The summer of cricket 2020

First topic message reminder :

Great ton from Morgan. Came in at 44/3 - now victory looks assured for England after this partnership.

(Spoiler: It wasn't.)

Gooseberry wrote:

alfie wrote:  Possibly not a great idea to have spin both ends

Cough last word cough

Ha. Different situation completely though , isn't it ? Light is fine today. But in general I agree you don't want a part timer on straight after an interval. Though I should perhaps point out that the pace men shipped rubs after lunch yesterday too...

Momentum firmly with Pakistan now. Runs flowing and control lost by England. They've run really well between the wickets this afternoon. 300 looks likely from this position.

Shan Masood, the least formidable batsman in the Pakistani top order, gets a ton. He's only got three tons before - two against Sri Lanka, one against Bangladesh. It does mean his last three test innings have all produced centuries.

Well played Shan Masood

Excellent hundred . Though he probably owes Jos Buttler a couple of beers

40 minutes more runs than the entire morning....real roller coaster test already. England wont want them to get much more than 300

Century up ....3 in 3

All that hard work of this morning undone by a scrappy hour after lunch again...

Fair play to Shadab - he's counter attacked well, and has added impetus to Masood's game as well.

Time for some Woakes I think

1996 since a Pakistan opener made a century in England apparently
Also broke englands longest run of tests without conceding a century since the 50s.

Masood's had a bit of fortune, but he's stuck in there well. Really liked how he's left the ball in this innings. Proper opener with plenty of grit about him - reminded me of Rory Burns.

Shadab Khan's put in a good counter attack. Was struggling before lunch, but found his timing against the dross Bess and Root served up. Looking at the stats, Shadab scored two fifties in three innings the last time he visited England - another one who likes playing England!

Think this sharp running is starting to irritate Root.

This is utter tosh again from England, Root seems to stick too rigidly to pre existing plans and when senior bowlers are bowling poorly he has a reluctance to change them despite Woakes being the form guy.

Odd the way England have fallen away after lunch both days. I mean , some credit must go to some enterprising batting , fair enough ; but it's been oddly flat in the field - and Root doesn't seem to be quite switched on to what has been happening , especially with all these quick singles.
To be honest I do not think Root is anything special as a tactician in any case ; but as you'd imagine the coaching group gets involved at an interval you can't put all the blame on him.
Guess this is one of the charms of Test Cricket. Just as excellent team bowling swung the game England's way before lunch , now two batsmen playing with intent have reversed the direction of the game very quickly.

Need a wicket soon or this is getting away.

Fielding getting ragged too....they need to sort this out or Anderson will flip his lid.

shadab is throwing his bat at everything. id bring archer on and give him a bit of short stuff, wouldn't be surprised to see him caught on the boundary

alfie wrote:Odd the way England have fallen away after lunch both days. I mean , some credit must go to some enterprising batting , fair enough ; but it's been oddly flat in the field - and Root doesn't seem to be quite switched on to what has been happening , especially with all these quick singles.
To be honest I do not think Root is anything special as a tactician in any case ; but as you'd imagine the coaching group gets involved at an interval you can't put all the blame on him.
Guess this is one of the charms of Test Cricket. Just as excellent team bowling swung the game England's way before lunch , now two batsmen playing with intent have reversed the direction of the game very quickly.

Need a wicket soon or this is getting away.

Without the coaching group he doesn't have any tactical nous whatsoever but that isn't uncommon in England captains, in my time of watching cricket which started in the early 90's only Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss have had the ability to affect things off the cuff.

Odd choice. Dom Bess coming back. Root relying on Shadab to play one shot too many?

Duty281 wrote:Odd choice. Dom Bess coming back. Root relying on Shadab to play one shot too many?

yeah very strange tactic relying on pakistan players not being able to play spin. looked very very comfortable so far

Soul Requiem wrote:

alfie wrote:Odd the way England have fallen away after lunch both days. I mean , some credit must go to some enterprising batting , fair enough ; but it's been oddly flat in the field - and Root doesn't seem to be quite switched on to what has been happening , especially with all these quick singles.
To be honest I do not think Root is anything special as a tactician in any case ; but as you'd imagine the coaching group gets involved at an interval you can't put all the blame on him.
Guess this is one of the charms of Test Cricket. Just as excellent team bowling swung the game England's way before lunch , now two batsmen playing with intent have reversed the direction of the game very quickly.

