Why the Third Test Matters if You're English

If England lose the series 3-0 then their rating at the end of the series will be 118
And if South Africa beat New Zealand 3-0 then SA's rating will be 119

In other words, we could lose our no.1 ranking! On the other hand:

If England lose the series 2-0 then their rating at the end of the series will be 119
And if South Africa beat New Zealand 3-0 then SA's rating will be 119

We'll be joint no.1 (how does that work?!) But if we get a win:

If England lose the series 2-1 then their rating at the end of the series will be 120
And if South Africa beat New Zealand 3-0 then SA's rating will be 119

So a win in the 3rd test is vital to sustaining our top ranking. And besides, 2-1 looks a hell of a lot better than 3-0/2-0. Come on England!

Well England have certainly started the 3rd test well.... 23/5 with Broad looking unplayable

Man! you guys are bothered about that ranking.

Why not just win the third test because a 3-0 loss will be unbearable?

I am not bothered about the ranking biltong as its on the back of series wins against an out of form Aussie side and a pretty poor Indian side. England still have to do the job against your lads in my eyes.

Big moment here for Pakistan, they simply have to get some runs on the board with these two.

Good Billy, for me it is one series at a time, win the test series and I am happy,

The thing with the ranking is that it is for a moment in time. winning a test series is in the reocrd books.

Yep, bang on biltong. I have never really believed in rankings in cricket myself as there are far too many variables to consider. I just more focus on any series thats happening

18 run partnership for these two, exceedingly important runs

biltongbek wrote:Good Billy, for me it is one series at a time, win the test series and I am happy,

The thing with the ranking is that it is for a moment in time. winning a test series is in the reocrd books.

I tend to judge things by how much it winds the Indian internerds up. If England are top of the rankings still it will send them in to fits of rage

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Good Billy, for me it is one series at a time, win the test series and I am happy,

The thing with the ranking is that it is for a moment in time. winning a test series is in the reocrd books.

I tend to judge things by how much it winds the Indian internerds up. If England are top of the rankings still it will send them in to fits of rage

yeah, that was their moment in the limelight when they were at the top of the rankings.

well pakistan are 99 all that first innings- the england players dont need any extra incentive to win this test- we just wanna win- for winnings sake, its the first time we have lost 2 in a row for 4 years or something. we have the best win record in that time and that is reflected in the rankings- its nice to be no.1 that is a given, its not the be all and end all.

pakistain have not shown to be a better team than englan d at all- its just that we have underperformed in a massive way. i predict an innings win 3rd test

I beleive England have 11 chickens waiting to hatch form those eggs.

We have seen them bowl Pakistan pout pretty easily in both tests so far, they lost those as well.
Englands batting is still a problem, the bowlers cant entirely cover that up.

peter i think most would say that even though englands batters havent been the best, they are still decent overall and that the last two tests could be abit of a blip- i dont think many true cricket fans could say that overall pakistan have the better batting line up!!

Its a blip they suffer almost every time they bat on this kind of surface, even more so when the opposition have confident and capable spinners. Almost as if its not a blip infact.

I see Cook has continued his blip.

Yes they should win the test, but dont get carried away believing its a given . Pakistan still have the advantage of having batted first, and England showed just how bad they can be in the previous two tests. They have had one good innings so far, and there was a collapse in that.

peter who in there right mind thinks its a given!

howevr if they play the way they can- they will win well!!

its that simple.

you say they are bad on these surfaces- your right we are- just like every other team is bad on our surfaces!!

however we are as good on these tyoe of surfaces as other teams are on ours, if not better!

the last two tests have been a blip! 100% we should and can do 10 fold better

mystiroakey wrote:the last two tests have been a blip! 100% we should and can do 10 fold better

Don't want to alarm you mate, but your rugby team also started with a blip.