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.

How'd you hear about 606v2, out of interest, AK?

Ok then, my official prediction is...1-1.

Fists of Fury wrote:How'd you hear about 606v2, out of interest, AK?

Ok then, my official prediction is...1-1.

Well i first found out about back when it was just 606 through the bbc sports website, and since then i have been following the cricket and boxing forums. Then a couple of days ago i thought i might as me make an account.

Thanks cf

I am uneasy about making a prediction yet as too much depends on the pitches we will see out there. Raging turners will guarantee a result and I can easily see Ajmal bamboozling England and tying them down so the run rate decreases and puts pressure on them. This could easily happen against a Trott or Cook, and maybe Bell and then KP will try and hit his way out of trouble which can go one of two ways. So I think Pakistan will get a Test at least in this series, so that laves me with a 2-1 (to England) or 1-1 for me.

If Pakistan win the 1st Test, the remaining 2 Tests will be played on roads. Pakistan are after revenge, after the humiliation(off field issues) they suffered in England.

I don't see the Pak batting lineup matching that of England.
Unlike what many think, I think its the English batting that is going to win them the series. Pakistan, has a pretty good spinner in Saeed Ajmal and good support from Rehman and Hafeez. Cheema, Gul and Junaid are decent but unspectacular fast bowlers.
But in the batting lineup, other than Younis Khan, there is no real proven world class performer in the pak lineup, although they have some promissing youngsters such as Azhar Ali and Azad Shafiq.
On the other hand, the English lineup other than Morgan, is pretty experienced, and despite their troubles against spin, have score runs against tough oppositions. With Graeme Swann in there, it will be risky for Pakistan to go for an absolute turner.
I see flat tracks as the norm of the day, and at least a draw or 2.
England to take the series, but no clean sweep.
But then, we all said things on similar lines before the India tour as well, didn't we?

Umar Akmal has been recalled to his team's Test squad for the series against England in the UAE. Left-arm seamers Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan are also back in the squad, and Shoaib Malik and seamer Mohammad Khalil, who toured Bangladesh, have been left out.

Pakistan Test squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal (wk), Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Talha, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman.

Can't wait for this series to start - got withdrawal symptoms from not watching England play over christmas. Should be a win for England, as long as their batsmen have the patience to adjust to the conditions and score big.

i agree living

love test match cricket

Especially when not cluttered up with meaningless ODIs. Yes my appetite has returned....

cricketfan90 wrote:i agree living

love test match cricket

Me too, nothing better then watching a test match develop over five days. Especially as England seem to be more successful recently, I remember all to well the low points of the 90's with too many batting collapses.

msp83 wrote:I don't see the Pak batting lineup matching that of England.
Unlike what many think, I think its the English batting that is going to win them the series. Pakistan, has a pretty good spinner in Saeed Ajmal and good support from Rehman and Hafeez. Cheema, Gul and Junaid are decent but unspectacular fast bowlers.
But in the batting lineup, other than Younis Khan, there is no real proven world class performer in the pak lineup, although they have some promissing youngsters such as Azhar Ali and Azad Shafiq.
On the other hand, the English lineup other than Morgan, is pretty experienced, and despite their troubles against spin, have score runs against tough oppositions. With Graeme Swann in there, it will be risky for Pakistan to go for an absolute turner.
I see flat tracks as the norm of the day, and at least a draw or 2.
England to take the series, but no clean sweep.
But then, we all said things on similar lines before the India tour as well, didn't we?

Couldnt Agree more

Rather bizarre that Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz have been recalled. They haven't done anything special to earn recalls.

Personally, I think the first test will be a draw with England taking the second and third.

Demon Racer wrote:Rather bizarre that Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz have been recalled. They haven't done anything special to earn recalls.

I don't about umar but riaz was only dropped because he was being linked to the betting scandal rather than him being in poor form

AK wrote:

Demon Racer wrote:Rather bizarre that Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz have been recalled. They haven't done anything special to earn recalls.

I don't about umar but riaz was only dropped because he was being linked to the betting scandal rather than him being in poor form

Fair enough AK

i think Wahab is a very good bowler, however he wont slot straight back into the line up...before Junaid got injured he looked to be a very good prosepct as well

the players got told to keep quiet over the match fixing when it comes to sledging, also swanny has said there wont be any ill feeling, not sure if i believe him however its a new series, and nearly a whole new pakistan side, when you compare the sides.

Ashes winner Tim Bresnan is a doubt for England's first warm-up match on their tour to play Pakistan in Dubai.

The Yorkshire seamer, who has not fully recovered from the elbow surgery he had at the end of November, felt minor discomfort while training on Wednesday.

Thankfully we have 3 warm-up matches organised. Someone like Tremlett or Finn will likely get the nod for this first one, then, unless it looks like a turner and England experiment with 2 spinners, though I think that's unlikely.

Only the two warm-ups I think Fists, of which the Associates can be seen live and then the Pakistan Board X1.

Sad for Bresnan, but plenty of back-ups.

if you had to name someone from both sides to be their team's standout player who would it be?

for me i think it would be:

England: Graeme Swann

Pakistan: Mohammed Hafeez

CF I'd say Younus Khan is Pakistan's most important player. Technically very good and capable of scoring big hundreds

i dont mean their most important player...

well sort off..

i mean who is gonna be the best player in these conditions for this series.

hafeez class with bat and ball, and swanny, dosent need much explaining.

cricketfan90 wrote:i dont mean their most important player...

well sort off..

i mean who is gonna be the best player in these conditions for this series.

hafeez class with bat and ball, and swanny, dosent need much explaining.

