Pakistan v England 2nd Test

First topic message reminder :

England team:
AJ Strauss(c), AN Cook, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, EJG Morgan, MJ Prior(w), SCJ Broad, GP Swann, JM Anderson, MS Panesar

Pakistan team:
Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal(w), Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid
Khan


Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat

skyeman wrote:

eirebilly wrote:There is also the possibility that Trott will bore the bowlers into submission

He was one of the quickest scorers in the first Test

The was meant as a tongue in cheek comment

Get to lunch only 1 down and it will have been a very good session for Eng. Taking the 3 Pak wkts for only 1 run was worth an extra 40 runs effectively.

eirebilly wrote:

skyeman wrote:

eirebilly wrote:There is also the possibility that Trott will bore the bowlers into submission

He was one of the quickest scorers in the first Test

The was meant as a tongue in cheek comment

I got you

Cook after a shaky 1st hour, is beginning to look better, Trott's looking okay we just need to get a few more runs.

That said, we all know that Trott has that ability to dig himself in and not score very quicky but anchor the innings. Good man for that role

Eng 48/1 at lunch. Very good session and the batting should soon get easier with the ball ageing.

Lunch - Eng 48 - 1

Cook 27,
Trott 5.

England's morning, hopefully can start to acelrate after lunch, but doing okay at the moment.

Cook has looked scratchy but he is still there. He often looks very scratchy early on and then settles down. I think that Cook will push on after the break. Trott will assume the anchor role which he is perfect for.

woah just caught up with this...what the dickins happened to the other half of Pakistan? Iknew they were brittle lower down but thats a monster start from England.
Strauss we know is a non batsman, probably should be at 9 now. No big deal hes out, maybe he can ring up the Aussie lad Marsh for some batting tips. Cooks struggles a little more worrying but England dont need a huge total; for a significant lead here.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:woah just caught up with this...what the dickins happened to the other half of Pakistan? Iknew they were brittle lower down but thats a monster start from England.
Strauss we know is a non batsman, probably should be at 9 now. No big deal hes out, maybe he can ring up the Aussie lad Marsh for some batting tips. Cooks struggles a little more worrying but England dont need a huge total; for a significant lead here.

Even a good captain needs to contribute occasionally. Even his last century he could have been out on 0. His ave is plummeting. Must sort himself out soon. He is looking like the weak link, even more so than Morgan.

rich1uk wrote:as i just said in the other thread about playing 2 spinners i really fail to see why figures of 33-9-91-1 have people so excited about how panesar bowled and justify his selection

i watched the whole days play and i didn't think he caused the batsmen too many problems and if he gets bowled again in the morning when misbah will be looking to have a go with being left with the tail we could quite quickly see pakistan get to 300+

I made this case elsewhere too.
Weve seen this morning that the seamers can damage Pakistan. The spinners have also been reliant on the new ball, for much of yesterday the Pakistanis were comfortabel hitting Panessar and comfortable milking Swann.
Broad and Adnderson took more wickets in less overs for less runs.
Obviosuly its not as clear cut as that ... the spinners can help muddle the batsmen and keep pressure on. But it was the seamers who were keeping things tight, and when they had a new ball taking wickets. Would that have been the case had there been longer spells of two seamer bowling in tandem? Who knows. Figures of course dont always truely refelct the quality of play and threat posed by a bowler, but Panessar bowling well was innefective.

However I think it will really tell in the second innings, and may have been of greater value had England won the toss. As it is the side has worked, theyve got Pakistan out for a modest total on a flat pitch. Its as good as you could have hoped for against a side at the top of its game recently and far more comfortable in this sort of test.

Morning all

Tremendous morning from England with the ball, certainly wasn't expecting that kind of destruction!

Shame about the loss of Strauss, another England batsman falling to the 'half forward' prod that I've been complaining about since Dubai's first innings. Solid if unspectacular going from Cook and Trott, and rightly so, too. Plenty of time to build a score here, but at the same time it is important we don't get too bogged down.

A strong afternoon session would see us very well set.

I said at the start of this match that this looked like a track where Broad would do well and he did. I think that his spells with Panesar were actually very good and they seemed to work well in tandem.

I think that Panesar did enough to justify his selection in this match but i doubt that he will ever be a mainstay in the team again as Swann is the better of the two.

Strauss is having a rough old time of it with the bat and dropped a pretty easy chance yesterday.

Mogs, as much as i rate him, is still to convince me that he is a test player. I just dont think that he has what it takes in the long format. Great at ODI's and T20 but test matches are a different beast.

Good start by England but you can not let a bowler like Hafeez bowl 10 overs for just 10 runs, a bit more rotation needed. Just a little too much respect but it should be a bit easier now with the shine off of the ball.