Need a wicket soon or this is getting away.

Without the coaching group he doesn't have any tactical nous whatsoever but that isn't uncommon in England captains, in my time of watching cricket which started in the early 90's only Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss have had the ability to affect things off the cuff.

Well maybe , Soul. But my point is that things seem to have gone awry immediately after presumed input from the coaching group. Kind of the reverse of what one might expect , no ?

Excellent century from Masood. Those chances yesterday are making England pay now.

England needed a wicket before the new ball to get on top. This pair have played well though.

It's been a good Test so far. Early wickets, good batting, cluster of wickets, good batting. Swinging back and forth. It's shaping up to be a good Test. Don't judge a pitch until both sides have batted on it and all that!

king_carlos wrote:Excellent century from Masood. Those chances yesterday are making England pay now.

England needed a wicket before the new ball to get on top. This pair have played well though.

It's been a good Test so far. Early wickets, good batting, cluster of wickets, good batting. Swinging back and forth. It's shaping up to be a good Test. Don't judge a pitch until both sides have batted on it and all that!

England could have a batting collapse on tarmac

compelling and rich wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Odd choice. Dom Bess coming back. Root relying on Shadab to play one shot too many?

yeah very strange tactic relying on pakistan players not being able to play spin. looked very very comfortable so far

More likely he's after the left hander , who has had his problems with Bess in this innings. He'd want to bowl better than earlier to Shadab though !

Doesn't seem to be a lot happening for the pace men . I wouldn't say the seam bowling has been poor , actually. The batsmen have just played/left/run singles rather well. Batting conditions seem pretty good at the moment and both men are set...think England will be glad of the drink break .

alfie wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

alfie wrote:Odd the way England have fallen away after lunch both days. I mean , some credit must go to some enterprising batting , fair enough ; but it's been oddly flat in the field - and Root doesn't seem to be quite switched on to what has been happening , especially with all these quick singles.
To be honest I do not think Root is anything special as a tactician in any case ; but as you'd imagine the coaching group gets involved at an interval you can't put all the blame on him.
Guess this is one of the charms of Test Cricket. Just as excellent team bowling swung the game England's way before lunch , now two batsmen playing with intent have reversed the direction of the game very quickly.

Need a wicket soon or this is getting away.

Without the coaching group he doesn't have any tactical nous whatsoever but that isn't uncommon in England captains, in my time of watching cricket which started in the early 90's only Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss have had the ability to affect things off the cuff.

Well maybe , Soul.  But my point is that things seem to have gone awry immediately after presumed input from the coaching group. Kind of the reverse of what one might expect , no ?

I don't think things going awry straight away are the big issue but rather the inability to see it happening and not doing anything about it, the twin spin clearly wasn't working after an over each so you revert back to your seamers to try stemming the flow of runs before the new ball.

We've now got Woakes, with a 12 over old ball, bowling exclusively short. They've lost the plot

We've now reached the banging-it-in-short phase to complement Bess' lobs.

What happened to the brilliant, good-to-full length seam bowling that was so prevalent this morning? Why's it all fallen apart so quickly?

276/5 and a 100 partnership.

We're seeing the result of a leadership group who are all key players in the limited overs team.

Gets one, without much brilliance and Shadab going after it for no real reason.

Soul Requiem wrote:

alfie wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

alfie wrote:Odd the way England have fallen away after lunch both days. I mean , some credit must go to some enterprising batting , fair enough ; but it's been oddly flat in the field - and Root doesn't seem to be quite switched on to what has been happening , especially with all these quick singles.
To be honest I do not think Root is anything special as a tactician in any case ; but as you'd imagine the coaching group gets involved at an interval you can't put all the blame on him.
Guess this is one of the charms of Test Cricket. Just as excellent team bowling swung the game England's way before lunch , now two batsmen playing with intent have reversed the direction of the game very quickly.

Need a wicket soon or this is getting away.

Without the coaching group he doesn't have any tactical nous whatsoever but that isn't uncommon in England captains, in my time of watching cricket which started in the early 90's only Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss have had the ability to affect things off the cuff.

