England in Dubai vs Pakistan...Cricket.
Discussion
Ah dammit.
Congrats to Pakistan, great batting from them, and spin still seems a mystery to our Batsmen.
Pakistan have some lovely bats, and I think on "home" ground they are a pretty decent outfit.
We are a team full of bits and pieces, it is Root, Cook, Jimmy A and Broad and the rest just shuffle about making very limited contributions. (though I like Wood and rate him a bit about a bitsa)
ks to Bairstow, not easy to come in and keep on these pitches when you aren't really training playing all the time, three catches and only 4 extras in 80 odd overs - pretty tidy Yes Root comes up a little short for once with James Taylor overshadowing him. England looking to dwarf the Pakistan batting total, reaching the dizzy heights of number two in world test cricket. If they can reach there it will be a real high for the team.
That's probably enough of that....
spikeyhead said:
Mo picking up Hafeez has tipped the balance our way
Both Batsman at the crease currently have mid 40's batting averages at test level. England still behind I think.
You'd like to think we could chase 300, but neither Cook or Bell are exactly positive players at the moment, and both favour caution over dash.
Best case, Cook would grind away at 2 an over and use up 80% of the available time, then expect Broad or Rashid to knock 200 off in 20 overs again.
Well we need 238, with effectively 7 wickets, not sure Stokes will bat. I guess he might defend an end to prevent a loss.
I wonder now about Bell and his future in this team. It a tour to South Africa next, but he just doesn't seem to be the player at the moment.
The team is made up of adequate, we need a couple of world class.
London424 said:
But are they a happy dressing room though? No place for entertainment in the ECBs vision of Cricket
On the spin question. How many four day matches are there in the county championship. Most of them are played in May or June. The pitches aren't spinning, the captains won't bowl them and at many grounds the wickets are just set up to swing/seam.
I don't think there is an easy solution.
Anyway, HR may have lost his 128 AO but my 173 is looking more plausible. Johnfm has once again exposed his total lack of cricket knowledge by predicting we would win by six wickets
Think Pakistan have out bowled us for sure in this series, we also can't bat against even moderate spin for toffee. Our players just look brainless in shot selection against the spin.
We can't point and laugh at England selection policy all we like, but the reality is this probably isn't far short of the best 11 cricketers we have in the country right now, and no amount of fiddling with the bit part players is going to fix that.
Credit to Pakistan for a cohesive team performance, played in good spirit by them, they aren't a universally loved team, so it is good to see some real progress in terms of a decent series, it is just a shame the crowds don't turn out for it.
Jimmy A, Broad, Cook and Root are still the only real players in this team
Bairstow, fair play not easy to keep to two spinners, so not massively surprised he couldn't bat.
Patel / Rashid - lovely - thanks so much for helping out, can't see either of you getting a game at Durham in May.
Bell - heads gone, technique is lovely, but his mind is shot, no self belief and has never really made it to "senior pro" status
Wood - Will be back, had a decent series
Taylor - think we need to see more of him
Ali - Well, not an opener for sure, back to six I think (Bairstow at 7)
Stokes - I just don't know where to start with this. Great attitude, a fighter - is it really good enough for the test side ?
We can't point and laugh at England selection policy all we like, but the reality is this probably isn't far short of the best 11 cricketers we have in the country right now, and no amount of fiddling with the bit part players is going to fix that.
Credit to Pakistan for a cohesive team performance, played in good spirit by them, they aren't a universally loved team, so it is good to see some real progress in terms of a decent series, it is just a shame the crowds don't turn out for it.
Jimmy A, Broad, Cook and Root are still the only real players in this team
Bairstow, fair play not easy to keep to two spinners, so not massively surprised he couldn't bat.
Patel / Rashid - lovely - thanks so much for helping out, can't see either of you getting a game at Durham in May.
Bell - heads gone, technique is lovely, but his mind is shot, no self belief and has never really made it to "senior pro" status
Wood - Will be back, had a decent series
Taylor - think we need to see more of him
Ali - Well, not an opener for sure, back to six I think (Bairstow at 7)
Stokes - I just don't know where to start with this. Great attitude, a fighter - is it really good enough for the test side ?
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