Welcome back Trott

His second four was a bit lucky but he is coming out to play it would seem. 11 runs to him off the first 5 balls

We do need to give Hafeez more treatment, he is an accurate slow bowler and nothing more. However, it would have to be very calculated risk as we really don't want to be losing another one now.

Fists of Fury wrote:We do need to give Hafeez more treatment, he is an accurate slow bowler and nothing more. However, it would have to be very calculated risk as we really don't want to be losing another one now.

Just to rotate him a bit better without risk to put him off stride. Better since lunch though.

Billy yep,

England will play two spinners on occassion and that will be when Panessar is used, or when Swann is injured ( or rested...hell the guys looked like he needs it a few times recetly)
Theres no way thety are suddnly going to become a regular two spinner side. He has cemented himself as the num,ber two guy on this tour though, although his figures have hardly been awe inspiring so far in this test.
I assume it means the end of Patel being considered for tests, hopefuly limited over too.


The only problem with this is that it means England wont given even a sniff to one of the young spinner batsmen for some time. Id love to see one of these guys bought through so that 5 bowlers is an option for the two spinner attack.


As for scoring rates, nothing to worry about too much so far. England showed its the new ball that does the damage here whith a bit more bounce to it.
The successful batsemn, Misbah and Shafiq, only scored marginaly quicker than this pair are doing so far ...and that required an acceleration once they were well set.

Time in the game looks unlikely to be an issue, at this point England are sitting in a good place, It could change quickly though, so continued application required.

PSW, it is a shame that they aren't likely to get a go any time soon, but at the same time they need to be averaging comfortably in the mid 40's, and not above 30 with the ball in order for them to be seriously considered. Test cricket will obviously see their averages decline somewhat, so unless the county averages are very good then I can't see England risking dropping an experienced international player.

Panesar only took 1 wicket but did a very fine job in my eyes. He created chances, created pressure (apart from Misbah's two gung-ho overs) and batsmen never looked overly comfortable against him.

AJmal back on now, need to play him as we did this morning. Watchfully but authoritatively.

Trott looked plumb but no review

Replay showing was plumb

Ha, Pakistan don't use a review when Trott would have been given out.

50 partnership, keep going boy's.

Whoopsie...seems both sides have had issues with reviews in this series.

But its part of the game. The decision hasnt been made any worse by UDRS being there and badly applied.


This partnerships looking good now. Nice to see after the debacle last time.

I had expected that Cook would take the fight to the Pakistan bowlers and that Trott would anhor the innings... Trott is doing a fine job in taking the attack to the bowlers somewhat. Excellent stuff from him.

Trott has 23 from 23 since Lunch, thats very good going

Eire, you took a couple of wickets yesterday, be careful what you're saying

crinfo are saying that went down legside .... has anyone seen the hawkeye for it?

Must say the Pakistani body language even this early is looking like the Indian's after a long unsuccessful day in Aus. Good signs

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:crinfo are saying that went down legside .... has anyone seen the hawkeye for it?

The second shout yes, the first was plumb.

Trott now an England record holder - he's reached 2064 Test runs without hitting a six.

Impressive stat, isn't it! Remember that one for future pub quizzes, folks.

I am choosing my words carefully Fists

This is what i (and many others) wanted to see from England

dummy_half wrote:Trott now an England record holder - he's reached 2064 Test runs without hitting a six.

Yeah but he doesnt get to bat against Panessar

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

dummy_half wrote:Trott now an England record holder - he's reached 2064 Test runs without hitting a six.

Yeah but he doesnt get to bat against Panessar

Ha, I thought Cook hadn't hit a 6 in Test cricket yet. A quick glance at cricinfo proves me wrong. Can't say I remember it though.

Looking rosy for England now

Eng 106/1 First Test hopefully just an aberration.

I'd like this pair to take us to 150 if possible, ideally beyond but don't want to put the mockers on them too much!

Only past 150 Fists? If they saw England past 200 then that would be brilliant

Of course An ideal scenario would be KP coming in against tired and demoralised bowlers. Nobody in world cricket dominates tired and demoralised bowlers like he does, and it may just see us accelerate on toward a big total. However, plenty of work for these two before we can start dreaming of such things.

Pakistan use up an appeal.

Trott 50 with a couple of lucky breaks.

Fists of Fury wrote:Of course An ideal scenario would be KP coming in against tired and demoralised bowlers. Nobody in world cricket dominates tired and demoralised bowlers like he does, and it may just see us accelerate on toward a big total. However, plenty of work for these two before we can start dreaming of such things.

Waiting for gregers response to this comment about KP

50 for Trott, excellent innings. Some player this guy, isn't he?

Well done Trott

Pakistan seems a bit down now. England should look to consolidate, continue to play positive, but not rash cricket.
Rehman hasn't had a longish spel so far, are they waiting for Pietersen to arrive?

Rehman barely threatened Pietersen in Dubai first innings, so that'd be a bit daft.

Pakistan have wasted both reviews. Woohoo.