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

Thats Swann gone, time for Broad to really hit out.

Shoot Swann gone lbw for a valuable 15 runs

Eng 291/8 lead by 34.

eirebilly wrote:Thats Swann gone, time for Broad to really hit out.

Yep or die trying. Anderson and Panesar not the strongest.

Just have a swing now skye, Jimmy and Monty can block away for some time but not that long. Let Broad have a go, if he gets a 50 then it will be some achievement.

Broad has been the difference. He's on 42 and we lead by 37. Pakistan's tail didn't chip in and Broad (and to an extent Swann) has pitched in and got us into a position of round-a-bout parity now, let's hope he's not done yet.

Boom. 6.

SIXXXX from Broad

Way to go.

Eng 300/8

Nice one Broad . Hope he gets 50

Fantastic 50 from Broad Just what Eng needed.

Eng 303/8

Well done Broad

A lead of 50 now, just what we were hoping for.

Two fours from Anderson

Jimmy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Lads

I was hoping for a 50/70 lead. What a job from Englands tailenders.. This will hurt Pakistan.

106 runs so far this session. Great stuff

Leg byes for four, every run counts

106!!! That is impressive skye

Misbah looking peeved

As well he should skye, Englands tailenders are doing what they do best and taking the control of the game for England

Def England's session, 116 run's and a lead of 66.

Lunch Eng 323/8

Now a bacon roll and Andy Murray at 08.30

What a session from England. Pakistan would have been hoping to have had England cleaned up by now and certainly not looking at a 66 run deficit.

FoF, glad you were wrong

skyeman wrote:Now a bacon roll and Andy Murray at 08.30

You know, i think Andy will win today. I really hope he does anyway because i really like the guy

Fists was applying the trebbs negative tactic. He will be loving this when he sees it.

I felt certain yesterday at the close that England had another 100 runs in the

Fabulous. This is why England are striong, these guys in the tail can win us tight games with quick runs.
Pakistan will have to make over 300 now to set England a traget ion their second innings, that wont be easy if we bowl like we did in the first. Given the pitch is spinning like crazy swann and pannessar should be so ineffective mid innings.
Another 20 or 30 from England and youd have to have them as favourites. Theres a lot still to do for both teams in this game, gripping stuff.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Fabulous. This is why England are striong, these guys in the tail can win us tight games with quick runs.
Pakistan will have to make over 300 now to set England a traget ion their second innings, that wont be easy if we bowl like we did in the first. Given the pitch is spinning like crazy swann and pannessar should be so ineffective mid innings.
Another 20 or 30 from England and youd have to have them as favourites. Theres a lot still to do for both teams in this game, gripping stuff.

fantastic morning for us..well played broady fantastic stuff....not slogging, selective hitting

Its been something else CF90. Broad has not only batted well but shown great composure in doing so.

eirebilly wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Fabulous. This is why England are striong, these guys in the tail can win us tight games with quick runs.
Pakistan will have to make over 300 now to set England a traget ion their second innings, that wont be easy if we bowl like we did in the first. Given the pitch is spinning like crazy swann and pannessar should be so ineffective mid innings.
Another 20 or 30 from England and youd have to have them as favourites. Theres a lot still to do for both teams in this game, gripping stuff.

They were though, englands spinners offered no real threat to the Pakistani batsmen for the majority of the first innings. In the end they relied on one chap getting himself out and then the new ball ball coming so the seamers could do the job for them. The Pakistanis were able to hit panessar freely, and milk swnann for easy 1's and 2's. They looked pretty comfortable even if the scoring rate was kept down.
With a bit more help from the pitch in the second innings i wouldnt expect the same stalemate

My only frustration with Broad is that he clealry can bat so well ( peopel have said since hes was a teen hes a potential test 6) yet more often than not doesnt. OK a lot of his faliures have come when thes asked to hit out or in the middle of a massive collapse, but he doesnt seem to "switch on" like this so often. When hes in the groove he is magnificent though.
Hes certainly been a lot more consistent with the bat over the last couple of years since that monster century. End of the day its not his primary job anyway, but its frustarting when you feel he could be even better than he is.

