England in the UAE

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Fixtures

Mon Oct 5 - Tue Oct 6
England XI v Pakistan A
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Thu Oct 8 - Fri Oct 9
England XI v Pakistan A
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Tue Oct 13 - Sat Oct 17
1st Test - England v Pakistan
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Thu Oct 22 - Mon Oct 26
2nd Test - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Sun Nov 1 - Thu Nov 5
3rd Test - England v Pakistan
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Sun Nov 8 (50 ovs)
England XI v TBC
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Wed Nov 11
1st ODI - England v Pakistan
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Fri Nov 13
2nd ODI - England v Pakistan
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Tue Nov 17
3rd ODI - England v Pakistan
Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Fri Nov 20 (
4th ODI - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Mon Nov 23
England XI v United Arab Emirates
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Thu Nov 26
1st T20I - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Fri Nov 27
2nd T20I - England v Pakistan
Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Mon Nov 30
3rd T20I - England v Pakistan
Sharjah Cricket Stadium



Squads

Test squad:
Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Zafar Ansari (Surrey), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wk), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Mark Wood (Durham).


ODI squad:
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wk), Sam Billings (Kent, wk), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Reece Topley (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).


Twenty20 squad:
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Sam Billings (Kent, wk), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Stephen Parry (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Reece Topley (Hampshire), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

So that's it ...still 233 behind , but only 3 down. Better than we'd probably expected yesterday , I suspect.

Terrific effort from the skipper. If he gets set again tomorrow who knows what he'll get ?
And kudos to Wahab for raising his game at the end of a tough day.

'night all.

Well that's the end of the worst day's Test cricket since the last 2 days!

11 wickets in 2 days - 4 or 5 of which were batsmen taking risks towards a declaration and a nightwatchman. Unacceptable really and I don't see where this game is heading other than a bore draw

I disagree (with alfie and VTR). Root will have sat there with his pads on for most of the day, and would then be going out to face a couple of overs of a fired up Wahab, bowling close to 90 mph, in fairly gloomy conditions. Can't see much advantage to be had by that. Of course he ended up going out anyway, but I think the nightwatchman was very much the right decision.

In the few balls that Root did face he looks in decent nick, which is good to know, and there was something wonderfully symptomatic of the day's play in Cook unfussily clipping the last ball off his pads for a single

Tomorrow's morning session absolutely crucial. If Pakistan are to make a serious attempt at forcing a win they need to make decent inroads, while if England can carry on their excellent work from today they could still put them in a position to make something happen on day 5. I do think there were a few signs right towards the end that the pitch is starting to spin a little bit more, so England still have a lot of work to do. Thankfully they have their two best batsmen (in these conditions certainly) at the crease to do so.

guildfordbat wrote:Never normally a fan of nightwatchmen. If he doesn't fall in the final few minutes, he normally goes early the next morning to give the bowlers an extra lift. Particularly would question if it was needed on this track and in these conditions.

I am not a fan either. but gave up worrying too much a while ago as it is pretty much guaranteed teams will use one.

Worst type for me is like an occasion with Neil foster many years ago where he batted for almost the entire following day, scoring only a handful of runs and completely gumming up the batting.

Fair enough - I was not against the nightwatchman per se, just wondering if Wood was the man for the job. Has he ever batted in these conditions before?

I wonder if England could have been a bit flexible and sent Jimmy or even Rashid in.

As nightwatchmen go though, Wood isn't a bad choice. He's got a solid defensive technique, but also has a few shots, so if he does make it through the day can go after it a bit more the next morning. OK it didn't work today, but still absolutely the right decision for me...

Wood will be a decent night watchman going forward because as Made In Chelsea says he can actually play a bit as well. I always thought we shoudl have used Graham Swann in that role rather than Jimmy.

Well at least its a talking point. Unlike pretty much the rest of the 18 hours play in this match so far!

VTR wrote:Well at least its a talking point. Unlike pretty much the rest of the 18 19 1/2 hours play in this match so far!

Fixed that for you. Yep, I haven't even mentioned the over-rates yet

(and won't. Even I make allowances for conditions, and the heat here make the 8 overs lost over three days fairly reasonable IMO.)

Oh dear, are those 1.5 hours really necessary or in any way humane.

I suppose tomorrow morning has the potential to provide some interest, I feel England have a long batting line up but a lack of form and quality so could collapse. That might just open up the game for Pakistan to set England 3 sessions to survive

As I said before, I'm no fan of nightwatchmen but once a decision had been taken to go down that route, Wood was probably the best choice. He does the role for Durham and, I think, ended up with a 50 on one occasion this summer just gone.

LondonTiger wrote: I always thought we shoudl have used Graham Swann in that role rather than Jimmy.

Why? Swann was a good slogger, Anderson a great blocker.

