England in the UAE

Fixtures

Mon Oct 5 - Tue Oct 6
England XI v Pakistan A
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Thu Oct 8 - Fri Oct 9
England XI v Pakistan A
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Tue Oct 13 - Sat Oct 17
1st Test - England v Pakistan
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Thu Oct 22 - Mon Oct 26
2nd Test - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Sun Nov 1 - Thu Nov 5
3rd Test - England v Pakistan
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Sun Nov 8 (50 ovs)
England XI v TBC
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Wed Nov 11
1st ODI - England v Pakistan
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Fri Nov 13
2nd ODI - England v Pakistan
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Tue Nov 17
3rd ODI - England v Pakistan
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Fri Nov 20 (
4th ODI - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Mon Nov 23
England XI v United Arab Emirates
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Thu Nov 26
1st T20I - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Fri Nov 27
2nd T20I - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Mon Nov 30
3rd T20I - England v Pakistan
Sharjah Cricket Stadium



Squads

Test squad:
Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Zafar Ansari (Surrey), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wk), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Mark Wood (Durham).


ODI squad:
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wk), Sam Billings (Kent, wk), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Reece Topley (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).


Twenty20 squad:
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Sam Billings (Kent, wk), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Stephen Parry (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Reece Topley (Hampshire), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

First warm up match started - two days PFFT.

Got to say that the England line-up (Cook, Ali, Bell, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, Rashid, Wood, Broad, Anderson.) looks like the possible test team. Certainly interesting that Ali and Bairstow have first crack at sealing batting berths.

Ali out for 22, top edging a pull shot. Cook and Bell ease England past 50. cook will be looking to score some runs having only played one match since the Ashes series, where Jimmy Anderson had his number.

I always wonder how useful these two day warm-ups are.

I guess that the 4 guys with half centuries to their name will have been reasonably happy to get bat on ball.

They're useful for players to face a few balls and get somewhat used to conditions, and for bowlers to get overs under their belt and find some rhythm in a (presumably) match-type environment. Don't get overly hung up on batsmen scoring huge scores or bowlers getting loads of wickets. For today, England will be reasonably pleased: Fifties to Cook, Root, Bairstow and Rashid are useful, and Bell and Moeen got starts. Certainly Bairstow and Rashid will be delighted as they've laid down a good marker for selection. In a way a bit of a shame as I would quite like to get Taylor in the side in the subcontinent (best player of spin in England with Root IMO).

Its Samit Patel in place of Ansari isn't it?
That England lineup does look like the quite possible test lineup. Hope the UAE pitches would bounce and turn, and the likes of Yasir Shah and Wahab Riaz, and Adil Rashid and Steven Finn will have lots of fun.

Is there a fair chance that Bairstow could take the gloves ahead of Buttler?

Certainly on the batting front hes been in far better form and continuing that in this innings. Alternatively he could be fighting for a spot as a specialist batsman with Hales and Taylor.

Ali of course will play the tests.. the question is will it be as an opener or will Hales get the spot? If Hales isnt an opener will he play at all?

The selections all round look pretty up in the air, this game is posing as many questions as it answering so far.

Gooseberry wrote:Is there a fair chance that Bairstow could take the gloves ahead of Buttler?

Certainly on the batting front hes been in far better form and continuing that in this innings. Alternatively he could be fighting for a spot as a specialist batsman with Hales and Taylor.

Ali of course will play the tests.. the question is will it be as an opener or will Hales get the spot? If Hales isnt an opener will he play at all?

The selections all round look pretty up in the air, this game is posing as many questions as it answering so far.

Goose - and you can add to that atm (tea on the second and final day) Rashid's performance with the ball. Figures of 11-0-36-0. Not so bad as to prevent his expected Test debut but hardly going to win over those like me in the ''unconvinced'' category; especially when compared to Ali's return of 2/16 from 13 overs.

Two catches dropped of Rashid's bowling though.

LondonTiger wrote:Two catches dropped of Rashid's bowling though.

Hokey doke, Tiger. I did actually look on cricinfo - most of the balls bowled had a narrative description but a couple of his overs only showed the runs conceded (or not) per ball. Unless I didn't look properly, suspect the drops happened then. I'm quite content to slate Rashid but want to do it fairly.

Moeen takes 3 wickets to Rashid's none and at roughly half the economy rate.

