England vs Pakistan

First topic message reminder :

so guys, with a huge series coming up against pakistan, what do we think? In terms of the side, conditions, anything to do with this huge tour

IMO this should be the side

1.Strauss
2.Cook
3.Trott
4.KP
5.Bell
6.Prior
7.Bresnan
8.Swann
9.Broad
10.Anderson
11.Monty

however i think they will go with this side

1.Strauss
2.Cook
3.Trott
4.KP
5.Bell
6.Morgan
7.Prior
8.Bresnan
9.Swann
10.Broad
11.Anderson

The pitches that we have seen pak play sri lanka, on and previous tracks there, suggest the ball dosent spin much, and is just a batting paradie. Therefore do we really need 6 batsman plus prior, as prior is easily good enough to bat 6, and we have a strong line up all the way down. Jimmy at no 11 is no mug with the bat.

Carrotdude wrote:

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Carrot - good to hear from you - how are the animals?

Can I recommend the fascinating Hall of Fame threads? I have a feeling that Peter May could be in the next round of names for voting for entry into the 606v2 Hall of Fame - so the unbiased support of all Surrey supporters will be needed to make sure he gets elected.

Hello Corporal, the monkeys are all doing well thanks, enjoying the mild winter so far I think! I'll head over to the Hall of Fame thread but I'm afraid my cricketing knowledge starts in the late 90's so I'm not much help!

Great news carrot - there's posters of all generations on HofF - many a vote has been decided or changed by people listening and responding to the facts and arguments deployed by other posters!

I do think that we'll miss Bres for his runs just as much (if not maybe more) than his bowling.

Neither Finn nor Tremlett can get a quick 30-40 to change the balance of the game. Broad is going to have to deliver at 8!

Carrotdude wrote:

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Carrot - good to hear from you - how are the animals?

Can I recommend the fascinating Hall of Fame threads? I have a feeling that Peter May could be in the next round of names for voting for entry into the 606v2 Hall of Fame - so the unbiased support of all Surrey supporters will be needed to make sure he gets elected.

Hello Corporal, the monkeys are all doing well thanks, enjoying the mild winter so far I think! I'll head over to the Hall of Fame thread but I'm afraid my cricketing knowledge starts in the late 90's so I'm not much help!

The late 90's is much earlier than some there, Carrot!

You just listen to your favourite military man and get ready to fall in line.

Glad to hear about the monkeys. My best wishes to them all and Mrs Carrot of course.

at least we won, and straussy got some runs

Currently 106/4 against Pakistan Cricket Board. Strauss made 3, Trott and Bell make ducks, KP made 38. Cook is currently on 55* - at least he's on form!

121-5 cook 61.no

Well aren't we playing well! Come on England, apart from cook we've looked awful again

Gregers wrote:Well aren't we playing well! Come on England, apart from cook we've looked awful again

Just as wel they had KP to chip in with a few eh

Indeed, with Kp we'd be up the merde! Although against an average team Kp once again fails to convert a start to a 50

gregers all you do is moan aobut KP when we fail with the bat...what about the other members of the side...its really starting to wear thin now, sorry mate.

Given I was almost nice about Kp there and I was answering a point about Kp I think it was valid.

The fact that Trott, bell and mogs were awful is worrying tho. What's the actual Pakistani bowling line up likely to be?

Gul, Riaz, ?, Ajmal, ?

gul, ajmal,rehamn,cheema

Rubbish bowling lineup other than Ajmal - if our batsmen find a bit of form we should bat them in to oblivion.

Depends what mood Gul is in fists. On his day he is nigh on unplayable. Surprised they wont go with Riaz

Cook has been great today, Prior confirming why he is the no.1 wicketkeeperbatsman at the moment

Once again, the keeper and lower order helping England to recover, as said many times before, this is why England are so strong.

Cook looks to be in cracking form after his lay-off and his recent wedding-a very happy man

Swann just gone though edging to the keeper.

Eng 257/7

If one or two of Bell, Trott, KP or Mogs chips in with 50+ then we don't have a problem.

Alastair Cook - the best opener in Test cricket by an absolute country mile at the moment, isn't he. Really terrific performances, and there is no doubt that come the end of his career (injury aside) he will be England's leading run and century maker, given his current age.

Could Cook reach 50 test centuries? I'm thinking yes

He would have to be prolific for the next eight to nine years and injury free for him to do that.

I can see him getting 30-40 though

well played cooky to getting a ton..at least we managed to post a decent score.

PCB 79/3, Onions 1 wicket and Tremlett currently 2/12.

111-7

monty has 3 wickets, tremlett has 2

good to see cooky got runs..

Monty now has 4 wickets

Good bowling display again, and Monty doing his chances no harm if any of the pitches are real spinners tracks. Still don't see him playing, unless the above is very apparent, though.

the guys have bowled extrmeley well so far on this 2nd day.

Monty giving me a great birthday present!

Happy birthday, young Gregers.

Im really worried that this will start making England seriosuly consider picking both spinners. Could be suicidal when they are up against a proper team, especially when their only part time seam option is Trott and theres no Bresnan to allow a 5 bowler startergy.

