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

Rajjie boy, India had a beauty to bat on in the 2nd innings and still didn't make too much of it.  As an Indian fan, you have to be seriously worried to know that Dravid, VVS, Tendulkar and Sehwag might all be gone in 5 years.  Outside of the sub continent, even West Indies may beat India!  Raina, Patel, Mukund have a long way to go, they are currently poor test cricketers.  Rohit is a waste of talent, only seems to shine against weaker teams. 

The ODI and T20 team is in good stead, but the Test team is a real worry.

Originally posted by mystery And Raj not long ago you said that even if India play their 2nd grade lineup they still will be hard to beat but with fully-fit lineup they cant even win a match how would nohit sharma's gonna change it?? Sam i really agree with you for Raj the simple rule is(as he always say) BCCI is always right even in UDRS and India are always no.1 or 2 even if they get thrashed everytime.

England in all sorts of trouble against ICC Affiliate XI. Batting has failed miserably. Who knows? Maybe I was too quick to write off PAK. 

Originally posted by BP England in all sorts of trouble against ICC Affiliate XI. Batting has failed miserably. Who knows? Maybe I was too quick to write off PAK

England, even soon after their big time bashing of Australia in the recent Ashes, were miserable in the sub continent.  I don't expect England to run through any team in the sub continent.  They may well win, but for sure they are susceptible to losing to the sub continent sides. 

Raj , will you stop hijacking threads with the same Indian propaganda - this is England - Pakistan !

Originally posted by Sledger Raj , will you stop hijacking threads with the same Indian propaganda - this is England - Pakistan !

HAHAHA

Originally posted by Mikey Propaganda !! England's batting form is a little troubling in this ICC match, but I completely expect them to turn up at their best in the first test. One thing I think that England can do is revert away from their somewhat defensive selection policy of picking 7 batsmen - Broad , Bresnan and Swann at 7, 8 and 9 is more than sufficient, and if the top order batsmen cannot do the job then England don't really deserve to be winning tests! England should play 5 bowlers - 4 pacers and a spinner!

I think the only time they should play 5 bowler is when they play Panesar otherwise they dont need 4 pacers with Anderson there who can easily bowl around 10-12 overs each spell.


Edited by mystery - 09 January 2012 at 11:38am

Yup Spinny, I've been saying it for a long time now and playing 4 pacers is the reason why England beat Australia in 2005 - all the bowlers were well used, and no one tired too quickly, thus they were at their best in most spells. England have 4 world class fast bowlers and two of them are all rounders (Bresnan and Broad), not to mention Swann's ability with the bat!

Bresnan is out of the series unfortunately, and with him you have to think whatever slim chance of them playing 2 spinners there might have been is gone as well

Bresnan going out is a bit of a set back for ENG. Finn is a very good replacement but batting wise he is no where near Bresnan. Yes, this may mean ENG will be hesitant to play 5 bowlers, but I think they still should (although I'll be happy if they won't because I want PAK to win!). 

Edited by sam_ahmed - 09 January 2012 at 5:23pm

Winning by 3 wickets is comfortable?

Originally posted by BackwardPoint Winning by 3 wickets is comfortable?

4 wickets in hand when the scores were even

it was never in doubt for a second

The match was a good workout and that they managed to win it won't have done them any harm at all.  There are concerns though , especially Pietersen and Morgan's failures in the game.  That KP went to a slow left armer yet again must trouble him and you can bet your bottom dollar that when he comes to the wicket Pakistan will have Rehman waiting for him. 
              Bresnan's injury is a real blow - he's the talisman of the side , having played in 10 tests and been on the winning side in all of them! Averaging mid 40's with the bat and mid 20's with the ball shows you his impact - they'll miss him.   I see England going into the 1st test with only 4 frontline bowlers and seeing how it goes.  They won't want to lose the first match , I think they'll want to shake off any cobwebs and a draw will not be a bad outcome.   Pakistan will be competitive and it's going to be close , but England's experience should see them shade the test series , but it could well be 0-0.   They'll be underdogs for the one dayers but they'll cross that bridge when they come to it - I'm very happy that the tests are being played first.

Yes Mikey , it's the positive approach , but I still see Morgan at 6 and Prior at 7.  There are far fewer drawn tests nowadays and maybe that has something to do with the fitness levels of the bowlers - 3 seamers and a spinner are expected to get the job done.   I'd leave Morgan out as Broad and Swann are capable batsmen and I'd like to see Panesar get a start.

Apparently Swann and Tremlett are also not fully fit, saw this on our own Cricket World, but I think they should be fit in time for the first test which is still a week away, Tremlett may anyhow not play.