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

Perhaps time for Broad to return.

In Broad we trust, he will get the wicket

Decent partnership here, England need a breakthrough asap.

In the context of this match , this partnership is getting annoying...

Might be time to give Monty a little rest and see if a change of bowler can break this pair up (Even spinners get tired and can sometimes use a spell)

Maybe even an over or two from KP?

OK , Swann ... fair enough , keep trying things , Strauss. This partnership really is key

Botham demanding more attacking fields ... maybe. But the slow run rate is helping to keep pressure on the batsmen... at 1.8 an over or whatever they will only be 90 ahead when the new ball is due...

It was invetiably going to happen. Just remeber once theres a breakthrough the wickets tend to come in flurries and Pakistan are pretty empty from here down.

Yes PSW , can't always run through them ... nearly got a break there via a run out...didn't miss by much.

Pressure still on the batsmen.

At 24/4 Pakistan need this partnership but with England being very containing there is bound to be a loss of concentration at some stage

going to be tough to chase 150+ here.

Good contest. I reckon this is good for Eng, start to develop the game they need to win in these conditions even if it takes a few defeats.

Very good contest. These two are fighting hard for Pakistan , with the senior batsman out ...

Beginning to look as if they may survive to stumps?

Fair play to these boys, batting with great application. A worrying lack of chances on England's part, though.

This has been massive for Pakistan. Very slow going but not surrendering any wickets. Good patient stuff from them.

people are overreacting a bit IMO

effectively they are still only 42-4!!!!!!!!!

Monty a bit unlucky - looked a good shout , but Hawkeye says "Umpire's Call" so we stay with Fred Davis' negative...

Is there another wicket here tonight?

even if there isnt, with 2 days left they will prob only be around 60-4.

I doubt that there will be a wicket, these two have been batting for stumps for the last hour

Nobody is over-reacting CF, we aren't suddenly panicking, we are saying this is massive for Pakistan, which it is!!

We are still in the driving seat, but if these two add another 50 things are going to get very shaky for us. Any more than a 150 chase and I think we may just bottle it and fold.

Don't think people are panicking , cricketfan ... England still on top , just saying Pakistan are doing well to hang on after those early wickets.

Good day to look forward to tomorrow...

they are effectively 55-4, let the bowlers have some rest overnight as monty has already bowled 25 overs! and see what happens tomorrow.

Not the right time to bring Jimmy on, he is hardly a containg bowler in these conditions.

Stumps. Great day for England. New ball soon and a wicket early tomorrow should see us win this Test.

Great stuff from Pakistan duo there, who could well set England an incredibly challenging total if they carry on in the same fashion tomorrow.

Weren't interested in containing with 4 to go billy ... change it around , hope for a concentration lapse... no result but never mind , 55/4 effectively

We come back tomorrow , indeed with rested bowlers (and a new ball due in 19 also)

Can still go either way but I think England will sleep slightly easier.

I was more thinking that By containing them they might have forced an error as the time approached. Jimmy is not threatening on this track.

Bad news is, Andy Murray will lose after being 2 sets to 1 up

you can see why swanny's record is much better at left handers, because the right handers didnt look troubled by him to be honest. They just move across to off-stump and whip it away, whilst the lefties always struggle against him.

eirebilly wrote:I was more thinking that By containing them they might have forced an error as the time approached. Jimmy is not threatening on this track.

Bad news is, Andy Murray will lose after being 2 sets to 1 up

Giving odds on that , billy? 5-5 and 15 all ...

surely cant be long until, james taylor gets a run in the test side..morgan is supposed to be our best player of spin, and he has looked clueless.. Taylor looks to be a proper player of spin.

It was more than a little eerie to see Strauss, Bell, KP and Prior struggle to play the spinners but then watch Broad smash them around. What a great innings by Broad I have to say. Because of him we have a great chance of getting it 1-1 alongside Panesar who bowled very well today.

Chasing anything over 175 will be difficult and currently the match situation is 55/4. If we can take the last 6 wickets for under 100 runs we will win. I'm not as confident as Boycott that this game is done but I feel we are slightly ahead.

Shall we remember the first innings? The last 5 Pakistani batsmen totalled 9, the last 4 totalled 0. Let's start with Broad and Monty bowling tomorrow and see what happens, we'll have a clearer idea come lunch on Day 4...

Yep Duty, this innings so far has pretty much mirrored the first for paksitan, except they are slightly worse of and started 70 in arreers.
Even if these two do make a decent start tomorrow we have the new ball before too long. It would be a massive ask for them to stand up to a fresh Broad and Anderson. If the tails showing against them, well theres nothing to suggest Paksitan will make 250. It could happen of course.

England are winning, far from won.

