That didn’t come out right. I meant that England have plenty of time to set an impossible target unless the Pakistan spinners intervene.
Well fuck.
Pakistan have roared back this morning and, whilst it’s still a mountain to climb, 64/0 is a good start.
There we go. First ever series win in Pakistan for England. A gripping test match with the final game set for Saturday. A whitewash would be too much to ask for but the confidence England have from their revised approach must mean that they’ll think they can do it.
Of course this match was less explosive that the first in terms of batting but the positive intent is alwasy there.
Third.
And the second time we lost a game needing less than 100 in the last innings with 5 wickets in hand.
Oops! I blame bum info from a (previously) reputable source.
Anyway, we can say that winning 2 consecutive tests on the trot in Pakistan is something never done before by England.
England have never won 2 tests in a series in Pakistan. In fact, they’ve only ever won 4 tests in Pakistan, two of them in this series. Of course, Pakistan have beaten England twice in a series (in Pak) only the once, in 2005. The two teams have played 26 games in Pakistan, and 18 of those have been draws.
Great game though, even towards the end it was looking like Pakistan might snatch it. And it’s been England seamers who have done the damage!
Yes I imagine that early on, on day one, the team must have looked at their seam-heavy line-up and thought…bugger! The fast lads certainly put a shift in again. I think the weather was kind to them. Had it been much hotter I’m not sure they’d have been able to keep running in with as much steam.
Speaking of England’s fast bowlers, Mark Wood has (had ghost)written a book called “The Wood Life: A not so helpful guide on how to survive cricket, life and everything in between”. Despite teh title, the excerpt on cricinfo actually looks quite good, especially this bit about his friendly rivalry with Jofra Archer over who bowled fastest.
I can’t tell you how much I envy someone like Jofra Archer. Now that man is a Rolls Royce of a fast bowler. Throughout the 2019 World Cup we had a great partnership that bordered on a friendly rivalry. We’d gee each other up to bowl quick and it was so much fun.
…At the innings break of that World Cup final, our analyst came to me and told me I’d officially bowled the fastest ball of the World Cup at 95.7 mph. He also told me my 18 wickets were the second-highest of our team, but there was only one stat I cared about.
As soon as Jofra came through the door, I couldn’t help myself.
“Jofra!,” I shouted, desperate to tell him the news (and leave out that his 20 wickets were the most for our team). “You’ll never guess who got 95.7?” He looked at me and he was not impressed.
“Look,” I offered, “you tried, mate. Keep your head up. It happens. Live and learn, eh? Maybe you’ll get to 95.7 one day.” He furrowed his brow and looked me up and down. I had ice packs on my ankle, knee and side. I was barely able to stand and grimacing in between smiles.
“Look at me,” he said, pointing down at his whole body, sleek, comfortable, barely a drop of sweat on him. “And now look at you.”
Man, I can’t wait for Archer to come back.
(Also very much worth your while reading is the beginning of that excerpt, on what it is like to be bowling in a big match.)
Have been a bit tardy with my contributions to this thread, mayhaps to the pleasure of othe contributors but Dec-13th marks the anniversary of the and the first tentative introduction of BazBall after a period where international cricket was played more slowly than paint drying.
I have no memory of this, at the time being more focused on crawling than batting.
The iconic image above where Joe Solomon (far right) throws down the stumps from square leg (and from no great distance) given Wes Hall (2nd from right) hurling them down with some speed and venom to run out Ian Meckiff with the scores tied and 2 balls to play was the ubiquitous cover on all Australian cricket scorebooks into the 1990s.
Wes Hall’s ball-by-ball description of his final over and tactical discussions with Frank Worrall. Vaudeville standard routine.
‘If you bowl a no ball, you’ll never be able to land in Barbados again’.
