Surely they would declare long before that. Maybe a couple of overs and two for the change of innings just to get the pitch rolled twice. Set them 330+ at nearly 4 an over on a fifth day wicket. No one has scored at anything like that rate in the match so far.
That’s what we would do, but Cook is sometimes too conservative.
Maybe, but is the pitch where two batsman scored at four and a half an over for a session yesterday. It wouldn’t totally surprise me to see him bat until lunch before declaring, to bury Pakistan’s chances completely.
20 off the first over… at least they are getting on with it. Suggests that don’t ask could be right - looking to declare early and get a couple of overs with a second new ball
Well, the new ball wasn’t needed in the end but I think Cook timed that about right - no point in declaring at 6pm and having your bowlers take the shine off the ball when they’re not as fresh. Also keeps Pakistan guessing overnight.
An amazing comeback by England from Pakistan being 250-odd for 2 in their first innings. I wonder what England’s odds to win were at that stage? It’s the sort of spirit they’ll need to show to stand a chance of taking the series in Australia.
All 10 Wickets from the last day.
Really good finish to the match from and England point of view. Obviously because we won it, despite giving away a 100 run lead in the first innings, but also because everyone pitched in and did some work. No bowler took 5, no batsman got a ton, but contributions from everyone, and no real weak links.
Except James Vince of course. I don’t think he’ll be playing this time next year.
Statistically, I understand their chances of a win at that ground from over 100 behind in the first innings is around 3% if I recall what I heard correctly. I was working from home (as I do around 60% of the time so not just 'cos of the cricket!) and had the radio on in the background.
Thanks.
Vince has certainly done enough to keep his place for the Oval, which may be a career-defining match for him - get a big score and prove he has worked out his issues, and job’s a good’un - get out twice by driving away from his body, and he might never play Test cricket again.
So, the Oval:
England chose to bat and got in serious trouble in the morning until, in a shock development, the all-rounders combined to make good the deficiencies of the specialist batsmen. Vince, I read, got out to an excellent ball; none of the others seem to have much excuse (although Hales has a different point of view on that).
England did get Aslam’s wicket yesterday evening, very usefully as he’s seemed thoroughly competent so far. And they’ve just picked up Shah for 26, which isn’t bad for a nightwatchman.
Just got Misbah, but although Pakistan are now five down, their tail is shorter than usual thanks to the use of the nightwatchman. I’m a bit concerned that England think after the last Test, they can win easily from any position. While not a bad attitude to have, they might soon find that the previous match was a one-off.
Ooh, another one - six down now. If England can mop these up for less than 50, we have a decent contest on our hands. What was all the nonsense about England having to declare aggressively at Edgbaston as the Oval was bound to be a draw? That is looking almost as unlikely as a tie, right now (good weather permitting).
Vince!!!
That may be the last we see of him, to be honest.
Difficult to see anything other than a Pakistan win here, even with their famously mercurial team. Theirs to throw away.
On Friday, I was hatching a plan to play hooky from work and take the 7 year old to see an exciting last day’s play. That plan is now as defunct as Vince’s winter tour hopes.
2 each. Probably a fair result really, since both teams have had periods of awful play, it’s hard to say that either side deserved to take the series.
England still have the same basic issue as they’ve had for a while now, which is that the batting relies too much on Cook and Root (and now Bairstow, so we’ve added him at least), and the others aren’t stepping up. It seems Vince’s place is the most at risk, but Hales and Ballance still have a lot to prove.
A fair summary, except I would add Ali as someone who has batted pretty well this summer. I don’t know enough about the county game to begin to suggest possible replacements for Vince, Ballance, and Hales, but it seems to me Vince in particular could do with being sent back to work on his technique outside the off stump. Maybe he’s the next Ramprakash - destroys county attacks but just can’t quite make it work at the highest level.
In the past 2 years, England have had 19 century partnerships involving purely the top 5 batsmen. Of those 19, only 1 didn’t involve Root or Cook.