Well maybe , Soul.  But my point is that things seem to have gone awry immediately after presumed input from the coaching group. Kind of the reverse of what one might expect , no ?

I don't think things going awry straight away are the big issue but rather the inability to see it happening and not doing anything about it, the twin spin clearly wasn't working after an over each so you revert back to your seamers to try stemming the flow of runs before the new ball.

I'd suggest the main error was starting with that pairing after lunch. If you've decided to do that you probably aren't going to change after a single over , even if it doesn't go well. In principle , I just don't like using your "weaker" bowlers immediately after an interval...but presumably no one in the England camp had an issue with it.

Anyway too late now : these two are so well set they look capable of anything.

Not sure why Archer hasn't bowled at all since the interval ? Is he fully fit I wonder ?

Ah...Bess does get the break at last. Needed that !

Well after not getting the luck vs Masood yesterday, Bess gets a little there from Shadab. England need to take that opening...

Shadab does play one shot too many. Relief for England.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:We've now got Woakes, with a 12 over old ball, bowling exclusively short. They've lost the plot

Well they hadn't got a break with the "normal" new ball attack ; not too surprised they changed to the short ball - though I'd expected Archer to have that task rather than Woakes.
I didn't mind some short stuff as long as they don't do it exclusively...which they sometimes tend to do .

Expect Woakes to be full now to the new batsman...

Warne making good sense for a change with this analysis of Bess

Buttler's nightmare continues ...Bess deprived again as he shells an edge from Yasir

Ah Jos - fair to say he owes a few runs...

alfie wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

alfie wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

alfie wrote:Odd the way England have fallen away after lunch both days. I mean , some credit must go to some enterprising batting , fair enough ; but it's been oddly flat in the field - and Root doesn't seem to be quite switched on to what has been happening , especially with all these quick singles.
To be honest I do not think Root is anything special as a tactician in any case ; but as you'd imagine the coaching group gets involved at an interval you can't put all the blame on him.
Guess this is one of the charms of Test Cricket. Just as excellent team bowling swung the game England's way before lunch , now two batsmen playing with intent have reversed the direction of the game very quickly.

Need a wicket soon or this is getting away.

Without the coaching group he doesn't have any tactical nous whatsoever but that isn't uncommon in England captains, in my time of watching cricket which started in the early 90's only Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss have had the ability to affect things off the cuff.

Well maybe , Soul.  But my point is that things seem to have gone awry immediately after presumed input from the coaching group. Kind of the reverse of what one might expect , no ?

I don't think things going awry straight away are the big issue but rather the inability to see it happening and not doing anything about it, the twin spin clearly wasn't working after an over each so you revert back to your seamers to try stemming the flow of runs before the new ball.

I'd suggest the main error was starting with that pairing after lunch.  If you've decided to do that you probably aren't going to change after a single over , even if it doesn't go well. In principle , I just don't like using your "weaker" bowlers immediately after an interval...but presumably no one in the England camp had an issue with it.

Anyway too late now : these two are so well set they look capable of anything.

Not sure why Archer hasn't bowled at all since the interval ? Is he fully fit I wonder ?

Ah...Bess does get the break at last. Needed that !

I just think the Pakistani coaching group got the jump on any England plans just after lunch. You wouldn't have had to have been a fly on the wall in the Pakistan dressing room to hear Younis Khan quietly suggest to both batsmen to "up the ante... take the attack up to them... when you get back out there."

Those 5 overs of spin just after lunch certainly was a gift indeed but you have to admire the way they also attacked Broad and Anderson with the new ball and put even more pressure on the fielding running between wickets. They didn't skip a beat it seemed. Brave batting from both.

Sort of agree with Nass here... why not Archer just after lunch with Bess? Or go at them straight away with Archer and Woakes... who I felt a bit sorry for a few overs back when he seemed just a little too wayward and desperate... and lost some shape. But that's what happens when the game starts to get away and he gets called in to stem the damage.

If Jos fails with the bat, this could be the end of his test career.

Into the proper tail now. Was it me or did Jofra's run up not look 100%?