I don't really think Hafeez is that good, if I'm being honest. He scores most of his runs against the weaker sides(Zim and Bang). I think he'll be sorted out by England's quick bowlers. His bowling is useful, but Cook and Strauss would be tougher to bowl at then Tamim.

I choose Younus as he has been successful against England in the past.

well each to their own mate i respect your opinon

skyeman wrote:Ashes winner Tim Bresnan is a doubt for England's first warm-up match on their tour to play Pakistan in Dubai.

The Yorkshire seamer, who has not fully recovered from the elbow surgery he had at the end of November, felt minor discomfort while training on Wednesday.

Reports I read say hes a doubt for the tests. If he is out it would make it very dificult to play 3 seamers and Panessa as the second spinnerr, having Broad at 7 then Swann at 8 is pushing it a bit too much. Rely on Bopara as a 3rd seamer? Hmm. Cant see it.
If he is out it means Tremlett, Anderson Broad Swann as the attack.

tremlett is out of the 1st test. with an eye infection.

Oh Dear :facepalm:
First Bres,now Tremmers.Not an auspicious beginning to the tour.

cricketfan90 wrote:tremlett is out of the 1st test. with an eye infection.

Where have you read this Cf. ty

its just been said on sky sports at the interval of south africa game...it was breaking news from the england camp

so looks like Finn will have to play. In a way I'm happy about that because I honestly believe Finn could be something very special indeed, and his pace and height should trouble the Pakistanis.

Wonder if England will call up a replacement, Onions maybe?

Mad for Chelsea wrote:so looks like Finn will have to play. In a way I'm happy about that because I honestly believe Finn could be something very special indeed, and his pace and height should trouble the Pakistanis.

Wonder if England will call up a replacement, Onions maybe?

Onions is already there with the squad I think.yes,I would like to see Finn in the XI but that doesnt mean I would like others to be injured particularly guys who have done extremely well for us recently.

However if Flopara gets injured then I will party all week.

cricketfan90 wrote:its just been said on sky sports at the interval of south africa game...it was breaking news from the england camp

Thanks Cf

with bresnan ruled out as well, the small chance of playing 5 bowlers has gone.....prior will end up batting at 7.

we were always realistically going to only pick four bowlers anyway. The top 5 are undroppable, and Morgan is probably our best player of spin so would have been odd to leave him out. In fact I hope this is the tour when Morgan really proves himself without a doubt worthy of a test place.

i know but if we had played 5 bowlers, then we could have put monty in the side as well, and had 3 quicks and 2 spinners.

Just seems a lil strange to me that an eye infection would not be cleared up in time for the second warm-up game, let alone the 1st Test.

It must be some infection.

Thought so, not so serious:

A decision will be made on Saturday as to whether fast bowler Chris Tremlett, who trained on Friday despite suffering with an eye infection, is fit to play.

mate i was just going by, what i saw and heard when the news broke...

cricketfan90 wrote:mate i was just going by, what i saw and heard when the news broke...

Not having a dig Cf, just relieved that Tremlett will be ok. But he might miss the first warm-up game.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:we were always realistically going to only pick four bowlers anyway. The top 5 are undroppable, and Morgan is probably our best player of spin so would have been odd to leave him out. In fact I hope this is the tour when Morgan really proves himself without a doubt worthy of a test place.

I agree with you there but the option is comepletly gone now without Bresnana and chossing an out and out spinner bowler over Fatel/Borthwick/Radish

England were never going to pick 5 bowlers so the point is moot. Bresnan is a loss more because of his reverse swing abilities than any notion of playing 5 bowlers. But both Finn and Tremlett are able replacements.

if we can master ashwin and pick his doosra then we will be fine

ajmal you mean?

rumour has it he's been working on a new "secret" delivery.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/pakistan/8996923/Pakistan-spinner-Saeed-Ajmal-has-long-awaited-top-secret-delivery-ready-for-Englands-batsmen.html

yes i do mean ajmal lol thanks mate.

If every time Shane Warne said he had a new delivery mastered he was telling the truth he'd have had about 16 different types of googlies by the end of his career. I wouldn't read too much into it (Warne of course did have at least 8 different deliveries in total: two leg-spinners, two googlies, two flippers, a top-spinner, a slider and a zooteer - make that 9).

Bresnan missing out only weakens our batting for me. If I was picking the England side I would always have Finn in as I think he could be very special and could complete our attack taking wickets on flat tracks with his raw pace and bounce. Every time I see Bresnan bowl I just think he shouldn't do aswell as he has done in Test matches! Obviously his reverse swing would be useful on these wickets but I think Finn has enough in his armoury to be a better replacement.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:we were always realistically going to only pick four bowlers anyway. The top 5 are undroppable, and Morgan is probably our best player of spin so would have been odd to leave him out. In fact I hope this is the tour when Morgan really proves himself without a doubt worthy of a test place.

In ODIs, certainly - as Morgan is excellent at manoeuvring the ball and keeping up a good strike rate. But have we seen enough of him batting against spin in Tests to say he's our best player of spin? I'd say that goes to Ian Bell.

If you can manoeuvre the ball in ODIs you can in tests as well. Nothing a spinner likes less than being milked for 3/4 an over. Particularly if (as with Pakistan) that spinner is meant to be your main attacking threat. Morgan's footwork is good and he can hit all around the ground. I suspect as a spinner it's a bit of a challenge. Bell plays that dab sweep well, and hits down the ground well, but those are his two main shots.