England tour of Pakistan 2024

[CerealKiller]

Great pitch. Gotta maximise home advantage.
Ramiz and Babar should be sent to The Hague for their crimes

 

[pillowprocter]

gosh, they've turned Pakistan into Sri Lanka

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Fascinating interview with Jason Gillespie, particularly on some of the upheaval and behind the scenes stuff.

edit- full video for non SKY Sports viewers.

 

[pillowprocter]

when the pitch has been so talked up as a spin haven, every run the batters eke out worries the opposition fan

 

[Aislabie]

Literally any batter:


Mohammad Rizwan:

 

[CerealKiller]

x.com

x.com

 

[CerealKiller]

Need a Jamal spell here.
Just need one to keep low and he’ll get a wicket

 

[pillowprocter]

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Great stat from Andy Zaltzman on BBC. Pope has the lowest average (33) in a calendar year for a player that's also scored three centuries.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

England should unleash their best spinner Rootlitharan tommorow morning.

 

[Aislabie]

So it looks like the only real difference between Test cricket and first-class cricket is that England don't play as often at The Oval as Surrey do

 

[Ahmad94]

All for this pitch - you're supposed to have a home advantage when you play at home. Still, seems like a few bizarre decisions from Pakistan - Zahid Mahmood seems very far off being a test match spinner - it seems weird that they would select him (unless you just want a leggie).

Secondly, you know it's a turner track, so why not play more aggressively with the bat? You never know which ball will stay low or spin past the edge - may aswell make some runs in the meantime - especially with you knowing that you're going to be batting last on this pitch.

 

[Aislabie]

unless you just want a leggie

Even then, on a dry, turning pitch you probably want someone with white-ball skills. Stock ball in the 80-90 kph range, good control, and the ability to get non-zero turn in either direction. Can you imagine trying to face a Qais Ahmed type bowler on here? Nightmare.

There must be spinners like that playing PSL.

Secondly, you know it's a turner track, so why not play more aggressively with the bat?

It's all about balance isn't it. Even the most aggressive players this Test (Duckett, Smith, Atkinson) all played themselves in for a little bit (50-ish balls generally) today before unfurling their shots.

It's quite unfortunate that the openers got out before having the opportunity to kick on, because they had done that hard work and Saim in particular has the skills to take down finger spin.

 

[Ahmad94]

Even then, on a dry, turning pitch you probably want someone with white-ball skills. Stock ball in the 80-90 kph range, good control, and the ability to get non-zero turn in either direction. Can you imagine trying to face a Qais Ahmed type bowler on here? Nightmare.

There must be spinners like that playing PSL.

My belief behind his selection was that he is the highest wicket-taking spinner in the recently concluded Champions Cup. Arguably shows you the lack of spinner skills and how their stocks have fallen over the last few years in Pakistan. Shadab is no longer the spinner he once was (I believe the lack of First Class cricket and even ODI cricket has meant he has become extremely one dimension and the need to turn him into a genuine allrounder has resulted in an issue similar to what India created with Irfan Pathan). Usama Mir seems to struggle at the international level and the others are too young or have no experience (e.g. Sufiyan Muqeem, Mehran Mumtaz). I'm surprised that Yasir Shah didn't get a call-up tbh.

 

[Aislabie]

Even then, on a dry, turning pitch you probably want someone with white-ball skills. Stock ball in the 80-90 kph range, good control, and the ability to get non-zero turn in either direction.

I accidentally described Rehan - that wasn't actually my intention