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?

Bashirs height with the variable bounce might be useful on this pitch

No drama yet...and Bashir joining Leach after just two overs of pace...has been positive batting and running from these two , going at four per over without risks.

That was a bizarre "out" decision...not surprisingly overturned by drs ! Was hardly even an appeal by England...

Bashir gets the break ! Review , but looks good...yeah that's out. And Pakistan lose a desperation review 35/1. Nicely bowled...

One terrible umpiring decision followed by one of the worst referrals you'll see. Like in the England innings the ball is started to turn sharply once the lacquer is gone.

Bashir looking much the more dangerous at the moment.  Sensing a chance for England to make some inroads tonight...

That fired Leach up nicely...43/2

Drinks striking for England. Two new batters in, chance to turn the scree as Pakistan did

Stokes will do as Stokes does. Pace back on

Brilliant bowling change from Stokes...excellent bowling from Atkinson. That's a big wicket.

Golden arm...golden brain?

One more tonight and England will be pretty content with their day, which didn't look massively likely at 118-6

Not a brilliant out decision

Batsmen need to guard their reviews with this trigger happy umpire

Worth a couple of overs of Rehan vs two left handers? He turns his googly more than his leggie - might be useful taking it away from them both.

Duty will be pleased, we're into overtime

Root on before Renan? Golden brain turns to golden arm

And now Root off Ahmed on for the last over

Real grubber first up, Shan just about got behind it

Pakistan finish 73-3, 194 behind England's total.

It's pretty even

Pretty even . I have England a bit ahead with Pakistan to bat last , but a lot depends on how much pressure they can exert on the Pakistan middle order as the ball gets older. Big day tomorrow.

Even first day. Very fine innings from Smith, with valuable support from Atkinson, and a good effort up top from Ben Duckett. Duckett got out to one he couldn't have done much about, Stokes got out to a good ball and a good catch. Others were not up to the demands of the pitch, not quite. Brook just looked totally out of sorts in his short stay, Pope played like what we expect of him in these conditions. Even Joe wasn't on his A Game. Crawley should have the start count really...
Bowlers restoring parity for England. But Pakistan's strongest batters are still to be dealt with. Shakeel is already in, and then there is Rizwan and Salman Agha. And even for that matter, Jamal... So the bowlers need to stay focused, first innings runs will be very crucial...

An absolutely astonishing day of test cricket. 92 overs bowled in this one + two for the changeover; 91 overs + two for the changeover in Pune. Never seen the like!

England ahead after the first day, I'd say. Very important toss to win, and deserved for England, and I thought 250 was par. At 118/6, England looked a long way from par, but a superb innings from Smith, and vital support from Atkinson, got England just beyond it. It was a mixture of good application and also taking advantage of the mental, and finger, fatigue of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, with Pakistan forced to go to weaker bowlers.

Smith should have got his century, but fell just short. I'm yet to be convinced by his keeping, but I do think he's batting too low at 7. Duckett played a fine knock as well, definitely couldn't have done anything about his dismissal. Crawley looks very uneasy v spin, I was surprised he got as high as 29.

Pope...why was he picked? He's a tailender in spinning conditions. Fair enough, you might argue on a road in the first test he can be picked, but in spinning conditions he's almost always a tailender. A tailender who can't bowl! Either reinforce the batting with Cox, or pick another bowler. Pope's average in his last seven tests is now 23. In classic Pope fashion, that's one innings of 154, and ten innings where he doesn't make 30 (six of which were single digit scores!). What a bizarre cricketer.

England simply cannot afford to go to Australia with Pope and Crawley in the top three. One at most. And also Stokes' place should be questioned.. As a specialist bat, with part time bowling almost like Root these days, he simply does not justify his place in overseas conditions. It's three passengers in the top seven at the moment.

Brook, also, faltering again in tough conditions. More and more a player who pads his average in friendly conditions, but doesn't have the requisite application to make runs in tough situations, which is of huge frustration to watch. Three single digit scores in his last five innings, with a big 317 also squeezed in there!

Don't think England bowled brilliantly. But they did enough. Stokes mixed it up with his choices nicely, really good to get Atkinson in v Ghulam, although I wasn't surprised to see Root get thrown the ball before Rehan again! Need to keep Pakistan below 230 tomorrow, and that should be more than possible on this. And a 30/40 run lead will be hugely valuable.

