England v Pakistan (in U.A.E) 2012

He did not apparently bowl anything that looked new. And he does not need to be bowling anything different either. He is just fine with whatever he has.

Maybe Pakistan should bring another Spinner (Yasir Shah or Kaneria) for Gul or Cheema. Remember its just first day. What could happen on day 4 or day 5?

5 LBWs and 1 bowled for Ajmal - shows how well England are playing him...

Splendid performance - Pak trail by 150 with all wickets in tank. I am delighted. Superb stuff from Ajmal but the credit goes to others as well who bowled line and length and did not allow runs to flow freely form the other end.

It was more of a slider that skidded through - but it was bowled with the similar action and could cause problems. But his doosra remains the most dangerous

Oh my, watch a first session especially for pakistan.  I take back what I've said about Ajmal only benefitting due to weak opposition.  He really bowled well in the only session I saw and removed Bell with a beauty.  KP absolutely played down the wrong line.   The pakistani bowlers didn't give much away.  Nonetheless, the England scorecard is not a surprise.

I don't expect Anderson to have much success on this tour, Broad is gotta be the trump card with the ball, he can do the business anywhere I feel.  A lot relies on Swann too.

Pakistan comfortably in the drivers seat on day 1, but don't hold your breaths yet.

Just talking about ENG, they had their troubles in the past against Spin and on spin friendly tracks but this is a very very good side and will definitely come back hard, I think ENG missed a trick, they should have played Monty instead of a fast bowler (may be Tremlett), the reason being Monty has a good record against Pakistan, I remember he troubled Pakistan quite a bit when they toured ENG in 2006 and again we saw that in the warm up games. 

What's the point in complaining about Ajmal's action? It's not the cleanest action around but it's there and passed as legal so just get around to it and adapt. The focus should not be on Ajmal's action but ENG's continued incompetency against spin. I was probably too quick to jump the gun, ENG are worse at playing spin than I imagined. Lovely innings from Prior though, easily the best wk batsman in Tests, no contest.  

Ajmal bowled beautifully but was helped no end by some atrocious batting.  It appeared that the top order's only scoring option against Ajmal was the sweep - which gave rise to 5 lbws!  The old problem is so blatently obvious when watching the English play spin - they just won't leave their crease and that allows the bowler to keep peppering the perfect length and tying the batsmen in knots.  Even Prior stayed put , but at least he played very late and watched the ball onto the bat. Swann biffed a few as he always does and if nothing else it should sink in to the heads of the top order that aggression can knock a bowler off his length.
             It's not over yet though , but England need a breakthrough quickly , pressurise the new batsman and field like demons.  
             Two things struck me yesterday - the omission of Panesar looks an almighty blunder and secondly , why does Stuart Broad call on DRS practically every time he's lbw - even when smack in front ?

I saw the teesra and I don't think it's a huge threat. You can pick it up quite easily, as he bowls it with a lower arm (round arm sort of action). It's all mind games, has Shane Warne written all over it.

I think Pakistan have to play for time rather than score. Tomorrow will be the wicket at its best for Batting. Pakistan should try bat atleast till tea tomorrow. If they manage that, they can have a lead of 150+ and that will be very good.

England should get rid of the tail within another 10-15 runs quickly on day 3 , bat big (use footwork and step out , that's enough ... which all of them have.) score something like 550-600 runs.

Yes Sam they missed about 30-40 runs by playing slowly but still a lead of 100 is alot they just need to get Cook and Trot early and England might again struggle against Ajmal.


Edited by mystery - 18 January 2012 at 6:21pm

England fought back well yesterday and restricted all the Pakistani batsmen. In the old days if the opposition put on a 100 for the first wicket the English heads would drop and defeat was a given - this side is resilient. They're not out of the woods though and the lead is significant - they must knock over the last three very quickly this morning.
        I'm not as confident as BP , but an England win isn't an outrageous call , but one I won't be betting on !  As Raj has said , the approach to the spinners has to be more positive - I'd rather see the boys getting stumped than lbw, sweeping !


Edited by Sledger - 19 January 2012 at 6:14am

Originally posted by MalhotraRaj84 England should get rid of the tail within another 10-15 runs quickly on day 3 , bat big (use footwork and step out , that's enough ... which all of them have.) score something like 550-600 runs.

It is England-Pakistan mate. India-England has long been over