England might be expectant of wrapping this up before tea.

didnt look out live to me that, surprised he didnt review it

Soul Requiem wrote:We're seeing the result of a leadership group who are all key players in the limited overs team.

The leadership in the ODI team is excellent thanks to Morgan to be fair. Buttler is a very good tactician in his stronger formats too. Missing both showed in the 3rd ODI vs Ireland.

There's just a lack of options to skipper in this Test side, unfortunately. Root not being an ideal captain in those circumstances doesn't infuriate me that much. I honestly think he's the best option from a dearth of options.

My frustration comes when the things seem so rigid and pre-planned. Plan A is no longer working, plan B comes in, plan B isn't working, lets get funky and bowl exclusively into the batsman's ribs with a leg slip.

I'd much rather see Anderson, Broad and Woakes bowl fuller 'wobble seam' deliveries with cover on the off side. Similar to how they bowled in these situations under Flower at that sides best. Put a deep extra cover out and drop mid-off back a bit. Yep they can get singles but those singles will mean the batsman are driving fuller deliveries that might do a bit one way or t'other.

I am not sure that Archer is 100% , to be honest. All this talk of extra pace but he's mainly bowling low eighties. Agree he would probably gave been a reasonable choice to take three overs after lunch rather than Root...but if he is a little under par that might explain it.

Doesn't matter as he's just pinned Yasir lbw That'll do...will probably do wonders for his energy levels too !

And two in two

Abbas, a proper number 11, coming out at 9...and going first ball!

Jofra's on a hat-trick. He'll probably not get a better chance!

king_carlos wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:We're seeing the result of a leadership group who are all key players in the limited overs team.

The leadership in the ODI team is excellent thanks to Morgan to be fair. Buttler is a very good tactician in his stronger formats too. Missing both showed in the 3rd ODI vs Ireland.

There's just a lack of options to skipper in this Test side, unfortunately. Root not being an ideal captain in those circumstances doesn't infuriate me that much. I honestly think he's the best option from a dearth of options.

My frustration comes when the things seem so rigid and pre-planned. Plan A is no longer working, plan B comes in, plan B isn't working, lets get funky and bowl exclusively into the batsman's ribs with a leg slip.

I'd much rather see Anderson, Broad and Woakes bowl fuller 'wobble seam' deliveries with cover on the off side. Similar to how they bowled in these situations under Flower at that sides best. Put a deep extra cover out and drop mid-off back a bit. Yep they can get singles but those singles will mean the batsman are driving fuller deliveries that might do a bit one way or t'other.

In the ODI team Morgan is very much the senior and most experienced player so has natural authority over his players whereas in the test side you have a situation where the two senior players are the new ball pair who from the outside seem reluctant to listen to anything from the outside, I could well be wrong there though. The benefit that Flower had was Strauss who was an uncompromising captain in stark contrast to Root who is very passive.

Shan to go ballistic now ? Just rabbits for company...

Indeed he does ! Two sixes , 300 up...quite an innings (although he's had his share of luck)

Now : Archer might fancy his chances against ten and eleven...

Jofra kind of reminds me of a greyhound just waiting to be unleashed... at times.

Assuming they get anywhere between 320-350 runs.. a very good score I feel. OT often has that ominous atmosphere about it - this match is no exception. I think Pakistan have done very well given the few lucky breaks they've had along the way. It didn't look easy out there at all for long periods (except for that 90 mins after lunch) but this match is building up nicely. Should be compelling viewing later today and tomorrow... and hopefully dramatic days 4 and 5.

How are you coping, Alfie? Hope all's well in the bunker with your whiskey. I'm on hot chocolate here... the coldest day of the year is upon us!

Blimey, Buttler can't do anything right at the moment.

150 up for Shan Masood. Top innings and nearly half his team's total.

Think we might look back on this session as the one where Pakistan won the match. While it's not the most difficult of batting tracks, it's difficult to envisage England scoring 375+ which they'll need to stand any chance of counteracting the fourth innings disadvantage.

Properly long evening session in store (39 overs with the changeover) if the light remains ok.

Pal Joey wrote:Joffra kind of reminds me of a greyhound just waiting to be unleashed... at times.