Back to this game & hard to keep a close eye on both and that too on a working day.
The Pindi pitch has more on offer to spinners than the one in Pune. I guess Pindi is where Pune would be ~middle of Day 3, But Piindi ain't a rank turner.
Eng got off to a bad start....not playing proper cricket....impatient and too many sweeps attempted instead of playing more down the ground.
Smith played well to haul them to I think a par...the spinners lost some bite as the ball got older & softer  was visible-.

Eng did well to pluck out top 3 leaving the game in balance on D-1 I think.
3 things in Pak's favor
-Their ball softening phase is still due to come
-Their way of play against is much more adept & skillful to spin, defense mixed with straight down the ground hits, drives in front of square and occasional sweeps
-With the exception of Zaheed all of them can score 15 odd runs minimum i.e they bad very deep in these conditions.

I think Pak will run close & most likely overhaul the Eng total.
But unless they have a lead of 50 or more they will  behind the curve..considering that they bat last
The par for Eng's second inning would be 200 & that would leave Pak with a chase of 150 which is just manageable.

The battle on such pitches after losing the toss is to have a meaningful above par second inning. A lead of 100 if pak can muster it ( low probability) will all but kill the game for Eng.

Mmm Im not sure who's ahead mostly because Smith showed it's not as bad to bat on when the ball gets softer. Also that Pakistan's spinners are probably better than ours and their batsmen are definitely better against spin than ours. If Pakistan can get a decent lead I worry England may crumble

Still think Pakistan's batting is susceptible and ripe for collapse. Main thing to do is get Salman early when he's at the crease, because he has been an absolute pain for England so far, with two 63s and a century. Can't have that tomorrow. He's actually Pakistan's highest runscorer of the series and has the highest average of anyone in the series.

The two test players that England have added to the white-ball squad for the tour of the West Indies are Cox and Rehan. Cox is off straight away, but Rehan obviously has to stick around. That means Rehan will miss the first ODI which starts...in seven days time! Who schedules these series? Three ODIs and five T20is in all.

England's batting for that ODI series is going to be so suspect. Probably something like below:

1.Salt 2.Jacks 3.Cox 4.Livi 5.Bethell 6.Pepper 7.Curran

The best red ball and white ball batters converging is going to make balancing selection very hard given the schedule.

Smith understandably and deservedly has had top billing for day one but Atkinson also merits praise for a highly responsible innings and part in a valuable partnership. Their work together followed by three of Pakistan's top wickets has put England a bit ahead in my book. It might be worth noting that's at the end of a day in which almost a third of the number of wickets to complete a test match fell.

Fortunes could of course change but a good day tomorrow for the visitors might mean moving day arrives early with the hosts faced with too much to do.

king_carlos wrote: ...
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Embers is interesting as looking back he seems almost like a prototype for Ashley Giles and Paul Harris type spinners we saw for a while around the Noughties. Tall, strong guys who were difficult to sweep as they got bounce but also harder to pull as they could fire it in if batters looked to sit on the back foot. Emburey bowled slower and with more loop than those guys, as that's how spin was bowled then. Bounce was a big weapon of his though. Whilst he often bowled defensively in the face of unhelpful pitches of the time. Using that height and bounce to limit scoring areas and control the economy more than taking wickets. At the top level of course. His F-C career is prolific.

Hi Carlos - A prototype for Ashley Giles. Loved that expression about John Emburey and remarkably astute too.

About a decade ago, I campaigned strongly for the late Fred Titmus to be included in the 606 Hall of Fame. Amongst much else, I quoted Angus Fraser describing Titmus, shortly after his death in 2011, as ''arguably the greatest ever Middlesex player''.

Fraser asserted it was not just Titmus' personal feats which made him such a great but the influence he had on the careers of others, an attitude passed down to subsequent generations. He went on, ''Fred had a huge impact on John Emburey in that they were both miserly cricketers who hated conceding runs. John in turn influenced my career in that way and it's now an attitude we are trying to pass on to the likes of Stephen Finn.''

For anyone who likes to wallow in stats - and let's face it, you do, Carlos - Fred Titmus' career figures are quite staggering.

Leach and Bashir bowling well early . The latter has found the edge twice already, one not carrying to slip and the other dropped by Smith - not an easy chance as it was quite low and a fair deflection. Probably won't stop the Foakes fans on BBC hys from going into meltdown though 90/3 and you sense something could happen any moment.