Pointing this out is not to bash Rashid but I hope it tempers some of the hype and expectation around him, he is still a young player learning his craft.

Apart from the useful knocks for Cook and Root , the main feature seems to have been good batting from Bairstow (and Rashid) and more good bowling from Ali. Which , as has been said , doesn't totally clarify selection.
Buttler still not getting runs could be an issue. And I see Bell got started but rather failed to go on...

Will see what the second "match" reveals.

If I had to pick a side now:

Hales (pending a score of 30 plus there in the next warm up and only because someoen has to open but it shouldve been Compton)
Cook
Bell
Root
Taylor
Bairstow (WK, it allows an extra batsman to cover for the number of "all rounders" and fargility at the top. Buttlers form has been abysmal and hes not a good enough gloveman to be selected on that alone.)
Ali (Opening and being the main bowler puts the whole tour on one guy)
Stokes (assuming a third seamer will only be a back up)
Radish
Broad
Anderson

2 full(ish) time and 1 part time spinner, 2 full time and 1 part time seamer.
As usual theres a lot of wrong selections and not an obvious right one.

I certainly wouldnt go near Patel with barge pole. Ansari smacked enough of desperation (or wasting his time) but Patel not featuring in the warm up really suggests hes only there to keep the chefs busy. Picking 3 spinners would be a "thing" for England, but Roots bowling isnt notably worse than Patels and frankly its embaressing to have him in the squad. he averages 15 with the bat and 64 with the ball despite playing in conditions that shouldve suited him...and lets not even mention his fielding. If we think Ali is a bits and pieces player and Rashid a risk , this lump is a nothing and nothing straight up failure.

Its not the most convincing squad to pick from. On the plus side at least this time the pakistan bowlers should be keeping the chucking to a minimum.


Essentially someone has to be given a space as a gamble. Either chuck in Hales as an opener, Patel as a "Im not sure what hes doing here" or Buttler just to enable Bairstow to concentrate on batting. Dont give Hales the openers spot and you gamble on Ali and distract him as well. When you add in Taylor still being at the "point to prove" stage, Stokes being there to make up the numbers, Ali and Rashid bother having "points to prove" about their bowling, and Bell barely clinging on to a spot through former glories.

Cook
Ali
Bell?
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Buttler
Rashid
Broad
Finn
Anderson
Contrary to most people here and elsewhere, think I would give Ali a longish enough run as an opener. He doesn't have the conventional technique for an opener. But they haven't picked Compton, Lyth had his chance and didn't take it, Hales looked a walking wickets even in the limited overs and doesn't seem to have the temperament. If Ali clicks 3 out of 10 innings, think I would take that. Because if he can click at the top, then he would give momentum to the innings and can put the bowlers under pressure, and then his his parttime bowling can be of good additional value. Ali is not going to be England's Virender Sehwag, but since they are not finding their next Boycott or Andrew Strauss at the moment, a minor version of Sehwag, who can bowl as well is the best possible option at the moment. So unless he is a total failure and failes to go pass 30 any time in the series, Ali to stay at the top for some time, Rashid can play as the regular spinner, Ali and him together will give the best available spin combination for England under the circumstances, and that would give them a different kind of an attempted solution to the troubles at the top.

Second warm up game under way. In first England picked an 11 and stuck with it. In this one some experimentation. Bairstow and Buttler expected to share the gloves, but the ginger yorkie gets first dibs.

Two wickets for finn with the new ball.

Two more wickets for finn straight after the lunch break - playing hi sway into the test team?

Outrageous figures for Finn so far - 10-6-5-4!

Agree with LondonTiger that he is surely playing his way into the Test team

VTR wrote:Outrageous figures for Finn so far - 10-6-5-4!

Agree with LondonTiger that he is surely playing his way into the Test team

Yes, looks like that. Msp will be getting very excited! Mind you, Rashid isn't doing so well with 0/16 off 7 - that's being knocked all round the park in comparison!

Finns not making this any easier is he!
In theory England should look to go in with just Ali and root as the spin options ,...Rashid just isnt worth a place. I cant see that happening again though.

So assuming theres two proper(ish) spinners and that Broanderson are untouchables + Finn demamnding a place that leaves 3 front line seamers and 3 all rounders in the side (plus another spin option) and the reserve keeper being the only on form batsman, plus a wicket keeper and 3 actual out and out batsmen only one of which is a convincing opener.


