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

You're much more confident than I am, eire. Personally I see us being bundled out for about 250, giving us no lead and letting Pakistan off the hook, before collapsing pathetically in our second innings.

Not that I'm pessimistic, or anything.

You're doing a good trebbs impersonation there Fists

I never used to be too bad on the glass half full front (honestly), but years of watching England play cricket and Villa play football have worn me down to nothing more than a miserable pessimist.

I'd like to say it was an impression, but sadly it is what I actually believe will happen

hey, preaching to the preacher here, i am Irish so naturally pessimistic but i think that England still have the chance to take a decent lead here. Any lead would be valuable

Interesting fact:

Trott is now the highest scoring English test batsman never to have hit a six.

I just think a lead of 50 say would be insignificant, given that we are batting last and appear to be mentally struggling with Ajmal. It spells disaster :p

Keep the faith Fists. it will all be good. Broad is fired up and usually has games where he takes control. After his bowling, he will be on a high and may slog a few.

Believe

If we get a lead of 100 I might believe, but not until then. Deal?

i rate steven finn a lot, however i am very glad that monty is playing, especially as is this pitch is spinning and spitting now.

Great bowling to wrap up Pakistan this morning. As for our batting:

Strauss - Definition of walking wicket.
Cook and Trott - Batted very well but should have both got 100s.
KP - Unfocused.
Bell - Lost against the mysteries of spin.
Morgan - Not a Test player, simples. Get James Taylor in for the next tour.

Still think a lead of 100 is attainable. We just need 150 runs from:

Bell (20)
Prior (50)
Broad (35)
Swann (25)
Anderson (15)
Monty (5)

If we do get the lead of 100 (even 75 would suffice) our bowlers will run through Pakistan because they are all full of confidence, Broad especially.

Not sure we will run through them. They have some very good batsmen and know such conditions well.

75 is the minimum lead we need, I think. Don't want to be chasing 200 batting last.

at the start of play today if we had been offered finishing the day only 50 behind with 5 wickets down we would have taken it no question

yes it was a disappointing finish but considering most of us would have expected pakistan to add 40-50 runs this morning and trott was lucky that pakistan screwed up their DRS referrals then things could have been alot worse

That's true. I guess we just need to get out of the bogged down, fearful lineup that we became in the last 30mins and return to bat like Cook and Trott did for the majority of the day.

Very scary how clueless Bell and Morgan look against Ajmal, our only hope of winning appears to be to get as close to 257 as we can and then bowl them out for <150. If we are chasing any more than that we'll definitely be struggling.

My point about our batting depth raises its head again - if Morgan got dropped Bopara would play, who is no better imo and behind him there is Taylor and not a whole lot else.

I actually think Bopara would do well on these pitches - he is a very wristy player.

And I'm no big fan of his.

Duty281 wrote:Great bowling to wrap up Pakistan this morning. As for our batting:

Strauss - Definition of walking wicket.
Cook and Trott - Batted very well but should have both got 100s.
KP - Unfocused.
Bell - Lost against the mysteries of spin.
Morgan - Not a Test player, simples. Get James Taylor in for the next tour.

Still think a lead of 100 is attainable. We just need 150 runs from:

Bell (20)
Prior (50)
Broad (35)
Swann (25)
Anderson (15)
Monty (5)

If we do get the lead of 100 (even 75 would suffice) our bowlers will run through Pakistan because they are all full of confidence, Broad especially.

Dont forget extras, hes usually a pretty good scorer. How about we all chip in a fiver for a couple of no balls?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Great bowling to wrap up Pakistan this morning. As for our batting:

Strauss - Definition of walking wicket.
Cook and Trott - Batted very well but should have both got 100s.
KP - Unfocused.
Bell - Lost against the mysteries of spin.
Morgan - Not a Test player, simples. Get James Taylor in for the next tour.

Still think a lead of 100 is attainable. We just need 150 runs from:

Bell (20)
Prior (50)
Broad (35)
Swann (25)
Anderson (15)
Monty (5)

If we do get the lead of 100 (even 75 would suffice) our bowlers will run through Pakistan because they are all full of confidence, Broad especially.