Fifty stand up. Both playing cautiously but looking to push singles regularly. Bashir has looked very dangerous but I wonder if it might be a good time to give Rehan a go at the other end...Ball generally keeping a bit low but no wild grubbers yet. But here it is ! ...Shan Masood well caught by Pope close in at gully as Bashir finds his edge with a sharply turning delivery...really deserved that. 99/4

Atkinson to have a go after the pause for drinks . Not a bad idea with Rizwan still fairly new to the crease. ...though he is happy to help himself to four with a neat cut from a shortish delivery. 117/4

Shakeel and Rizwan playing well and England might be getting a little concerned they've only had the one wicket so far today . 42 overs down so the ball starting to wear a bit and runs coming at a reasonable rate now. 128/4 Bashir back having switched ends ..

Fifty for Shakeel. Important for his team , very sound knock , just the one difficult chance early today . These two batting well , no recent alarms. Atkinson bowling to a plan , straight and full with catchers in front of the bat , but Rizwan watchful. 143/4 Time for Rehan yet ?

This is starting to look worrying for England. Definitely bad batting from most yesterday, it's not a complete minefield. Without Smith and Atkinson this would have been over already

Rehan does the trick...keeps low , Rizwan misses with the sweep...that's a wasted review , this is Stone Cold ...151/5

Was a very welcome break for England as those two had been looking quite settled. This next partnership really looks the key , with the prolific Salman at the crease . Pitch has not been bad for batting today , though a lot of balls are keeping a bit low. But you'd think it might really start to "go" some time over the next couple of days so first innings scores could be crucial.

Rehan again ! Salman given lbw...but he reviews immediately.. big moment...no bat...umpires call so he's gone for just 1 ! Maybe a little unlucky to be given on field , marginal on impact and hitting...but there it is. 155/6 and big pressure on Jamal ..Rehan bowling well.

Rehan changes the game.

Rizwan taking another pointless review with him. After yesterday's decisions thought the word would've been sent down to be rather more reserved with reviews...

Pakistan bat deep but Saud might be the game either way here

Well I think I jinxed that pretty well. 50 lead still seems necessary with 3 walking wickets in our top 7. Cue them all getting hundreds

Stokes' tactic of bowling root before rehan to wind him up seems to work a treat

This is where top teams go for the kill. England like to let the last few wickets tack on an awkward amount of runs

Lovely bowling from Rehan to get Jamal. Shakeel still holding England up but he needs support with Pakistan still trailing by 88.

Good first hour for Pakistan, great finish from England and Rehan.

Great work by Ahmed and England this morning - at worst now should lead to a one innings shootout with England have the advantage of not batting last on this pitch, but hopefully they can prize Saud out and get a lead of 50 or so runs.

Chasing anything over 200 on this last is gonna be tough.

alfie wrote:Leach and Bashir bowling well early . The latter has found the edge twice already,  one not carrying to slip and the other dropped by Smith - not an easy chance as it was quite low and a fair deflection.  Probably won't stop the Foakes fans on BBC hys from going into meltdown though       90/3 and you sense something could happen any moment.

Just seen this "drop" Alfie - think it is harsh to call it a chance! Big deflection onto the keepers pads...not sure any WK in the world would take that. Of course Foakes would have taken it, as the world's best cricketer whenever he isn't in the side...

Pretty thankless task for Atkinson to be banging in a 66 over old ball on this pitch.

Bashir thought he had his man then but this time the review showed an edge to save Noman....who is giving Shakeel valuable support. Only 68 behind now so England anxious to break this pair...new ball still 13 overs away. Game nicely poised at the moment.

This looks to have hit outside the line...yes. The old Bad England Review again. Pakistan bowlers contributing with the bat again as this stand brings them within 50. Maybe time for Stokes and his golden arm ?

This game keeps moving one way and then the other , if more gently than dramatically. Pakistan taking back the advantage with this stand maybe ? Looks likely to be a one innings shoot out - and their better spinners might cover for the matter of batting last. But still impossible to call with any confidence. New ball only 4 overs away.

A splendid hundred by Shakeel...and a terrific knock by Noman at number nine has Pakistan eyeing a lead...have to question whether England have quite got their fields right to these two ? Though they have both played eminently sensibly , and the pitch hasn't provided any surprises lately.. New ball the big hope for England...