Rest of the World

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I figure a thread for cricket stuff from around the world that doesn't warrant a series-thread is useful

Mighty fine achievements there SFP, I was surprised they didn't play in England tbh as he scored runs for the A team. And granted he's very young and he scored a hundred, Windies are hampered by Holder and Roach's absence.

It's funny with Shaw that during the U19 World Cup I felt and still do that Shubman Gill is the better player

Shaw is definitely more Sehwag than Cook

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Prithvi Shaw blasts a run a ball century on debut. The hype was real

Rohit sharma hammered 177 on debut vs WI and 111 in his second test.....and since then he has scored only 1 more century in 40 tests.....on flat nagpur pitch vs Lanka....and been dumped because he is a FTB

This 100 from Shaw means NOTHING in terms of skills to succeed in SA, Eng, Aus and NZ....only his performances in those countries can confirm if he is the real deal

any of Dhawan, Vijay were equally likely to score a 100 on this pitch against this attack of lowest ranked test team
Bloody Kohli wins the toss, when it's least needed

KP Fan. Yes, it's very early days for Shaw and we've seen other young marvels quickly bite the dust. But it's no mean achievement to get a debut Test 100 while not yet 19.
Bet Kohli was glad he was only spinning the coin and not having to predict which way it was going to land.

Depressing scorecard from Rajkot. Wonder what the biggest ever difference there is in first innings scores.

Not necessarily Lambs abroad now....India are definitely tigers at home

Well I think the way the rest of the games gone so far should put to bed any over-excitement re: Shaw. This is just embarrassing.

This kind of rubbish could honestly see Tests becoming a minority format of the game, played mainly between England, Aus and India (as crowd and TV interest would still be high for those teams)

Bring in tiered Test cricket. I wouldn't back any team to beat India in India, but putting the West Indies up is especially ludicrous. Horrible mismatch.

Tiered cricket has merit but would probably also be a hard sell, so teams would probably barely play then. I mean good luck to the broadcasters selling Windies touring Bangladesh in the second division. Worrying times for the great game

Saw Prithvi Shaw in highlights package which is not sufficient to judge the technique, defense, weaknesses to short stuff and outside the off.....

But in limited view.....his stroke play resembled that of Lara....similar in built / stature & a right handed version......plays a lot offf the back foot and square of the wicket.....and drives are also on the up and off the back-foot

anyone & everyone was getting 100s....so we'll have to wait until Ind plays in Aus & NZ

three 100s and pant out in 90s and pujara for 86...this is where Rahane doesn't encash average boosting runs in easy games

Aus declare the playing 11 and it Aus v . Pak promises to be more exciting than the one sided Ind v. WI

Australia's XI 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Nathan Lyon, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Jon Holland


--Aus's Nos 5,6,7 average between 30 and 35 in FC cricket only...makes it quite a flaky batting line-up
Head is a WK and if he does well the "accidental captain" Tim Paine may not hold his place for too long.

Only 2 seam bowlers.... in Starc and Siddle...one likely to break down and the other old & i thought had retired.

Jon Holand is second spinner...what happened to zampa and O Keefe and Agar?

Aus seem to have only 2 problems.....

don't see how they can get 300 runs
don't see how they will pick 20 wickets

rest all OK

Odds of 5/4 on Pakistan winning the upcoming test series against Australia = absolute dream.

Australia have got zero chance.

Duty281 wrote:Odds of 5/4 on Pakistan winning the upcoming test series against Australia = absolute dream.

Australia have got zero chance.

I think Aus can surprise and win one test...esp if they win the toss and bat first and get pak to a chase of 150 in the 4th

The Australian side looks embarrassing tbh. Khawaja can't play spin, Mitchell Marsh barely averages 30 in first class cricket and Travis Head plays his home matches on the dead pitches in Adelaide yet doesn't even average 40. Never ever heard of Marnus Labuschagne. Siddle was past it years ago.

No Shadab Khan for Pakistan but Yasir Shah will have fun against this Australian side

KP_fan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Odds of 5/4 on Pakistan winning the upcoming test series against Australia = absolute dream.

Australia have got zero chance.

I think Aus can surprise and win one test...esp if they win the toss and bat first and get pak to a chase of 150 in the 4th

I'm thinking 2-0 Pakistan. And two big wins at that.

