England's winter of cricket 2024/25

First topic message reminder :

The squad for the tour of Pakistan has just been announced...Stokes and Crawley are back, with Dan Lawrence dropped. There are also recalls for Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach, with Brydon Carse getting a tour also.

Full squad (likely XI then others);

Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Ollie Pope
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Ben Stokes
Jamie Smith (wk)
Gus Atkinson
Olly Stone
Jack Leach
Shoaib Bashir

Reserves:
Jordan Cox
Brydon Carse
Rehan Ahmed
Chris Woakes
Josh Hull
Matthew Potts

Will MacPherson noting they see Tom Hartley as more suited for the true turning wickets of SL/India/Bangladesh, hence his omission. Tests likely to be played at Rawalpindi, Multan, Rawalpindi. (Two Pindi tests...fun).

Extra seamers suggest Stokes might not be fit to bowl?

Very much Pakistan's morning . Lunch at 122/1 from just 25 overs (will be in for some overtime I think !) Bats well in command and the runs came rather quickly as the session advanced : Bashir going for 7 per over so maybe prioritising him over Leach was not a great idea ? Really nothing there for any bowler in this day one pitch so a long hot day may be in prospect for England and it may be that they will be seeking better control on resumption.

alfie wrote:Hi GSC  : nice to have some company on here early in the day ...

Agree patience will be needed .

Usually just me and a 2 month old for company this early

Looks a road. Long day for Bashir and Leach I think

Haha : two year old at least gives you a reason to be on deck at ungodly hours for Test Matches in different time zones Good idea to get them used to important matters like watching cricket at all hours early in life....

Almost a shame England aren't batting, youd almost expect them to be ao for 390 odd after tea

Back to seam after lunch. Carse apparently going to bowl some short stuff ... which is a bit concerning so early in the day , and not something he will be able to do for long in this heat.

Pakistan know what's coming and picking their spots.

Leach tying down one end, but not creating anything. Then both batters having no issues scoring off the short barrage. Tough day

The scorecard doesn't read like a 3-0 start

Excellent hundred from Shan Masood , who is leading from the front...Pakistan establishing a potentially dominant position here at 184/1 from. 39 overs. The short ball tactics did nothing for England and one wonders what they can do to stem the flow of runs as it isn't get any less oppressive weather wise as we continue. This drink break will be appreciated!

Shan Hope?

200 up for Pakistan...Shan playing beautifully 116 not out from 122 balls

Desperation review from England wastes their first referral...and maintains Pope's "perfect" record on reviews;)

alfie wrote:Desperation review from England wastes their first referral...and maintains Pope's "perfect" record on reviews;)

That was an embarrassingly awful review. Smith is a highly effective batsman and a decent keeper with the gloves but even worse than Foakes when it comes to reviews. He needs to impose himself before Pope wastes yet another review and stop being a silent partner.

Have to leave for a bit now so hope to see a break this side of 300 when I get back

Pakistan have gotten England chasing in the field well. May be in position to grind England down over the series

GSC wrote:Pakistan have gotten England chasing in the field well. May be in position to grind England down over the series

Pakistan will be pleased how the grinding process has gone so far. Certainly a good toss to win but, credit to Pakistan, they have made it count. From seeing highlights of the first session and watching all the second, Shafique and Masood have batted with a near perfect blend of what I would call risk free aggression. No real chances offered (just one very dodgy run) whilst the scoreboard has regularly ticked over, don’t think there were any maidens between lunch and tea.

England need a bit of magic or, at least, luck.

Been disappointed with Bashir today...got the only ball to turn today but his lengths have been poor so inconsistent can't land more than 3 balls in the same spot too easy to milk him

Time to turn back to Atkinson I think..

Still no joy for England then ? Looks as if Pakistan are heading for 500 at least ... though that doesn't necessarily kill the game , on recent evidence. Fair to say England have a lot of work to do and the locals should be hugely encouraged by this start. Has Root had a bowl yet ?

alfie wrote:Still no joy for England then ?  Looks as if Pakistan are heading for 500 at least ... though that doesn't necessarily kill the game , on recent evidence.  Fair to say England have a lot of work to do and the locals should be hugely encouraged by this start. Has Root had a bowl yet  ?

Yep although both batters appear to have some issues with cramp which might give England a break.

Aha ! A wicket out of nowhere... bit of a careless drive from Abdullah and rhe big partnership ends at 254...relief for England !

Wasn't any great bit of bowling from Atkinson but he does seem to have the knack of getting wickets against the run of play.....a very useful attribute

Absolutely dead wicket, as expected. Any hopes of a green seamer were foolish.