What do people make of Bell's innings? I'd still put it in the "just about good enough" category that he so infuriatingly seems to deliver! You'd be looking for your second most experienced player to see that out rather than have a waft and give the opposition a chink of light.

If he's to remain in the team I think he needs to back that 50 up with a run of decent scores

VTR wrote:What do people make of Bell's innings? I'd still put it in the "just about good enough" category that he so infuriatingly seems to deliver! You'd be looking for your second most experienced player to see that out rather than have a waft and give the opposition a chink of light.

If he's to remain in the team I think he needs to back that 50 up with a run of decent scores

Before this Test started, I thought he might well score 40 odd first dig leaving things uncertain one way or the other. Given the wicket and all the conditions, I suppose 60 odd is the new 40 odd which means nothing there has really been answered.

Probably as important as runs though was occupation of the crease. After a sticky and far from convincing start, he became a lot more settled and did pretty fine in that regard. If (a word too often used in reference to Bell) he had lasted another 20 minutes, there would be a lot of understandable praise for him - but (the other word so associated with Bell) he didn't.

All in all, the old story of enough to keep his place for the next Test but not enough - especially when added to the two drops - to keep the doubters away. All assuming he doesn't play a pivotal role one way or the other over the next two days.

All good points, and as you say the game is still open for him to affect it one way or another! When he was out he was rather cruelly credited with an innings of -135 taking into account those dropped catches.

Has Sir Chris Jordan been called up as a possible replacement I wonder. A specialist slip fielder for the Second Test

Gooseberry wrote:

LondonTiger wrote: I always thought we shoudl have used Graham Swann in that role rather than Jimmy.

Why? Swann was a good slogger, Anderson a great blocker.

Swann actually had a really good technigue - when he could be bothered. I saw him do some (admittedly not many) excellent blocking innings. I just feel that he would have been someone who could have blocked in the evening, then come back in the morning and scored a few.

My main issue with nightwatchmen is that far too often they survive but hang around for ages the next morning without scoring - their inertia often causing the batsman at the wicket to lose concentration.

Hopefully England can get a bloody move on tomorrow. See out the first hour relatively safely, and then attack an exhausted Pakistan for the remaining five.

Get a lead of about 100 at stumps, bat for 20 minutes on day five, declare. Then the opposition will be firmly backed into a corner; tired, mentally drawn, physically exhausted.

And then England can triumph. Adelaide in reverse.

14/1? Glamorous odds. Flying first-class, sipping Champagne etc.

As bad as Rashids figures were poor old Babar is the real black sheep now, hes bowled 8 more overs without a wicket and got out for a duck. Apparently having a holding spinner isnt helping Pakistan any more than having a rubbish leggy helped England.

It really is a spinners graveyard. Considering the ECB got stick for the Cardiff pitch the ICC should be declaring war on PCB for this.

Couple of near misses this morning. Cook dropped ( not regulation) and an umpires call lbw review for Cook.

Quite a few grumpy Pakistan fans moaning about hawkeye and the review system...simple fact is in both cases it was given not out on the field. Even if it was rigged or broken not having it wouldnt have made any difference.

Yep spinners have the best part of 150 overs between them and no wickets. Pitch is just a graveyard for bowlers and cricket in general.

So so boring to watch

Root brings up the easiest 50 he'll probably ever make

I dunno hes had a few in limited overs where he didnt even have to stand up for more than an hour. At leats hes had to middle these.

Unless Pakistan have a monumental second innings meltdown, this will surely go down as one of the worst Test matches of the modern era

Root averages 56 over 33 tests...wow:shock:

will he keep an average of 50+ throughout?

when did an English batsman last sustain an average of 50+ until the end of his career?
Dennis Compton?

VTR wrote:Unless Pakistan have a monumental second innings meltdown, this will surely go down as one of the worst Test matches of the modern era

Nope this one still has the cake:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/63762.html

KP_fan wrote:

VTR wrote:Unless Pakistan have a monumental second innings meltdown, this will surely go down as one of the worst Test matches of the modern era

Nope this one still has the cake:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/63762.html

Yes that is probably the worst of all time, haha! This one could be right up there, though at this stage it does have an outside chance of turning into another Adelaide 2006, can't really see how that will come about though

Yeah...if there ever was an opportunity for Cook to get a triple hundred...it is today

This does seem like a good opportunity for Cook. Quite a way to go yet but certainly he has time to get there. Very rare for a player to get a second chance at such a milestone, when he was out for 294 (or whatever it was) I bet he thought that was the chance gone for good

Root appears to have got bored now and started playing some fancy stuff. Sometyhing might actually happen.

Gooseberry wrote:Root appears to have got bored now and started playing some fancy stuff. Sometyhing might actually happen.

