18 Feb - England vs Pakistan - Warmup

[Haarithan]

Good to see Ajmal

What kept him out for so long before these warmups ?? Hope he wasn't axed after that nightmare over to hussey . Seriously , i rate him as the second best spinner at present , next to Graeme Swann .

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And a truly magnificent performance with both bat & ball by the Poms . Many of my college mates wrote them off already after that 6-1 defeat to the Aussies & even worse after just managing to sneak past Canada . But like i said , England were too complacent against Canada while they played to their potential today and got the deserving result !

 

[khalek]

Looks like it's not gonna be easy batting second here in Bangladesh. Dew is very little and it will have no impact on the game so batting first is the way to go.

 

[Sureshot]

Always take practice games with a pinch of salt, but good to see KP and Colly in the runs (and in the wickets for Colly), nice to see Broad's tail up as well.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

I criticized them when they showed poor game against Canada but here, well play England. KP is looking to get back to sorts and so is Paul Collingwood.

Broad is really looking dangerous.

 

[Insomniac]

We didn't really try in this game, I mean Shehzad came in at 6 and the batting order was just a mess.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Good win for England. Nice to KP and Colly finally in the runs, and Broad got his 2nd 5-fer in 2 matches since his return - very impressive.

Has Swann joined the team yet, or are England just not trying him?

 

[Aoun13]

Pakistan played this match like a real warm up, I mean I am happy by giving everyone a chance to play so that they can easily build their final XI.
Captaincy was not very healthy by Misbah, he gave away too many easy runs to England when they were under pressure.
Same was the case with bat as Ahmed Shezad was there at 6 and there was no order in batting lineup.

So the summary of these two matches shows that Pakistan should open with Ahmed Shehzad and Muhammad Hafeez as they both neutralize each other well and it gives Hafeez a great amount of time to build his innings.
One down must be Younis Khan or Misbah because you need to stop bleeding as early as possible so that the hard hitters can launch their assault later.
Then Umar Akmal or Kamran Akmal should bat and after them Afridi and Razzaq respectively. This is a well balanced batting line and it allows all those anchor role players to build their innings.

Bowling should be any two ShoaibWahab/Junaid to open with Umar Gul to follow as 1st change. Shoaib must not bowl any over after 35 overs since all those last overs ruin his figures and put pressure back on Pakistan.
Shahid Afridi, Muhammad Hafeez and Ajmal/Rehman make a very good spin unit and they can easily stop heavy flow of runs plus on good wickets can trouble the batsmen.
So my Playing XI should be

Ahmed Shehzad
Muhammad Hafeez
Misbah/Younis
Misbah/Younis
Kamran Akmal (wk)
Shahid Afridi*
Abdul Razzaq
Umar Gul
Shoaib/Wahab/Junaid
Shoaib/Wahab/Junaid
Ajmal/Rehman

 

[Papa_Smurf]

I would say you need an extra batsman. Play both Akmals and bowling attack should have both Ajmal and Akhtar, and third either of Junaid/Riaz/Gul.

A Shahzad
M Hafeez
K Akmal
Y Khan
M Ul-Haq
U Akmal
S Afridi
A Razzaq
Gul/Riaz
Akhtar
Ajmal

That, in my opinion, is Pak's best XI.

 

[Aoun13]

Umar Akmal is usually of no use when thier is a pressure situation. He can't buildup his innings under pressure so it's just a waste of position becuase when Pakistan will be in good position then Afridi, Razzaq and Kamran Akmal are enough to cash that position.
Plus bowling is Pakistan's main weapon so they should play with 3 seamers, 3 spinners( Hafeez as part-timer). It will allow two bowlers like shoaib and Hafeez to share 5 overs each so Shoaib will remain fit by this way and Hafeez will be able to stop those run flow which usually Shoaib provide later the inning.

 

[GreatSixer]

yes send2yaari is absolutely correct umar akmal is of no use.....in yesterday match Really Bad Captaincy by misbah as he selected to bowl first and don't know even why Afridi was not playing.

 

[Haarithan]

Has Swann joined the team yet, or are England just not trying him?

Not yet , he ll be arriving in the next two days . He was given a paternity leave for the birth of his baby .
Both Swann & Colly were expected to miss the warmups due to the same reason , but the good thing was that Colly's wife delivered a beautiful daughter sooner than expected , which enabled Colly to play both the warmup matches and earn himself a good confidence booster going to the first WC match against Holland on Tuesday .

 

[Kabooka]

He was given a paternity leave for the birth of his baby .

Huh ?? I thought that Swann was still in England as he was busy with a court trial regarding Drunk Driving/Saving a Kitty. (He did get cleared of which this Wednesday)

 

[Haarithan]

^ Lol that was not the actual reason behind his absence . That case started way back during August where he still continued to play matches for England so that really didn't affect him anyway . The only reason he missed the warmups was that he was granted a paternity leave by the ECB .

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Read the second para of the article :

Swann cleared of drink-driving | England Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Kabooka]

Good for Swann, sure would have sucked to do Jail time for saving a kitty.

 

[Owzat]

Only really caught up with the scorecard/match LATE last night, was at work then went into hospital with one of my relatives for a looooooooooooooonnnnng treatment and then sitting around in case they had a reaction to the drug. Boy was that a long 10 hours

I am slightly curious as to whether this counts as an ODI? I don't see any reason if the regular rules apply that it shouldn't be, unless they used subs freely or some rules weren't applied - have we not got a confuse smilie?

Nice to see KP get some runs opening, perhaps I'm more glad it isn't a keeper opening! Not sure it will work as he can tend to get himself out as easily as anyone, in fact I do wonder if he has got himself out more times in Tests and/or ODIs than the bowler has!

Still unconvinced by our middle order, looks better with Prior there but still lacks a genuine #7. Bresnan 5, Yardy 1, Broad 0 might all be due to late run bashing but they still don't convince me as a middle order.

I see Yardy got his usual nine over in, nine overs of nothing Had Collingwood not been picking up wickets then what I usually say about the muddle through overs would have applied. If those bowlers Strauss INSISTS on bowling through around overs 20-44 don't pick up wickets then they just take any pressure off and set the batting side up for the final straight.

Is there a solution? Prayer I guess. Really is that #7 slot that is the problem, Broad, Swann, Anderson and whoever as an 8-11 isn't that bad although it would be better 9-11, but when it's players like Yardy or Wright then to me we're just asking to get beat.