If England bat reasonably enough, it'll probably head to a one innings shootout later in the test, though scoreboard pressure can do funny things.

We have seen a big problem for England today, and that's their complete inability to bowl economically. You need to keep it tight on wickets like these, induce false shots through a succession of dot deliveries, and grind it out. England are simply unable to do this. Right from the start, Woakes and Atkinson were serving up two or three scoring shots an over. Only Leach has a scintilla of control.

There is no valid reason to be picking Woakes for this tour, and no valid reason for forcing Anderson into premature retirement when his control would have been a supreme asset here. And Bashir just looks very, very ordinary, while England's best spinner is nowhere near getting a look in.

And Leach strikes! Two new bats here now and a chance to get on a roll.

One brings two ! Just reward for Leach who has been the one "control " option for England today. Masood was a bit tired and it told in the end... Chance to get back into this now with two fresh bats in...

Babar looks horribly out of nick

alfie wrote:One brings two !  Just reward for Leach who has been the one "control " option for England today.  Masood was a bit tired and it told in the end...  Chance to get back into this now with two fresh bats in...

Agreed. I feel Shafique and Masood's dismissals owed at least something to them both struggling a bit physically. Probably a mix of the cramp I mentioned earlier together with the heat and humidity.

I wonder if Pakistan considered dropping Babar at all? His form in last 2 years has been horrendous...I'm not saying I would have dropped him just curious if they would have thought about it...

Certainly tough for fielding side and batsmen in this heat. Credit to England for keeping it together so as to profit from those two tired strokes; but they have to keep going a lot longer yet or Pakistan could get away again. Light seems fine for a bit of overtime with 22 more overs scheduled. Bashir to have another go now...

300 up for Pakistan

A tough toss to lose. From what I've seen between sleep and work I'd say that Pakistan have taken advantage well more than anything. Measured batting but still going at a high enough RR to put pressure on. It's an absolute road at this stage and brutal heat for bowling.

There's been just enough signs that this pitch might do something though. That ripper a minute ago from Bashir for instance! It's hard to know with Pakistan conditions whether the pitch will deteriorate or just die as the Test wears on though.

Leach has done a good job in difficult conditions. Showing his experience and accuracy.

It feels like conditions that the England top 6 should thrive in given how they like to bat. The biggest Pakistan threats will be seam - which most this line-up love playing. Whilst Abrar is a good bowler, I expect he will have to bowl an awful lot of overs in unconducive conditions. Root, Duckett and Smith in particular are very good players of spin.

I'd hope that England give one of the spinners a shot with the new ball. The odd deliveries that have gone have been from the spinners. See if the hard ball and seam can dig in a bit and get some purchase. I'd go Atkinson from one end and Leach or Bashir from the other. Leach has been the better spinner over the day but Bash is bowling well to Babar here.

wisden wrote:I wonder if Pakistan considered dropping Babar at all? His form in last 2 years has been horrendous...I'm not saying I would have dropped him just curious if they would have thought about it...

I'm not sure they've got the batters coming through to drop him from what Pakistan fans I've spoken to say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsTroCWl7Cc&t=2s

That's a really interesting video essay type piece from Jarrod Kimber analysing the fall off.

Got a new ball now for just under 30 minutes. Another couple of wickets and the day won't actually have been too bad.

Actually, England not taking it yet.

Guess Pope is letting the seamers get a night's rest back into their legs before taking it

Nevermind, Atkinson it is. Not sure he'll be thanking the captain all the same

I do believe this is going to take spin as it goes on - which might be ominous for England batting last . Although Pakistan aren't blessed with the class of spin bowler they used to produce regularly in days gone by. The first innings issue for England's bats might be that they get to the crease late tomorrow somewhat cooked after many hours fielding in the heat...so they'll be hoping this new ball can get some results either tonight or in the morning. Pakistan are looking good at present but have a bit of a tail. Let us see what England's pace men have left in the tank...

Giving Woakes and Carse a chase already

Babar given out...

And the review fails, tough day but some reward for hard graft

Babar's anguish continues. No fifties since December 2022 in the test format, and you can't get many better chances than this.

Another over and a bit left to perhaps knock another down. Naseem at the crease.

Eek, that one kept low. Don't like the look of that.

A late strike by Woakes gives England a lift...that looked good live . 324/4 so Pakistan aren't quite as far ahead in the game as they might have been. Barbar was a big wicket to take in the dying minutes of the day !