Drop Buttler to allow the extra bowler...because we absolutely need 4 seamers? Drop Stokes? Drop Cook and open with Finn and Wood for a laugh?

Well based on what we've seen so far - brief as it is - and assuming we are picking a team to try to win the Test Series rather than worrying about future development : you would think Finn has done enough to take the third seamer spot ; Bairstow should be ahead of Buttler for keeper/batsman ; and Ali is first choice spinner with Rashid very much second choice - but still likely to play given the anticipated conditions...

So : Cook .Ali .Bell/Taylor/Hales (see how they bat later on ) Root .Stokes . Bairstow. Rashid. Broad. Finn. Anderson... plus one more. Could be Buttler , taking the gloves and batting seven.Could be one of the batsmen who misses out at three , stepping in at five - which would be my choice , to be honest ; I'd like Taylor at three and either Bell or Hales at five. Plenty of batting , four seam bowling options and two real spinners plus Root.

That should ensure Buttler gets 150 later in this match

10 wickets taken, but Pakistan batting out for the full 90 overs.

England's fielding needs to improve. Several chances shelled, including a couple by Taylor of Rashid.

3 wickets now for 'not worth a place' Rashid. Eventually the fielders decide to hold onto the ball of his bowling.

Looks like this game has broken cricinfo.

Apparently even Fatel got two wickets so maybe england should go with 3 spinners, Finn, Stokes and whatever batsment they bought with them.

LondonTiger wrote:10 wickets taken, but Pakistan batting out for the full 90 overs.

England's fielding needs to improve. Several chances shelled, including a couple by Taylor of Rashid.

I don't suppose you know where Taylor was fielding LT? He's normally a very reliable fielder in the ring, so just wondered if he was fielding somewhere he was unaccustomed too.

Short leg for one of them JD.

Day closes with Pakistan on 192-12.

LondonTiger wrote:Short leg for one of them JD.

Day closes with Pakistan on 192-12.

Cheers LT. We are still sticking with the put the newbie under the helmet strategy then. For modern day sports teams who are so obsessed with the extra 1%s, this has always baffled me.

Hales and Ali both failed to get into double figures.

However Bell and Taylor making good progress since.

Bell and Taylor retire at lunch to give Buttler and Stokes a chance to score runs. Pretty much confirms they are desperate to have the latter two in the test side.

Plan though ruined by Stokes getting bowled middle stump by a part time off spinner

Bell opening today. Does that suggest England see this as a realistic option?

I see some are championing Bairstow to take over the gloves, but I'm not convinced his keeping is good enough for Test matches, unless he's improved markedly since I last saw him. I also think Buttler is class: yes his form is poor, but he'll come good. Let's not go back to dropping players who have a few poor games...

Taylor doing his cause no harm, but given he and Bairstow are probably fighting for one spot Bairstow probably deserves first crack at it. Shame as I'd like to see Taylor in the side given how well he plays spin...

Has Finn done enough to force his way into the side? Wood did pretty well in the first game too, but Finn has done all he could, and probably earned his spot.

LT are you able to watch the game? If so, where?

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Bell opening today. Does that suggest England see this as a realistic option?

I think they feel that they cannot afford to "waste" an opening spot on a new player who only bats - whilst still squeezing in two front line spinners.

My gut feel is they would like to go with a team consisting of nine that featured in the most recent test (Cook, Bell, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, Ali, Broad, Finn/Wood) and add in the extra spinner (probably Rashid) and Jimmy Anderson. This means that they have to find someone from that lineup to open with the skipper. they seem reluctant to give root another go, so it looks like Bell or Ali.

I really hope they aren't even considering opening with Root. He's England's best player of spin (by some distance if Taylor doesn't play) so really needs to be in the middle-order somewhere in the UAE.

Buttler fails and Bairstow out first ball.

Not looking like a good final warm up.

I don't think Bell opened today : cricinfo originally had him at the top ; but since Ali was out at 10/1 , having made 7 himself ; and Hales was out for 9 at 16/2 - they must have been the opening pair.

Still expect Ali to open - especially now Hales hasn't put in a bid. I see Buttler has failed again too ; although so has Bairstow. Does seem likely that England will once again be looking for Cook , Root and hopefully the later order to score heavily in the Tests.
Good to see Bell in runs ; and Taylor could still fit in the team : Cook Ali Taylor Root Bell Stokes(or Patel , I suppose ?) Bairstow Rashid Broad Finn Anderson ... though if he were to play either Buttler or Stokes would have to miss out.