Dont forget extras, hes usually a pretty good scorer. How about we all chip in a fiver for a couple of no balls?

I'll organise a prison break.

Phewwww, third over Prior slog-sweeps in the air to the deep but the fielder drops a sitter.

Big moment.

Eng 215/5.

Bell dropped next ball, but a very difficult chance this one, smacking it straight bac to the bowler, and it still went for four.

Two chances for Pak, but positive batting from Eng.

Eng 224/5 trail by 33.

Ajmal shouting every ball, whether close or not.

Akmal is bloody annoying with his constant noise and rediculous appeals from behing the stumps.

Prior gone but reviewed.

Ajmal gets his 4th victim, Prior gone lbw for 3.

Eng 227/6 trail by 30.

Oh dear... this is going to be a nail-biter!

Skye - so irritating, all that over-reacting isn't it?

Broad chipping in with what could be 2 invaluable fours in that last over. If these two can both stick around for a while, we can frustrate Pakistan and build a valuable lead.

Is Pakistan still bowling with the old ball?

Just taken the new ball. Interesting 30 minutes coming up.

Darn, lost my IC for a while Had to put radio 4 on and had to listen to Blowers talking about brown lorries going past the ground

Still the old ball I think.

Eng 251/6

good morning on balance for england, broad could take the game for england

Yeahhh Eng take the lead. Keep going guys

Eng 259/6.

New ball is taking some punishment, England overtake Pakistan's first innings total. Every run will hurt Pakistan now.

Broad is batting really well out there, he took on the spinners and now he's taking on the new ball. He's already got as many as Bell. The situation needs Bell to just hold it together while Broad and then Swann have a hit, while Bell can step it up if he's in when Jimmy and Monty come in.

How has Bell reached 27no One of life's wonders.

Long may it continue though

Bell lbw but reviewed, looked out.

Wasted review, none left now.

Eng 268/7 lead by 11.

Probably reviewed more down to the fact that he was the last batsman. Umpire's call on the stumps, but as skyeman says it just looked out.

Broad and Swann can both play their shots, if they start rattling along they could put some serious pressure on Pakistan. No point sticking around and waiting for one with your name on it.

Morning all, just tuning in after watching the Aussies pretty much destroy India

Time for Broad and Swann to smack a few. I said yesterday that Broad always has a decent innings after a good bowling spell. Hopefully he can see England to a 50/70 run lead

Should not give that out.

Phewww close run-out call, but not out.

Re: Broad run out. Looked in in real time, but it looked like the bat wasn't grounded when it slowed down. I think the frame-by-frame saved Broad, as there was enough doubt as to the exact moment when the ball hit the stumps.

Bell actually got about 20 runs more than i expected him to get.

Broad really is a very good player. I do get tired of hearing from certain posters that he is only in the team because of his father. He is a better player than his father was IMHO.

Great pull-shot for four from Swann

Eng 276/7 lead by 19.

A nice quickfire 30 run partnership here would do nicely

eirebilly wrote:Bell actually got about 20 runs more than i expected him to get.

Broad really is a very good player. I do get tired of hearing from certain posters that he is only in the team because of his father. He is a better player than his father was IMHO.

Definitely a better (cricketer), and even a better bowler than his father was batsman.

Yeah it does drive me a little crazy when he is compared to his father skye, he is far better than him.

A fired up Broad is a very good player and he has his tail up this test so i expect a few wickets from him again in Pakistans second innings.

Go on Swann

Did you see that amazing stat on international tailenders . Eng 100% better than any other team.

Big big part of the sucess.

Didnt see that stat skye but i can easily imagine that England have the best tailenders. How many times have we seen them out score the top order?

Very much enjoying this and any lead will be greatly acceptable

A 50-70 run lead here would be excellent for England. It doesnt sound like much but on a track like this its alot.

I just looked at Ajmal's stats. 97 wickets in 19 tests so far.... Is he really that good a bowler?