I think, PSW, with Broad, they tried to make him an allrounder and that was not the right approach. In the last 3 years they have concentrated on making him a better bowler who can bat every now and then and thats worked wonders for him.

Jimmy gone now and Panesar. Great stuff by England and lets hope Broad and Jimmy have some sucess with the new ball

I am very happy with a70 run lead, i would have certainly taken that at stumps yesterday.

That is a decent first innings lead for England. but I think they need to realise that 250+ runs might be a difficult target in the 4th innings. So they would want to bowl Pakistan out for under 320.

Agreed biltong. This will be a very interesting opening spell here from Broad and Jimmy, if they can knock a couple of Pakistans batters over before they pass the 70 mark, England will feel very confident.

Good performance with the bat by Broad in particular with a bit of help from Swann and Jimmy A considering we were 30 behind when Prior was out and only 11 ahead when Bell went - those extra 50-odd are the difference between being under real pressure and being ahead in the match strategy (given that we don't want to be chasing much over 200 in the 4th innings).

I think Broad is better batting when there's nothing expected of him. He can then go and bat with a little freedom and cart the bowlers around the park. If he was up at 6/7 he'd be under a little more pressure for runs, in that they'd be expected from him. For me, he's a perfect number 8.

Good performance all round dummy_half, England were looking very dodgy but thanks to Broad and co, have got themselves into a very handy position.

eirebilly wrote:I think, PSW, with Broad, they tried to make him an allrounder and that was not the right approach. In the last 3 years they have concentrated on making him a better bowler who can bat every now and then and thats worked wonders for him.

Jimmy gone now and Panesar. Great stuff by England and lets hope Broad and Jimmy have some sucess with the new ball

Yeah, I think there was too much desperation to get a new Fintoff/Botham. They wanted him to bowl faster than hes comfortable and more agressively than hes effective. I gues shis bowling suffered due to teh role and style they wanted him to adopt. With his batting though its almost the reverse, its like they despertaly wanted him to play like Ian Bell or even andopener with very correct technique and proper shots only. Now theyve allowed him a bit more freedom as very much an 8 he can come in and bat like this, flashing a few strokes and some big but clean hits...mor e ike a Botham/Flintoff


Ooops whilst I type that England implode. Hmmm game on!

Well i am happy that they decided to focus more on his bowling and let him bat naturally, he has become a much better player for it.

Hopefully England can get off to a very good start with the ball here

biltongbek wrote:That is a decent first innings lead for England. but I think they need to realise that 250+ runs might be a difficult target in the 4th innings. So they would want to bowl Pakistan out for under 320.

Lets put that into context ...thats close to the highest score in the series so far on a pitch with something about it. England should be able to restrict Pakistant to under 300 (fingers crossed) Comes down to those key mid order wickets, and avoiding anyone doing a Broad ( do they have those sort of player?)
England wont want to chase over 250 thats for sure though.

it was good to see broady taking the attack to ajmal, and not letting him settle

5 overs bowled and monty into the attack.

Right then, so after the early loss of Prior England did well to reach a 70 run lead - well played Stuart Broad.

However, 70 is in the 'corridor of uncertainty' as far as the balance of this match goes. If we make early breakthroughs we have a great chance, if not, then we stand a great chance of losing, as chasing 200+ on this pitch now will be tough against their spinners.

Still leaning toward a Pakistan win, but now it is up to England's bowlers (and fielders!!) to really get stuck in before they erase the deficit.

Need a couple of breakthroughs before the deficit is erased if we are going to win this match, I feel.

Not the best of starts, Pakistan looking comfortable.

Also, does Hafeez ever middle the ball? Every run he has got has been off the bloody edge!

Pakistan having some luck here.

HAFEEZ GONE PLUMB LBW

well bowled MONTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MOOONNNTTTY!!!! Hafeez gone! LBW.

Thank crikey. The nerves were starting to itch seeing the new ball passing by.

Unlucky so far for the seamers, game is really hot now.

Test cricket is dead....?

Swann! First over! Again!

Still not convinced by this two spinners thing