Not international, perhaps, but worth noting - the Sydney Thunder have enlivened the Big Bash League by getting bowled out for 15 (yes, 15) in 5.4 overs. This is believed to be the lowest total ever in a professional T20 game surpassing (underpassing?) the 21 achieved by Turkey (who I doubt were professionals in any real sense) against the Czech Republic in 2019. Adelaide Strikers had totalled an innocuous-looking 139/9 and still won by 124. Supporters of other Australian franchises may point and laugh.
Every underage or schoolboy team in the country now has a new “just better than subpar” performance benchmark.
AUS vs SA 1st Test @ The Gabba
Now there is a reason why Australian Test series usually start in Brisbane, and it has nothing to do with the locals being accommodating and generous hosts. The Gabba is usually a green top which confounds touring teams who have had little or no preparation to the conditions.
The conventionally Gabba pitch is prepared a touch on the green side and after a couple of hours in the sun it bakes into a good batting deck.
This time the sun didn’t come out in days prior, to the point that it was difficult to determine which strip was going to be played on. Also both teams possess high quality pace bowlers. Deliveries from the quicks of both sides on Day 1 left low depressions in the soft surface which when drying left the batters playing on a dimpled surface on Day 2. Another days sun and a couple of sessions with the heavy roller would likely have flattened it out. But by that stage it was all over with neither sides batters in the 2nd innings looking like they wanted to be there.
The delivery from Starc which bowled van der Dussen for his 300th was illustrative. For a Test standard bat to miss a defensive shot by so much shows the pitch wasn’t of Test standard.
SA captain Elgar asked the umpires “At what point does the wicket become unplayable dangerous?” But he was happy enough to see his pace attack deal out some serious heat when AUS were chasing a mere 34 for victory and subsequently they ripped out the locals top order with sundries contributing more than the batters combined.
2 day Tests don’t help ticket sales or draw in eyeballs when CricketAustralia is trying to cut a new TV rights deal but the balance was a bit out of whack here it redresses some of the freeways prepared elsewhere that give the bowlers nary a prospect.
Also the highlights quality of the batting exhibited by Verreynne (64) and Head (92) in their respective 1st innings
Roll on now for Boxing Day at The ‘G.
Who knows what would’ve happened had they chosen to play on?
It is always a shame when the wicket takes centre-stage. It makes for compelling (but brief) viewing but I think everyone wants to see a fair duel between bat and ball.
In the final Pak/Eng test it looks like England are strolling to victory, perhaps inside 3 days.
Young Rehan Ahmed takes a 5-fer on debut! He looks a very calm and assured presence. Being brought in, at 18 years old, for your first match at a ground that is pretty much a Pakistan fortress with a record series win on the line? No pressure young man.
England have only 167 to get and are going about it, as usual, at better than a run a ball. As I speak they are 92-1 and Ahmed is now back in as a nightwatchman (though I confess I’m not sure if that term has relevance in this new style of play)
Oops! as I type he is out and England are 97-2, cue the collapse!
Well they reached the close without further loss and with about 50 required tomorrow with 8 wickets in hand, it should be a formality (unless they drop in the pitch from the Gabba overnight). Top stat (courtesy of Cricinfo): the last time England won a Test match away from home without either Anderson or Broad in the XI was 18 years ago, i.e. about 4 months after Rehan Ahmed was born!
How many games have they played away without Broad or Anderson? They’ve both been regular features for that long
Counting from the same source, it appears to be 19 in that time period, including the current match: Team records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com
And of course, Rehan Ahmed hadn’t been born when Jimmy Anderson got 5 in an innings in his first Test, back in May 2003!
England strolled to victory this morning, 170/2 in 28 overs. It’s the first time anyone has swept Pakistan at home. A lot will be said about bazball, but the bowling has been great as well as the scoring rates, with England seamers doing better than they ever have. The change in leadership had been more than just scoring quickly.
New Zealand next.
Yes I think the culture of freedom, lack of fear etc. and the confidence that comes from that is bound to have a knock-on effect for all players, not just the batting line-up