Aus look absolutely pants on paper without Warner and Smith. I also thought Siddle had retired, about 5 years ago at least. He must be almost 40

KP_fan wrote:Aus declare the playing 11 and it Aus v . Pak promises to be more exciting than the one sided Ind v. WI

Australia's XI 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Nathan Lyon, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Jon Holland


--Aus's Nos 5,6,7 average between 30 and 35 in FC cricket only...makes it quite a flaky batting line-up
Head is a WK and if he does well the "accidental captain" Tim Paine may not hold his place for too long.

Only 2 seam bowlers.... in Starc and Siddle...one likely to break down and the other old & i thought had retired.

Jon Holand is second spinner...what happened to zampa and O Keefe and Agar?

Aus seem to have only 2 problems.....

don't see how they can get 300 runs
don't see how they will pick 20 wickets

rest all OK

That is a shockingly weak looking Australia team. Aaron Finch is a one day biffer who usually bags about 5 in FC cricket. Travis Head a one day slogger and part time spinner (never seen him keep wicket) who is also lucky to be playing. Both Marshes in top 4 and Khawaja opening!!!!!

VTR wrote:Aus look absolutely pants on paper without Warner and Smith. I also thought Siddle had retired, about 5 years ago at least. He must be almost 40

Turns 34 next month. Had a good summer in the County Championship and will be able to keep bowling cutters when the ball is soft.

Half century for Sean Williams. Zim 132-4 in the 29th over

Is it just me or is Shamsi vastly overrated and not particularly very good? The South African commentators keep hyping him up as the replacement for Tahir

I think he's massivley over-rated now, has the most expensive figures by a south african against Zimbabwe today as well. 10-0-0-72 and even now they are bigging him up!!!

Zim 210-8 in the 45th

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Is it just me or is Shamsi vastly overrated and not particularly very good? The South African commentators keep hyping him up as the replacement for Tahir

tabraiz shamsi is a poor man's kuldeep yadav

VTR wrote:Aus look absolutely pants on paper without Warner and Smith. I also thought Siddle had retired, about 5 years ago at least. He must be almost 40

Possibly the weakest Australian test side fielded this century.

LondonTiger wrote:

Had a good summer in the County Championship and will be able to keep bowling cutters when the ball is soft.

On that basis England should've called up collingwood as a bowler last year

He recorded 2/217 last time he was in Pakistan the UAE and he wasnt 34 then. I know they are scrapping the barrel and want some experience and "good characters" but what happened to that endless table of true fast bowlers they have every time they face England?

Permanently injured. Wasn't Hazlewood named as one of the VCs despite missing this tour with injury.

I don't mind the selection of Siddle. Won't tear down any trees but frankly neither will any of the other pace options ; and he will be steady which is going to be needed in support of the spinners..."Gary" obviously having to do the Lyon's share of the work...

Australian batting does look very iffy. Not much they could do about that in the absence of the sandpaper mob. Finch has been waiting a while for a chance ; he just might do a job - probably more likely than Khawaja , to be honest , in these conditions. But unless the Marsh boys both score heavily it's hard to see them putting significant totals on the board...the tail looks weaker than normal as well.

The one thing they have going for them is that this Pakistan outfit doesn't look the strongest either ; but you'd fancy them to win well on their "home" turf.

Solid start 27/0 off the first ten and Lyon already in action...

Wonder when was the last time Australia bowled 31 overs in a morning session ?

Lyon has kept it tight. But his fellow twirler in Holland has rather gone around the park...

89/0 a good start for the hosts.

Not winning the toss hasn't help Australia
why hasn't Mitchel Marsh the bolwing allrounder had a bowl

alfie wrote:Wonder when was the last time  Australia bowled 31 overs in a morning session ?

Lyon has kept it tight. But his fellow twirler in Holland has rather gone around the park...

89/0 a good start for the hosts.

Hi Alfie - just had a look at the scorecard and Holland's analysis (0/32 off 6) particularly caught my eye. If he remains unable to impose any control, it's going to be very hard and hot work for the other bowlers. KP_f will probably get to see Mitch Marsh with the ball, maybe Head too - shouldn't be too daunting for Pakistan.

Hi guildford... I agree it is going to be hard work for the Australian bowlers , conditions not being too kind for pace bowling so both Siddle and Starc likely to sleep well tonight.
A cricketing colleague of mine who has actually gone to this tour wanted Australia to omit Sidle and go with three spinners . I can see his reasoning ; but I've never been enthusiastic about picking players just on their type.. If the spinners - other than Lyon , of course - just aren't good enough , then three of them probably won't be much more effective than two. I didn't fancy the idea of just Starc and M Marsh as the seam component.It may not actually make much difference what combination they employed as you'd think Pakistan are going to score plenty ; but at least having two proper pace bowlers might see them score them a bit slower...