Now, I’d expect most of these partnerships to feature one of our best 2 batsmen, they are the men I do expect to get most of the runs. But when they fail, other batsmen have to step up, and they aren’t doing it.
In that timeframe, Ballance has 4 hundred partnerships with Cook or Root. Hayles has 1. Vince has yet to be involved in a hundred partnership at all.
In the same period, the “lower” order has scored 4 hundred partnerships among themselves.
I think I heard on TMS on the Sunday that Hales, Ballance and Vince averaged 22 for the series. It’s a clear weakness, and I actually think it’s good news that we didn’t scrape the Number 1 ranking - it would have added to our complacency.
I’m very sympathetic to the idea that people have to be given a decent run in the team, and that it’s better to give them one match too many than one too few. But I think it’s possible that some players are being given two matches too many.
Vince was given 7 matches too many, on reflection. Looking at his numbers, he has struggled in Div 1 cricket and his first class average isn’t anything to write home about. It appears he got in by scoring a ton in front of the selectors back in May and having a couple of good innings for the Lions squad. This isn’t enough really - and he should probably have been ignored, given his weakness outside off stump.
It’s interesting that one of the sub-plots of the summer has been grumbling about the selection panel (Bayliss and Cook had a go at them with respect to Anderson not being picked for Lord’s) and I wonder whether this is another straw they can throw on the back of the camel. They’re talking seriously about changing the whole system.
Whatever, Bayliss in particular watches little to no county cricket. They (either he or people of whom he trusts the judgement) need to do so. Having spent quite a lot of time down at The Oval to watch Surrey, a couple of days at Lord’s to watch Middlesex and even a jaunt down to Hove to watch Sussex this summer, there is more talent in the county game than is being recognised at the minute. Gubbins is only 22 and averages 60+ in Div 1 cricket opening for Middlesex. Hammed up at Lancashire is 19 and has had a good season opening for them. Bell-Drummond and Duckett both scoring heavily (albeit for Div 2 sides - one of the things I have noticed watching Surrey come up is that Div 1 is genuinely harder than Div 2, some of these blokes could do with runs in Div 1, I suspect, to cement their credentials). I’m unsure as to whether they should be chucked in for the India tour - where I suspect we will struggle - but Vince needs dropping and Ballance and Hales have to be in the last chance saloon, with the knowledge that not blooding these young lads in India is possibly the thing keeping them in the side.
For India, I would do what they always should have done and play Mo at 5. Failing that Bairstow 5, Stokes 6, Mo 7, Woakes 8 and Finn/Wood in the squad to cover for injuries to Anderson and/or Broad. Rashid plays 9 and is frontline spinner, with Mo as second fiddle. Ballance to 4 to replace Vince. Top 3 as you were.
I was at The Oval for every ball of the final test. We were walloped by a superior side. Thought Pakistan were not without flaws (they could probably do with an all-rounder) but Sami is a good find, Azhar is a good bat too and hopefully Misbah and Younis can hang on for a bit to help bring through some more young cricketers. Their bowling attack is better than decent when conditions are in their favour and competent when not. A touch more consistency from Wahab would be helpful and hanging onto catches (Amir’s figures in particular would be much better if the 6 chances that were dropped off him were taken). I like them, it’s nice to have them performing well, hopefully they can start playing at home again sooner or later and then they will be a very tough proposition for all sides.
You make a lot of good points; I thought it was worth quoting this because we have been dwelling on England’s frailties and one of the joys of the series was watching Pakistan come together as a team and finding some real promise for the future. Sami in particular looks like a really solid prospect and it was good to see Amir return in a relatively drama-free manner.
I’d be interested to hear AK84’s take on the series, if he’s around.
England also dropped a number of catches during the Pakistan first innings in the final game, from what I remember. Dropped catches is a tough stat to find, but I think Vince dropped a couple - he certainly never caught one.