CF, Taylor looked equally clueless against spin in the recent Lions games in Bangladesh.

cricketfan90 wrote:surely cant be long until, james taylor gets a run in the test side..morgan is supposed to be our best player of spin, and he has looked clueless.. Taylor looks to be a proper player of spin.

+1

Mogs should be left to develope his ODI and T20 game. Thats where he is more comfortable.

Duty281 wrote:It was more than a little eerie to see Strauss, Bell, KP and Prior struggle to play the spinners but then watch Broad smash them around. What a great innings by Broad I have to say. Because of him we have a great chance of getting it 1-1 alongside Panesar who bowled very well today.

In fairness, Broad was'nt really under any pressure to perform. That said i thought that he played a tremendous innings, picking off the bad balls and being watchfull of the good ones. Very much like Prior did in the first test. Its still a close game but England have the edge i feel

Eoin Morgan is a specalist batsman and he averages 34.52 in tests with only 3 50s and 2 100s in nearly 2 years. Get rid of him. Ravi Bopara averages 34.56 (0.04 more!) and can bowl a bit. Get him in for the next test please!

Fists of Fury wrote:CF, Taylor looked equally clueless against spin in the recent Lions games in Bangladesh.

your joking right? did u actually watch the games on streams, or highlights?

Duty281 wrote:Eoin Morgan is a specalist batsman and he averages 34.52 in tests with only 3 50s and 2 100s in nearly 2 years. Get rid of him. Ravi Bopara averages 34.56 (0.04 more!) and can bowl a bit. Get him in for the next test please!

Bopara is not the answer here, you would be better off with Bresnan. I honestly would look at Taylor and give him a shot. Mogs just isnt a test batsman.

cricketfan90 wrote:

Fists of Fury wrote:CF, Taylor looked equally clueless against spin in the recent Lions games in Bangladesh.

your joking right? did u actually watch the games on streams, or highlights?

Taylor plays spin very well, probably better than most of the senior spin specialists. Get him in.

cricketfan90 wrote:

Fists of Fury wrote:CF, Taylor looked equally clueless against spin in the recent Lions games in Bangladesh.

your joking right? did u actually watch the games on streams, or highlights?

No, I'm not joking. Those first few game some him have a mighty struggle with the Bangladesh slow bowlers, he barely made a score of note.

I watched some of it Fists and i thought that Taylor played the spin well....

I haven't seen the last couple, but the first few I did see and he struggled to get it off the cut piece.

BBC text stream made the point that since his big hundred against Pakistan in England, Broad averages 49 with the bat. Not that shabby for a number 8

I still think he's being given the correct role in the batting line-up - being there to score bonus runs rather than being relied on for a score.

He no Sean Marsh though is he ...

Poor young Son of Swampy Marsh, he really has had the worst series i have ever see a top order batsman have.

IMO Mukund against england was just as bad.

Thats possible but Marsh has been shocking. I am not sure but he could have the worst figures for a top order batsmen in one series ever?

My feelings haven't changed since last night, if we are chasing anything more than 150 I think we'll lose as we just can't cope with Ajmal. I think more batsmen need to take the Broad approach though because Ajmal absolutely hates being hit and going for runs, after just two attacking shots earlier he went over the wicket and spread the field around to try and stop it. Good day for England today though and a good fightback by the two Pakistanis at the end, set up a good finale.

dummy_half wrote:
I still think he's being given the correct role in the batting line-up - being there to score bonus runs rather than being relied on for a score.

I massively agree with this.

Anything above 150 will be dodgy carrotdude. That pitch will do something for the Pakistani spinners. Good contest tomorrow.

Carrotdude wrote:

dummy_half wrote:
I still think he's being given the correct role in the batting line-up - being there to score bonus runs rather than being relied on for a score.

I massively agree with this.

Yep, lets hope that they dont mess with him and try to make an allrounder of him again...

Fists of Fury wrote:I haven't seen the last couple, but the first few I did see and he struggled to get it off the cut piece.

You won't find a bigger James Taylor fan than me, but he did seem to struggle a bit with the spin in Bangladesh. He does have a problem that sometimes he can get bogged down, like most English batsmen, and struggles to rotate the strike against spin occasionally and this is when his wicket falls. But I still think he should be in the Test side above Morgan!

And has anybody seen the Lions game today?! Buttler 104* off 50 odd balls! If he doesn't play in England next ODI game it is verging on ridiculous.

Nice to see Taylor making the case for a test callup with errr 5 there :/

Both sides seemed to have a smattering of possibles/probables for the senior games in that one. Bairstow and Keiswetter in the runs too bodes well for England.
i thought Id read somewhere that Dernbach had been called up to the test side as cover, I guess he'll travel after this test though. Makes sense since hed probably be over for the ODIs anyway.

But ODI's and Test matches are completely different games and as Mogs keeps proving with such aplomb, form in one does not always translate to the other!