116/0 already looking a daunting prospect. Going to need to bat well when they eventually get their chance.

Though you wouldn't like to say it, it already looks like game over. Australia having no impact. 450+ looks inevitable from here and, of course, the tourists will be batting last.

145/0 at the half day...

Not much troubling the batsmen. Although Hafeez seemed to lose a bit of concentration just before drinks...dropped at long on (tough chance) and then a "could have gone anywhere " mis-hit landed safely in the covers. Break probably comes at the right time for him.

The new man Labuschagne looks like a reasonable spin option so far : tidy first couple of overs. But Lyon is in for a lot of work.

Hundred for Hafeez

Australia still looking for a wicket...

Don't see the benefits of playing on pitches dead as the dodo unless it's plainly for mediocre batsmen to get cheap runs. Hafeez is a flat track bully and this hundred does nothing to change that. Imam another one to feast on these type of cement pitches falls for 76 to Lyon

Australia fighting back in this session with Siddle following up the Lyon breakthrough trapping Hafeez with a (fairly marginal) lbw...run rate also put on hold lately.
Still at 224/2 Pakistan remain well placed . Another wicket now might change things somewhat ; but if these two settle in...

With this ball reversing , wonder if Paine will want a new one this evening ?

245/3 .... they might even get Pakistan out for under 500 yet.

Gooseberry wrote:245/3 .... they might even get Pakistan out for under 500 yet.

I'm guessing there's a bit of the usual goose humour there. Pakistan all out for under 400 should be Australia's aim now imo. Get the watchman early tomorrow and that's 4 down for around 260. Not nearly so good for the 'home' side as their earlier 205/0 and it could of cause get worse.

Only based on the scorecard plus a bit of cricinfo but there seems to have been a lot of fight and determination shown by Australia. Lyon leading the way there with 33 overs at under 2 each. Siddle miserly but only sending down 15 - he needs to bowl more if undue demands aren't to be made of Starc who was already suffering from cramp before the close.

All to play for by both sides. Interestingly left ....

Pak has not gotten away with the game because of their very slow scoring rate........50 runs short and 1 wicket too many of being in control

and have given a window to Aus for a draw
Aud have to bowl & keep them tight....and stretch them will into the 3rd session  to restrict them to 475ish
and then play out 5 sessions.....for whatever number of runs they can get

Pak also has 4 front-line bowlers only

KP_fan wrote:Pak has not gotten away with the game because of their very slow scoring rate........50 runs short and 1 wicket too many of being in control

and have given a window to Aus for a daw
Aud have to bowl & keep them tight....and stretch them will into the 3rd session  to restrict them to 475ish
and then at out 5 sessions.....for whatever number of runs they can get
Pak also has 4 frontline bowlers only

I appreciate there's no guarantee that Australia will take wickets tomorrow but I reckon they'll now be mighty disappointed if they see Pakistan racking up around 475.

Still lamenting that England couldn't have faced a line up like this a year ago. We'd have had half a chance of nicking a 3-1 defeat

VTR wrote:Still lamenting that England couldn't have faced a line up like this a year ago. We'd have had half a chance of nicking a 3-1 defeat

At least someone else is going to have to face the chucker Shah on his home turf!

I was only half joking earlier about Aus keeping the score dopwn to "just" 500 .... whilst they are staying tight Pakistan are for teh most part showing they know how to bat in these conditions first up and will be mighty dissapointed to not make 450 given the depth of their batting.
Another big factor now is the fatigue to Australias bowlers. Starc has already bowled 26 overs which is a hell of a lot for him, Siddles been suprisingly effective but you have to wonder how much his aging ( and iunjury plagued) body can sustain even if he isnt training for pace. They dont seem to trust Holland much (although hes come back on as I typed this...and is getting creamed by Shafiq), and Pakistan have been happy to take runs off him and the support bowlers whilst taking no risks against those front 3. Now we are passed the second new ball with heavility flogged bowlers and rubbish support it should be pretty straight forward for the Pakistan middle and lower order to milk runs.