Annoying tail end partnership here, 50+ runs now.

happy birthday gregers.

Seem to be having a bit of trouble finishing off the innings now...

But altogether the warm up games have been encouraging for the Tests in that the pitches do not seem to be complete roads as was feared by some. (Or else there has been a lot of bad batting on both sides)

From an England viewpoint would like to see Morgan get his head down in the second innings.

...Aha - I see my comment above has brought a breakthrough Five now for Monty.

Monty bags a five-fer.

well done Monty, he's certainly put his hand up for selection here.

It does actually beg a question with Swann now, if England do stick to the sfaer option of one spinner hes been out off his best not only on this tour so far but going back to last summer as well.
One game against suilly opposition is a bit much to start seriously threatening his place but if he doesnt perform in the first test then Mnty surely has to be pressureing his place. There should be no untouchables in the side.
As everyone says same goes for Morgan. Ravis test record is no worse, and he offers a decent support bowling option which would make this kind of attack feasable for a test. Theres no sign hes likely to get in the side easily though as hes not played either warm up so far.

Id still expect England to go with Morgan 3 seamers and Swann for the first test, but Monty is proving he was worth his recall to the squad so far.

Swann was hardly useless last summer - India play spin better than anyone and it was no surprise his returns were down. He did his job perfectly at the Oval when conditions meant his contribution was important. And he can bat and field as well so it would take a seriously prolonged run of poor form for England to consider leaving him out.

As you say , though, PSW , 3 seamers and Swann will likely be the first Test lineup. And probably for the series.
Rather a pity Bresnan is out as he did give some scope for going with a fifth bowler if needed - that option is much less attractive without his batting at 7.

well bowled monty

england gone out to bat now for the 2nd innings

I'm in the same boat as you, Alfie, in believing that is the selection they'll stick with. It's always nice to know that a potential replacement has performed well however, should any injuries occur etc.

we must remeber though, that the test match wont be played at this ground, this is a pratice match ground, so therefore we wont know exactly what the test match pitch will be until the morning of the game.

Good decision to have Trott open by England.

Yeah, get him some time in the middle. England going well - 47-0.

trott needed the runs very good move, give cooky a breather as well lol.

Send Morgan in next, quick runs until lunch tomorrow, say 260 lead and give the bowlers a couple of sessions bowling.

OR

Just let the batsman all have a good bat.

One disappointment of the bowling performance again was that they allowed the tail to put on a big partnership again like in the first game. They need to wrap it up quicker in the Tests!

good to see tremlett in good rhythym as well....however the bowling attack will be:

Swann
Broad
Anderson
Finn

[quote="cricketfan90"]good to see tremlett in good rhythym as well....however the bowling attack will be:

Swann
Broad
Anderson
Tremlett

Don't think England need to bowl for more than a session TBH, it's more important Morgan, Trott and Bell get some runs under their belt (if they can).

As for the Swann thing, it really is a non-debate. Swann starts at least for all this series. Last test match he played he bowled England to victory, and has done so consistently everytime a helpful pitch has been on offer (Sri Lanka at Cardiff, Australia at Adelaide, South Africa in South Africa, Pakistan at Old Trafford, etc, etc.). To suggest he's under pressure from Panesar on the basis of figures from one warm-up match (anyone watch the games? No? So we don't know if Swann's been bowling well and not having the luck, or getting wickets at the other end, or anything) is extremely misguided at best, but honestly simply deluded.

Consistency of selection. Don't knee-jerk (unless you thought the 90s were a good idea).

I'm a bit confused why Finn hasn't been picked for this game, and can only surmise that Flower doesn't think he has a role to play, or has already decided he wants him to play all 3, that his rythm is fine and therefore given the long grueling schedule needs as much rest as he can get. I guess we'll find out when they anounce the side for the first test.

really good to see onions back in an england shirt..he was one of our best bowlers before he got injured, and has worked hard to get back to international cricket

good day for England, bowling still looks sharp. Sure Swann may not have got the wickets, but he went for less than 2 an over, so clearly played his part in putting the pressure on at the very least. Good to see Onions back in England colours too.

Wouldn't read too much into Finn's non-selection for this one Mike, we have to remember the three tests are pretty much back to back, hence England don't want to over-bowl the seamers in the warm-ups (so have given one warm-up match to each seamer only - I have no doubt that had Bresnan not been injured Swann wouldn't have played this one either). Could mean anything, but for me England are probably thinking they're unsure to get through the whole series with the same attack so want their bowlers nice and fresh going into the test matches.

For tomorrow, either England go all out for a win, that means scoring quickly before lunch and then trying to bowl PCB out in two sessions, or they use it for some batting practise. Either way, expect Morgan and possibly Bell to be promoted up the order, Cook not to bat unless necessary.

Bresnan's absence is a bit of a blow for Monty, as it gives him no chance of displacing Swann from the line up (because of the lower middle order batting - we aren't going to go into a Test with Anderson, Monty and Tremlett or Finn at 9, 10 and 11).

I also can't see us going into a game with only 2 seamers and 2 spinners unless the wicket will spin like a top from the start, and neither Trott nor Bopara are good enough bowlers to act as anything more than an occasional fill in.

england close on 82-0