With 3 front line seamers, two spinners and Roots part time spin - I woudl rather have Taylor in the team than Stokes - for these conditions.

I'd actually be tempted to leave Stokes out TBH. Not sure we need four seamers in the UAE and not sure he makes the team as a specialist batsman. No real point in picking Patel. Maybe

Cook Ali Bell Root Taylor Bairstow Buttler Rashid Broad Finn/Wood Anderson

which offers 3-4-5 who (in theory) are all good players of spin.

Suspect England will pick Stokes ahead of Taylor though.

Also, I think Stokes was fielding slip to the spinners yesterday...

These two day games are the most pointless exercise known to mankind

Only selection dilemma will be the Finn/Wood decision. Ali will open

Not that I have it in for Buttler ; but is his keeping really so good that it is better to have two wicket keepers in the team rather than a possible extra bowling option ?

They may well wish to keep some continuity in the keeping department ; but if that were to result in Taylor being left out it doesn't strike me as a smart move : he is one batsman who has demonstrated he is in some form !
Stokes of course hasn't done anything here with the bat either. But you'd think he has at least as good a chance as Buttler of firing on the day. And he does offer bowling - if not the type most likely to succeed in these conditions.

I think the selection discussions will be interesting.

I think the discussion is really whether Buttler is sufficiently better as a keeper than Bairstow. Answer being, it's debatable who is the better between the 2. Logic says drop Buttler for another bowler of some sort.

Bairstow and Buttler both kept yesterday I believe so the selectors must be looking at that as an option.

I think Taylor should play in these conditions. Ordinarily I like Stokes and Buttler in the team but the UAE is a unique challenge and we wont be seeing fast scoring I feel

Just seen Moeen is in again, hard to keep up with this game!

And Ali gets another go at bat

and now buttler gets a second go. Can we do this in the tests please?

Buttler doing a lot better second time out. Ali only made 20 second time. Taylor is back in to resume his innings. Score is something like 180/11!

VTR wrote:Buttler doing a lot better second time out. Ali only made 20 second time. Taylor is back in to resume his innings. Score is something like 180/11!

There's a small handful of spectators who go to the Oval who score every ball of every game. I guess that's the same the world over. Heavens knows how those folks are getting on in this one!

guildfordbat wrote:

VTR wrote:Buttler doing a lot better second time out. Ali only made 20 second time. Taylor is back in to resume his innings. Score is something like 180/11!

There's a small handful of spectators who go to the Oval who score every ball of every game. I guess that's the same the world over. Heavens knows how those folks are getting on in this one!

I think they would be best advised to just write FARCE over the scoresheet in huge letters and be done with it!

Have seen many a pointless pre-series practice stuff, and then I have seen this one! The only takeaway is that Steven Finn did bowl pretty well. Hope he makes it....... Spin isn't England's strength for sure, but a 4th seamer and Stokes is massive overkill that will be utterly pointless. Just go in with Rashid, Broad, Finn and Anderson, to be backed up by Stokes and Ali, and Root too.
Wouldn't have Bairstow keeping, particularly on spinning tracks. He's rather suspect with the gloves as such, and keeping to spin is even more challenging. And Buttler is a special player. They have been carrying Ian Bell for no reason for more than 2 years, and another 2 years before that, have to give Buttler some time.......
Yasir Shah is going to be the key man for Pakistan, along with Wahab Riaz. Whab is an all-condition bowler, and Yasir has been absolutely brilliant so far in his short test career.......

I just hope that Stokes is the slip to the spinners. He has much quicker reactions than Anderson and a better fielder. Root, Bell and Cook won't want to do it because of their dodgy backs. Or it might be a good idea of have Bairstow as slip as he would be used to crouching down to spin. He doesn't bowl so the intense concentration needed for every ball won't sap his energy that would effect a bowler who does it.

Yasir Shah limps out of practice with a back problem and is a doubt for the first test. Huge injury

Finns out as well.

Cook has also confirmed that Ali will open, Rashid make his debut and Anderson will return.

Suggests therefore a side of:

Cook, Ali, Bell, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, Rashid, Broad, Wood, Anderson