Someone above pointed out that Pakistan too are light on bowlers, arguably only 3 proper full timers. But their part timers and support are far better and more suited to the conditions that Australais, Abbas is a proper all rounder, Hafeez has a test average in the low 30s and Sohail although very much a part timer has a test average below 20. Unlike Australia they have two front line spinners who are test class and wont need to flog their pace men to death. The real difference though is that they got to bat first, and Australia will bat last.
Add to that the feeble looking Australian batting line up, even withe the reinvented actually can bat Mitchell Marsh theres no real quality in there and a long tail. I cant imagine Finch ever batting a 200 ball century.

329/4 now and two well set batsmen. Its hard to see Austrlaia holding on here, but credit to their 3 front line bowlers for the way theyve plugged away.

The Aussies are keeping the scoring under control - so basically will need to bat long in their first innings and they'll have a good shot at a draw (similar to when Cook batted for 10 hours in the UAE last time England were over there - albeit don't see the Aussies having anyone who can do a Cook!)

Haven't been able to watch yet today but I'm not astonished to see Pakistan making steady - if not rapid - progress towards the 500 that goose nominated yesterday.
I wasn't as optimistic as guildford about the chances of keeping the score down , for much the same reasons goose mentions - fatigue after a full first day in the heat , lack of strong support bowling. Apart from Siddle removing the night watchman early on nothing seems to have gone for the tourists today and their task is already looking a tough one.
Credit indeed to the pace pair and Lyon in particular for sticking to the job ; but they're going to need some inspiration - and luck - to cut them down under 500 from here. I am a little surprised Lambuschagne hasn't bowled more : his exploratory two overs yesterday weren't rubbish ; and he did actually induce a miscue from Hafeez which might on a luckier day have brought a wicket. M Marsh will probably have to put in his share later today...

Paine must be regretting the way that coin came down.

Looking like fatigue coupled with the heat will do for Australia's bowlers. That and them being a decent fronliner short.

Alfie - re your post yesterday. I agree with the reply you gave your colleague who wanted Australia to play 3 spinners. Type is inadequate if the quality isn't there. Playing two Holland types would have just seen Pakistan rack up the runs quicker.

Starc and Siddle put a real brake on at the start of day 2 with just 6 runs off the first 9 overs but needed to account for more than the watchman. Almost inevitably, Marsh and Holland couldn't keep it nearly so tight although Lyon seems to be still plugging away gamely.

400 now up with just the nightwatchman out today.

Lyon and Siddle have done their best to keep it tight, yet much of that has been undone by Holland who has now conceded more runs than his spin partner in half the overs.

Australia will be pleased now if they keep this below 500. Scoring rate is slow enough that the draw looks ever more possible as Pakistan may, unless they collapse, bat well into tomorrow's play and not have enough time to bowl out this weakened Aussie lineup.


Edit - commentators curse, Asad Shafiq falls to a part time bowler.

Alfie - as ever - spot on with questioning why Labuschagne hasn't bowled more overs, as he picks up the wicket of Shafiq.

Wonder if Pakistan look to put the foot down now with Babar in and Sarfraz next up? As ever in Dubai, the game for the first three days is a case of not losing, with the real action likely to happen days 4 and 5 when the pitch really begins to turn

Siddle 26-11-47-2
Holland 26-1-112-1

The contrast says a lot.

In his book, Pietersen (think we can mention him again now) gives a lot of praise to the nagging accuracy of Siddle. I can well understand that but memories of Siddle bowling to him increasingly seem as if they belong to an earlier era. Sadly, that's the case and why Siddle hasn't had more of the ball here.

50 overs for Lyon and 30 for Starc ...brutal.

Good call on Labuschange Alfie, although he really is a very much a part time occassional bowler, thats his first wicket in any form this year. Its just a typical end of the day partnership breaker lack of concentration moment.

Still very much Pksitan in cmntrol, depsite the slow coring I just dont see where Australia will have any resistance to bat out 2 days themselves to force a draw. Pakistans array of spin options is pretty frightening and although theyve got a few guys who could blaze a brave 50 thats pretty much pointless in context of this game.

As Olly says once it breaks up these early runs for Pakistan will matter much more than time left.

(scrap the toss, lend Australia some players)

Gooseberry wrote:(scrap the toss, lend Australia some players)

Perhaps swap them with India to make both series more interesting. Pujara and Kohli for Shaun Marsh and Travis Head, plus Jadeja for Holland would be a start.