He's after a triple as well

Am I allowed to call this pitch crap yet?

400-3 ... its only a year or so ago that England couldnt pass 400 anywhere

GSC wrote:Am I allowed to call this pitch crap yet?

Wait and see first if we can bowl Pakistan out for 60 second innings before winning with a session to spare!

This is probably Cook's best chance of reaching a triple century and surpassing Gooch's record

Well played Cook though, he walked out to bat with the opposition having 520 on the board - that's pressure in itself.

The pitch might be a lifeless piece of the proverbial, but its a monumental effort of concentration and stamina to bat for has long as he has

VTR wrote:

GSC wrote:Am I allowed to call this pitch crap yet?

Wait and see first if we can bowl Pakistan out for 60 second innings before winning with a session to spare!

If that happens I be checking a few batsmens bank accounts. It woudl also rely on England havings omeone who can catch in the side.

Gooseberry wrote:

VTR wrote:

GSC wrote:Am I allowed to call this pitch crap yet?

Wait and see first if we can bowl Pakistan out for 60 second innings before winning with a session to spare!

If that happens I be checking a few batsmens bank accounts. It woudl also rely on England havings omeone who can catch in the side.

The bookmakers will already have instructed them to not hit it anywhere near Bell!

Carry on like this for an hour or so after lunch and then have a bash see if we can force a result.

A draw is fine but Pakistan should get Yasir back next game, so this probably represents our best opportunity of beating them

VTR wrote:Well played Cook though, he walked out to bat with the opposition having 520 on the board - that's pressure in itself.

The pitch might be a lifeless piece of the proverbial, but its a monumental effort of concentration and stamina to bat for has long as he has

I certainly second that. As well as Cook's resolution in being undaunted by scoreboard pressure when he walked out, he has supremely maintained concentration as Pakistan's total has come within reach.

It will be important not to overlook this when the post mortem of this Test is carried out.

True...as I said before the start of Eng inning.....on this thread somewhere that Eng's chance of saving the test is only on the back of a BIG double hundred from Cook.

against the monumental pressure he delivered...although even if he doesn't ( didn't ) score a big double hundred but only a reasonable sized hundred it does appear from the state of pitch.... that the rest of English batting would have still gotten their team to safety.
monumental effort from Cook nonetheless

We certainly have come to expect England to fold under that kind of pressure, and slow for pitches to fall apart a bit quicker than this one has. And for Pakistan to have a decent spinner. Being forced to bowl legally has certainly hurt them alongside Yasirs unavailability.

A lot of factors have played into cooks hands here, this is the same pitch that a guy who had only 2 previous test centuries and an average of 33 made well over 200. The thing that really makes Cooks innings special is the pressure of the scoreboard, the expectation that he would fail, the uncertainty of the players around him and his own form. It was always the case for England that he was the key wicket, and thats even more pressure. Hes handled it...thats all you can ask.

Joe root marking his guard with a stump genuinely the most interesting thing to happen today

Cant help feeling Pakistan are bowling Malik too much. They have another part time spinner as well, maybe a bit of a different challenge? Theyve been rotating the bowlers pretty frequenetly but it hasnt unsetled these two in the slightest.
Doesnt help that Wahab has had to be overbowled and is struggling for pace now. What many of us felt was overkill on the bowling selection form England proved to be a pretty smart move in the end...Pakistan could have been 650 or more if England had had to bowl their spinners as much as Pakistan have...and it was the spare frresh man Stokes who made the breakthroughs in the end.

I'm torn as to what England should do from here:

Declare to give themselves 5 overs left in the day. See if they can make a breakthrough and then have a second go at Pakistan tomorrow. If England were say, 100 ahead, bowling Pakistan out on day 5 would give them a shot at winning. Pakistan wouldn't have enough time to set a target and bowl England out.

Declare with 5 overs before lunch tomorrow. Same theory as above, but getting about 200 runs ahead and aiming to win by an innings.

Don't declare. Accept the draw and let Cook hit 400 in England's 800-5. Tell Pakistan that if they prepare tracks like that, then they can bowl on them for 3 and a bit days straight.

Lets not right this one off, the third new ball will be here pretty soon, I can't wait to see England block it what is going to be a really exciting passage of play

Root has thrown away the easiest ton of his life.

Cook needs support if he's going to break Lara's 400!

A rare failure for root - he'll be disappointed to nick off so early in his innings

I wouldn't bother declaring. Bat out the game if we can, try and wear down Pakistan ahead of the next test

That is very poor and irresponsible from Root. Getting out just before the new ball and leaving us on a perilous 426/4. I'd drop him and bring back Owais Shah

"That's the 500 for the spinners, who have combined figures of 0-503 in this match."

Thank you, TMS.