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?

Two for Bashir ! Shan Masood popping it to Pope close in ...25/2 and maybe the nerves will kick in now ?

Nice one from Bashir there to grab the second. Shan is a big wicket to get.

England hanging in. Would like at least one more before lunch!

Right on cue.. three for Bashir and just maybe , game on ?

On surface it would like like Eng had a good half session
But Pak are already 118 runs ahead and about 30 short of what could be a workable total to defend.
Ball is literally turning square & Eng should not give any freebies, just put it on the length and let pitch do the rest.
Iqbal Qasim & Tauseef Ahmed did just that in a famous narrow win for Pak in Gavaskar's last test in 1987 on a square turner

Huge last ball that. Keeps England hanging in. 43/2 would have been no good.

But need to get on a roll after lunch and strike a collapse similar to Pakistan's 4/14 last night, when England slumped from 211/2 to 225/6. At the moment, England are just chipping away, which will leave them needing something well in excess of 200.

I know there were two left handers in, but bringing Root on that early for Leach was overthinking and not needed. Leach is getting tremendous amounts out of this pitch. Perhaps too much!

Bashir has taken three wickets, full credit for that, but he is also guilty of serving up a cheap ball or two every over, and England don't have much to play with.

Got to bowl Pakistan out in the afternoon session to have a realistic chance.

Duty281 wrote:

I know there were two left handers in, but bringing Root on that early for Leach was overthinking and not needed. Leach is getting tremendous amounts out of this pitch. Perhaps too much!

Bashir has taken three wickets, full credit for that, but he is also guilty of serving up a cheap ball or two every over, and England don't have much to play with.

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That's very true.
There is no need for clever experimenting /variations.
I would bowl Bashir & leach unchanged, ask them to put the ball on the length, same spot without variations...and pitch will do the rest

Bashir will give them the opportunity to collect runs but he's looked dangerous : risk and reward trade off , eh ? 118 on so Pakistan may feel they are only fifty or sixty short of a winning score ... though you never know with England's openers , if they have a bit of good luck...academic for now , need to see just how quickly these last 7 wickets can be taken.

I didn't mind the Root move . Didn't cost , gave Leach a break , keeps the batsmen adjusting. Stokes will have to be right on the ball with his moves when they resume . Play on the nerves , keep it tight : should be worth watching at least. Couple of form batsmen coming in...

More overthinking.

Absolutely no reason to be putting pace on in these conditions.

Never predictable , Stokes...Carse taking the ball after lunch. Hmm. Seamers were effective in the first innings but you'd think spin is the go now ? We will see. Bashir continues anyway...

JDizzle wrote:Delighted to see Sajid take more wickets in that innings, in a fifth of the overs too, than his entire spell with Somerset in 2022 where he bowled dreadfully. Not bitter at all!

As soon as you posted he was rubbish the other day I almost put a bet on him to take five wickets. Damn!

Carse induces the edge from Saud but it goes through Root, who's in close.

As I suspected, Carse is on to have an early go at Saud Shakeel. And very nearly got him ! Root just too close at slip .

The seamers were harder to get away so the logic might have been Carse forcing Pakistan to attack Bashir. Nearly worked out anyway

Bashir back on, and almost gets Saud right away but it just bounces in front of Pope at slip

Gonna need Leach to come to the party here, and soon

Could be a crucial wicket, Kamran given out but reviews

Kamran Ghulam has been a selection master-stroke by Pakistan...along with Duckett he's been head and shoulders above other bats on this pitch But I think Leach has got him now ...yes !

Just as it looked like Pakistan were getting away, Leach with a timely strike.

Have to get on a roll though. Nothing fancy needed. Just keep Leach and Bashir bowling; it's England's best hope.

And stays out. One more and the panic might set in again

77/4 so already 152 ahead. Fifty more for Pakistan enough ?

Lot to do yet. Rizwan , Salman , even Jamal , have proved hard for England to shift. Not seeing panic from the bats yet.

alfie wrote:77/4 so already 152 ahead. Fifty more for Pakistan enough   ?

I think 200 could be chased with England's attacking approach...anything approaching 250 should be more than enough.

Not enough dots being bowled. Pakistan ticking along nicely with good strike rotation.

Pakistan probably already have more than enough in reality.

Wouldn't be against giving Potts or Carse a couple of overs to tighten things up, and both have created chances this test.

This partnership has pretty much taken it away. Too many deep fielders, too many easy 1s and 2s. 25 run partnership and only one boundary in it.

I am a bit undecided here. Part of me agrees with Soul that Pakistan already have enough: the way England collapsed yesterday says they have. But then I see these fellows ticking off the runs quite calmly and wonder if the pitch remains more playable than some of the batsmen have made it look ? If Crawley and Duckett were to get away to one of their patented fast starts , would even 230 be chase able ? Probably need a Root masterpiece... Whatever , at effectively 177/4 Pakistan are in the pound seats at present...

At this point it looks like England will be chasing 300+, so I wouldn't worry about 230!

Eng aught to trust the spinners and bowl them unchanged, pitch is the bets bet to eek out wkts regularly

Needed that. Solid take from Root. Need the last five to fall in a heap.

Fair point, Duty But that has produced the break with the aggressive Rizwan edging Carse to slip. So my 230 target is maybe back on the table...

These two had looked pretty comfy against spin, good chance from Stokes

The fact that those two played the spinners so well is what gives me some hope ! Only some though because I am not sure most of this England team can handle spinning conditions. Still the game is alive for now....really need to get Salman early.

Duckett looked ok, Root usually can. Crawley was all over the place in the first innings and Stokes doesn't really anymore

That's such a basic error from Smith. Unforgivable.

That's so fu**ing amateur. Two basic drops in one over.

Get Root out of the slip cordon. He misses so many.

Oh dear...Smith has put down a sitter... after having a generally excellent match ... And now Root drops one too ! Agony for Carse and England...

Stokes feeling better today then.

Unfortunately England's fielding has been rather subpar in this series. Could maybe give them some slack in the first test after 2 days in the field but these really needed to stick. Something before tea would really be a boost

Easy to say move Root out of slips...but I doubt they have anyone better to replace him there. (Crawley's finger issues ) He takes plenty of good ones to be fair, even if not quite as reliable as he once was. 200 lead. England getting seriously frustrated...

Carse's figures in this series are impressive, but he's had what, 5/6 fairly standard drops off him now? Should be sensational figures!

Need another last ball of the session wicket from Bashir here.

Just two wickets in that session. Nowhere near enough, not helped by some terrible fielding. Haven't managed to take wickets in clusters this innings and that's the undoing so far.

Shakeel's played the spin very well. Salman's still there and throughout this series he's managed to frustrate England with useful runs.

Seen the first call for England to bring back Foakes. The world is healing

Leach gets Saud out LBW, current lead is 220. England really need to wrap this up quickly now for nothing majorly above 250...and even then its a very unlikely chase. But still within the realms of possibility.

Good review. Last chance to get on a roll and keep it below 250.

Not sure Stokes is offering a lot of threat with the ball.

At last! Two quick wickets.

Leach really darted that one in. Into the tail.

Do we know what the issue with carses left foot is? Hope it's nothing serious he has been highly impressive

Bashir as well, finds a regulation edge which is snaffled.

3/11. Keep going. Get Stokes off at the other end.

Salman and Sajid on the attack can't afford to be chasing more than 250

I feel it's gonna need a Joe root masterclass with the bat here to give us any sort of chance