320-350 runs.. is still a very good score I feel. OT often has that ominous atmosphere about it - this match is no exception. I think Pakistan have done very well given the few lucky breaks they've had along the way. It didn't look easy out there at all for long periods (except for that 90 mins after lunch) but this match is building up nicely. Should be compelling viewing later today and tomorrow... and hopefully dramatic days 4 and 5.

How are you coping, Alfie? Hope all's well in the bunker with your whiskey. I'm on hot chocolate here... the coldest day of the year is upon us!

Hi Pal Joey

Yes , The Glenlivet is going down very nicely thanks...

Has been cold - at least by Australian standards. And with Victoria in meltdown - sorry , lockdown - not much fun to be had so it is watch cricket , sleep in , drink... Ah well it beats being in Brazil

Pakistan on the cusp of a good score at tea 312/8 . Good pitch this , I think. So 320 is about par I reckon - and they may yet exceed that. Certainly had a great session there.

Hussain on about Archer being under bowled but I do suspect it is a fitness issue . Either that or he just goes to sleep at times because the contrast between his real efforts and some of the rather casual and underwhelming stuff he produces at others is quite marked. In terms of today he's done a good job bagging those two ; but no guarantee he'd have made any impression on Shadab who is quite a different animal. If he can mop up these last two quickly after tea he'll have done a good job anyway.

Lot of criticism for England , some of it earned. Yes they've looked a bit ragged ; but as you alluded above , this is largely down to the pressure put on them by some fine Pakistan tactics and execution. Happens to a lot of teams. Will see what they do with the bat before declaring it is First Match Syndrome again...

Duty281 wrote:Blimey, Buttler can't do anything right at the moment.

150 up for Shan Masood. Top innings and nearly half his team's total.

Think we might look back on this session as the one where Pakistan won the match. While it's not the most difficult of batting tracks, it's difficult to envisage England scoring 375+ which they'll need to stand any chance of counteracting the fourth innings disadvantage.

Properly long evening session in store (39 overs with the changeover) if the light remains ok.

You may well be right , Duty. But a bit early to call it :, don't you think ? Who knows , Pakistan might be skittled in their second innings ...

.. .... umpires call THANK GOD

Broad ends a splendid innings of Shan Masood...always looked out unless he'd edged it. Basically half the score . Top effort

Shan Masood doesn't get to carry his bat. Tremendous innings, but an umpire's call LBW brings it to an end. I thought it was out in live play, but a lot tighter on replay.

Won't be long now before England get introduced to the 'interesting' Pakistan bowling line up. One left arm fast bowler. One right arm fast bowler. The swing of Abbas. And two legspinners against 7 English right handers.

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Blimey, Buttler can't do anything right at the moment.

150 up for Shan Masood. Top innings and nearly half his team's total.

Think we might look back on this session as the one where Pakistan won the match. While it's not the most difficult of batting tracks, it's difficult to envisage England scoring 375+ which they'll need to stand any chance of counteracting the fourth innings disadvantage.

Properly long evening session in store (39 overs with the changeover) if the light remains ok.

You may well be right , Duty. But a bit early to call it :, don't you think ?  Who knows , Pakistan might be skittled in their second innings ...

This is the guy who called the last tet a draw on day two

Englan are up againt it but we put know how much till they hav batted once. They are capable of making a decent total, and of being bowled out for chips and drinks.

Also easy to forget that Pakistan wpldve be looking at much bigger total from where they were at close yesterday. It could be worse

A decent innings from Masood but should have been out twice yesterday and I personally think he should have been given LBW this morning, England have ultimately let him get to his 150 unfortunately.

get these out now we are still in the game, but do feel like we have given away 60-70 runs in this innings. the pakistan bowlers will get abit out of this pitch. especially the spinners.

Should not be long now... Anything over 300 is decent by definition ; but I'm sure Pakistan wouldn't mind another fifteen or twenty.

Then we will see how England bat on this. Reckon it's a good pitch ; but they've not always chased too well recently.

Might be a good pitch now, but I think we can all see the early signs of deterioration. If England are to win this, they'll have to make a proper 400+ score. Time for Root to rediscover his form.

326 all out. England would have been OK if offered that at the start of the day. Downright miserable if offered that at lunch.