I’m thinking we should probably stick for Morgan for the final test despite his horrible form. He could still be dangerous if he clicks against the spinners, although we’d be sending him out more in hope than expectation. Problem is, we don’t have much in the way of alternatives. Bopara hasn’t had a game all tour, and once scored 3 ducks in a row against Sri Lanka. He also has a poor test record, although he is in the squad on the back of improved ODI and 20-20 performances. Throwing him in with no preparation might not be fair on him. The other option is the reserve wicket keeper, Davies, who has a first class average of 40. He made a breezy 30-odd not out in the 2nd warm-up.
I’d be fairly content with a fighting loss in the final test, provided at least a couple of our out of form batsmen can make a decent contribution. That would give us something to work with for the Sri Lanka series. A draw or win would be a bonus. I don’t expect Pakistan’s standards to drop, I’m sure they are feeling confident and would love to whitewash the top ranked team.
Well, my fears that our bowling standards might slip have proven unfounded. We’ve bowled sides out for under 100 a few times recently, lets see if we can add another to the collection.
99 all out. Nothing wrong with the pitch according to the commentators, a little swing and seam movement is all. That’s got to take some pressure off the batsmen, we need over 300 now. The pitch is dry and will turn later on in the match.
After giving all due credit to England’s bowlers, is this batting performance the result of
a) Dead rubber syndrome, as kindly illustrated by AK84 above or
b) Letting the pressure of the chance at a whitewash disturb their concentration?
I get the feeling it was more a) than b) at the start, but I imagine that might have reversed sometime around the 4th wicket - chasing the game too hard in an effort to restore momentum?
Well, Pietersen got to 30 before he fell to the left-arm spinner this time. That must surely be the biggest mental/technical blind spot in sport today.
Can’t answer that, but it does illustrate how much of the game is played in the head.
If KP had stayed in the game could have gone very quickly. These last twenty overs today are going to be nervy now. Again, we face the problem of batting last, so a lead of 150 might not be enough, and we could fall short of even that.
On TMS, they were saying the last time a side lost after bowling the opposition out for less than 100 in the first innings was 1907. That counts for nothing now, and Pakistan are favorites.
There is already some rough for Rehman to aim at, and our batsmen are completely shot. In theory they should be adapting to the conditions, but as a unit they are going backwards. Prior’s dismissal was telling, missing an almost straight ball. He was trying to keep his pad out of the way as he is terrified of the DRS, but as consequence he didn’t get in line. With each failure, they are just heaping more pressure on themselves.
180 run lead and a century by “Young Younis Khan” (seriously Rameez he is in his mid thirties and has been around 12 years!). Pakistans day. However, with three days to the match is still in the balance. Pakistan need to bat all through tommorrow and possibly part of the first session on Monday. and give England at least 400 to chase. Otherwise, I think the state of the pitch is that England will have enough time to finish the matter.
In other news Cicero finally saw the game and I am sure we will have the benefit of his opinions.
Well, my opinions don’t count for much but after seeing the final session, I wonder why so many wickets fell in the first four sessions.
The wicket hardly seemed dangerous. Swann and Monty bowled usefully on what seemed to be a pretty placid deck. Even though Younis got his century he did look awkward at times. I see he is now in the top 4 of Pakistani batsmen which is a pretty good achievement.
At the end of the day, all I can say is that it did not seem to me to be the number one team in the world playing.
The pitch has flattened out a bit, but the reasons for the wicket-fest on the first day were poor batting, good to excellent bowling and DRS, in that order of importance.
I’m all for a bit of pessimism, but I think that assessment of the match situation is about as accurate as your one in the last match, where you said England should push on for an innings victory. If we were in form, you’d want a lead of 300 to be confident of victory, and 400 to be almost completely safe. We aren’t, and you could declare overnight and still be favorites to win.
Just over 300 to chase. That was a strange innings. Take away the two centurions and no one seemed to know how to play on the pitch (Misbah probably excluded).
England in form would probably get the runs. They seem to have a lot of demons about spin though.
(On a better note I watched the India/ Australia ODI and I thought the new wicket keeper (Wade) looked very good. And he can bat).
My father told me that Azhar Ali reminded him of Mudassar Nazar. I think with more than two days, England if they have even an iota of sense about them should get it.
If we were in form, you’d want a lead of 300 to be confident of victory, and 400 to be almost completely safe. We aren’t, and you could declare overnight and still be favorites to win.