Night watchman alert...where is Guildford ?

Good last over from Carse. Rather see him attacking the stumps more and less of the short stuff so approve of his approach here. 328/4 and only 4 overs short for the day. Off to the ice baths , chaps...

Bit of a bonus wicket at the end, England have done as well as you could reasonably expect on the pitch. Maybe quibble that Bashir struggled to hold down an end, Leach ended up as the primary spin option.

328/4 at stumps, but a decent late rally from 261/1.

It was a horrible toss to lose, so not much blame attached to England for that score, although their control was mostly lacking. It would be lovely to keep Pakistan below 450, but trying for sub-500 is a more realistic goal.

Then it'll be up to the bats to turn it into a one innings shootout, or better. Such a goal should be attainable - superb batting wicket, but very early signs that it might not be on days four and five.

I'd say that England acquitted themselves well in the circumstances there. I'd say honours are probably about even for the days play, but, in the context of the game, Pakistan are slightly ahead due to winning the toss and batting first. If that makes any sense..? I've had less sleep than I should due to getting the comms on early, then getting up for work.

The entire top 4 removed isn't bad going in those conditions and a good recovery after that huge 2nd wicket partnership. Pakistan's batting strength feels like their lower middle order on paper though. Shakeel, Rizwan and Agha are a really strong 5/6/7. It's an excellent platform for them with Aamer Jamal more than able with the bat at 8.

I think this pitch will deteriorate rather than die. Which would provide a far better Test to watch even if it's not ideal for England likely batting last.

As Duty and others allude to, this should still be an absolute road for D2 and 3 though. So plenty of runs to be plundered if England's powerful top 6 can acquit themselves well. It's conditions like these where the likes of Crawley and Pope have the chance to fluff up their overall poor numbers a bit. Which inevitably helps keep some heat off if they have a lean few innings elsewhere.

alfie wrote:Night watchman alert...where is Guildford  ?

Don't worry, Alfie - I was watching! Woakes was unlucky not to get nightwatchman Naseem Shah in the 3 balls he faced. More than reasonable to expect he'll be gone early in the morning to have Pakistan 5 down for around 340.

Pakistan's day but England battled determinedly to win the final session and end up still in the game. I think that what's what the sleep deprived Carlos was also saying!

Pak' par finish aught to be 500 tomm before tea given that they bat deep.
Aamir Jamaal  coming at 9 has a 100 in Aus.
Then the best case Eng can get is to come within that 500 total and then hope to dismiss Pak in a day and attempt. chase it down in a day or bit under.
I.e single inning shoot out where Eng bats on D5 and could well lose

Eng will sure play for the aforesaid scenario....but this is their best case where defeat is still possible.

All other scenarios have no Pak defeat and hence Pak stands reasonably ahead on D1.
Doubt eng's playing approach will allow for a draw.
Hope to catch some live game tomm

Pakistan managing to win a day of a test match at last! Considering their recent performances, even that has to count for something. England missing Stokes for sure... But Oliver Pope shouldn't be too unhappy at all, this National Highway should mean he gets a real biggie whenever England gets down to bat. Whatever Pakistan gets on this road, England should be hoping and able to match them at least. The pitch hopefully will have some life come day 5...

Pakistan's best batters of recent times are still there, Shakeel, Rizwan and even Salman Ali Agha. So 500 isn't an outlandish idea. If they have another big partnership, even 600 isn't impossible.
Though a couple of balls kept low and 1 or 2 showed signs of turn, the pitch should be very, very good for batting. Joe Root, an all-condition great, and Oliver Pope, who hardly ever misses out on a road, should score big, and if Ducket or Crawley can get and bat a session, should be some big runs on the board. England should actually first build a platform, and then try and outbat Pak. On recent evidence, that isn't impossible. Shaheen isn't the same bowler that he used to be, Abrar is not in the league of yester-year Pakistan spinners. Jamal has had an impressive start to his test career, and whatever little I followed him, seems to offer a bit more than the strictly medium pace of his bowling... Naseem Shah is still quick, and probably the leader of this attack. But these are tough conditions, and none of the Pak bowlers are condition defying league... So in the 4 days of dead cricket, England batters should maximize, so that they'll have a decent chance on the last day.

Agree with posters above that England deserve praise for keeping their efforts up to the end despite two tough sessions - and justly rewarded with those late wickets.
But Pakistan still has a bit of batting so if the (presumably a bit leg weary) bowlers have to come back for repeated spells it could be hard to keep the score down to a reasonable limit. Important first hour coming up...