire. Keep the concentration, fellas.

Seems to shop doors have closed again, are England looking to block out and play for the draw? Hoping for rain ?

Brilliant stuff from Hafeez and Ajmal today so far, ludicrous batting display by England so far tho!

Gregers, that is the problem, it hasn't been brilliant stuff. Bell got a good ball, but other than that they have been accurate and nothing more. We have just managed to do our usual and go in to a shell against spin before weakly gifting our wickets.

Let us hope Prior and Morgan take a different mindset and throw these spinners off their lines. Spin bowling is about rhythm, you mustn't let them settle and bowl at you.

Fists of Fury wrote:I know you are, you swine, but I thought I'd offer my actual opinion on that one regardless

Oh man, I am deeply hurt.

Damn, we need a suicide emoticon.

Good stuff from Mogs and Prior here to steady the ship. I still have major doubts about Mogs being a test player but he continues to prove me wrong

Fists of Fury wrote:

Nore Staat wrote:posted this on the wrong thread
As soon as I heard that England were not going with the second spinner (Panesar - despite him being the best performing bowler in the warm up event), I knew that England would probably suffer humiliation (although Pakistan themselves are in turmoil from events within Pakistan itself as well as the match fixing scandal).

England were humiliated in the one day matches in India. They really need to change their one strategy mentality..

Can I ask what not picking a 2nd spinner has got to do with us being 52/5?

I questionned the lack of a second spinner, but agree it's got nothing to do with an abysmal batting performance. Some of the shots were akin to a 20/20 match, poor judgement and not what you would expect for the No.1 ranked side.

Damn, Morgan what are you doing?! Why on earth was a sweep shot required at that point in time. Game over.

Damn me and my cursing of Mogs

Maybe its time for Broad to just let loose... Cant hurt

Well at leats Mogs proved he is the best of the top order at playing spin with a score of errr 24 there :/

shame to see a test match being played in a virtually empty ground.

Yep, time for Broad and Swann to play their shots. Trying to block out will only see you lose your wicket, as our top order proved so emphatically.

PSW, the fact that Morgan averaged 160 against spin prior to todays innings makes your point obsolete.

I'd take 150 from here...

Fists of Fury wrote:Yep, time for Broad and Swann to play their shots. Trying to block out will only see you lose your wicket, as our top order proved so emphatically.

PSW, the fact that Morgan averaged 160 against spin prior to todays innings makes your point obsolete.

I'd take 150 from here...

It doenst makew it obsolete, he was the best ... the rest were just abysmal. That was my point!

cricketfan90 wrote:shame to see a test match being played in a virtually empty ground.

Theres probably a few England players glad of that right now

We never do things by halves, do we? We either pile on the runs, or fail abysmally. Rarely do we get 4 or 5 players getting 30-odd runs.

50 from Prior and a couple of battling 30's from Swnan and Broad plus some dogged blocking out from Anderson and a handfull of extras ( the Pakistan boys gotta make their bread form somewhere) should at least avoid this looking like an Indian batting perfomance.

Anything above 150 from this situation would be brilliant for England to be honest. Pretty sure we will se the tailenders out score the top order here.... Not that difficult really

There goes Broad.
Anything over 100 will be a bonus now

Sweep shot does for us again...brainless cricket.

Jaysus, going from bad to worse

Morgan is not a test player, the tail without bresnan has very little chance of getting us anywhere. Prior should just go all out attack here now, get us to 150-175 and then put Swann at one end and Kp the other...

It's a spinners wicket yet we pick 3 seamers?

cricketfan90 wrote:here's a stat for ya


in test cricket, morgan averages 20 against pace, and 161 against spin......

The problem with taking too much value out of these stats is that he is playing his first test away from home and has only played 14 matches. He is yet to face SA or Australia (not that they have anything to write home about in the spin department.) In fact since the retirement of Warne and Mural, apart from Swann there are no great spinners around these days.

gregers the ball isnt spinning its just bad shot selection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gregers, presumably you're not watching this, the ball isn't spinning at all! Every time we have got out the ball has been going straight on! The pitch is a little slow, but that is about it. It has very much been a case of awful batting and decent bowling, not much more.

Given the conditions, i actually imagine that broad will take a few here. Lets not forget that this is not a very strong Pakistani batting line up....

Sorry what I meant was its a slow pitch, keeps a touch low as well. Our seamers will struggle just as there's have.

Difference is they have two spinners who whilst not spinning it very much are bowling the right lines and our batsmen are trying to be too clever against them.

This right here is a Monty p wicket, not much turn but slow enough to trouble the batsman... Why isn't he playing?

Regardless of how you want to gloss it up only Prior has really been any good today. (bell got a jaffa up first so he is excluded from this) Kp, Trott, Mogs, Strauss... All shocking shot selection

sorry for all the exclamation marks gregers, just so many people keep saying the pitch is spinning, when it isnt...

and billy the pakistan line up is strong

Hafeez-scoring runs for fun recetly
Umar-same as above
-Azhar-same
Younus-world class batsman and still only 32
Misbah-can score runs at will

the only weak links are shafiq and adnan akmal.

Yay
We've got past the 100