Pakistan in England/Scotland 2006

[Skater]

It was a wonderful delivery by Stuart Broad, swinging in towards the batsman and it was a very convincing appeal. Broad has done nothing but impress me since I first saw him bowl against Essex at Trent Bridge in the Twenty20 Cup!

Too often now I have seen Chris Read and Marcus Trescothick assume that the other is going for a catch and ending up shelling it. Geraint Jones did a good job at making an effort for everything. Read doesn't seem to do that.

 

[BigCrickNan]

Probablu because whenever Gojo went he dropped it which made it totally useless.

 

[Kev]

Probablu because whenever Gojo went he dropped it which made it totally useless.

Or maybe Read isnt as good as you think he is. If GOJo got to 100 catches faster than any other English wicket keeper he must have caught a fair few. In my opinion going for a catch and not making it is a better effort than just leaving it and expecting a slip fielder to deal with it.

 

[BigCrickNan]

Or maybe Read isnt as good as you think he is. If GOJo got to 100 catches faster than any other English wicket keeper he must have caught a fair few. In my opinion going for a catch and not making it is a better effort than just leaving it and expecting a slip fielder to deal with it.

Ah well at least Read can bat under pressure, although he played a crap shot today.

 

[Pak_cricketer]

A game in the bag, Drawn.

 

[RoboRocks]

Good day for Pakistan.
Bowled well and batted well and screwed by the rain.
England have a lot of work to do.
Getting Rikki Clarke out of the team would be a start.

 

[Kev]

Ah well at least Read can bat under pressure, although he played a crap shot today.

Now if I were the kind of person who jumped on the back of a player after one or two bad performances I'd use that to say he should be dropped, but its far too easy to call for a players to be dropped every five minutes. I'll leave that to others and say I hope Read can prove his place in the squad for the sake of the team.

 

[Skater]

Despite how much I dislike one-day internationals, they do give me a chance to find out the players that could shine in test matches. This is my custom line-up for England in test matches now:

1. Marcus Trescothick
2. Andrew Strauss
3. Alastair Cook
4. Ian Bell
5. Kevin Pietersen
6. Paul Collingwood
7. Chris Read
8. Matthew Hoggard
9. Steve Harmison
10. Stuart Broad
11. Monty Panesar

I admire Ian Bell, I remain in the believing that he deserves to bat in fourth position. He has only just said in an interview he likes to bat in third position, but I think that is best for Alastair Cook. His strokeplay wouldn't suit the tail-enders. The flamboyant Kevin Pietersen would have the advantage of having plenty of support below him, meaning he is not under so much pressure and can play his shots. Should the team suffer a mild collapse, Paul Collingwood could regain some stability. Chris Read is followed by Matthew Hoggard, who can block and hold up an end well enough to allow a last remaining batsman to work. Steve Harmison has on many occassions added valuable runs to the total at the end of an innings, and Stuart Broad has proved today that he is a decent batsman. Monty Panesar is also not as bad as everyone thinks!

 

[BigCrickNan]

Despite how much I dislike one-day internationals, they do give me a chance to find out the players that could shine in test matches. This is my custom line-up for England in test matches now:

Yes but this is a 5 match ODI series. Not a test series. Even Lance Klusener emialed Sky sports and said England were playing ODI's too much like test cricket. England, and some of their fans need to realise ODI's DO matter.

 

[evertonfan]

Well as long as we didn't lose i'm happy. Broad did well and Bell did well today, but that's about it. Although I was sceptical about Clarke's inclusion, I would like to see one more game from him; The way he got out did nothing to change my opinion of him. As I said earlier, if only the top oreder would have played like that when the powerplays were active.

 

[Sureshot]

Yardy is a better batsman and a better bowler.

I think Andrew brought up Clarkes one day stats this season earlier on. A massive average with the ball, when I think Yardys one day average is about 40 batting and 30 bowling.

Or maybe Read isnt as good as you think he is. If GOJo got to 100 catches faster than any other English wicket keeper he must have caught a fair few. In my opinion going for a catch and not making it is a better effort than just leaving it and expecting a slip fielder to deal with it.

It's odd that, I always think of Read as flying about a bit. He'll sort himself out though.

Yes GoJo caught alot, but think of how many he dropped in that time too. He also had bowlers giving him more chances than probably any England attack since the 80s.

 

[evertonfan]

Absolutley Sureshot, Yardy should be in the side ahead of Clarke, but i'm trying to see it through Fletcher's eyes. He surely must believe that Clarke is the better player, so if that's the case then i'm trying to take the positives out of his game.

 

[Sureshot]

no, that shouldn't be! 4.09x32 is 130, Pakistan should be chasing 130....

If my knowledge of D&L is correct, it's partly based on how the team where doing in there innings at the stage of which how many overs were left. And as at about 32 overs we had the 60 odd partnership of Bell and JD going that influenced the higher total.

Can't really criticise Gough and Broad too much, Broad bowled very well with a wet ball. Slightly unfair on our bowlers and fielders in those situations I feel. Oh well, ODIs we always be about pleasing the crowd.

Absolutley Sureshot, Yardy should be in the side ahead of Clarke, but i'm trying to see it through Fletcher's eyes. He surely must believe that Clarke is the better player, so if that's the case then i'm trying to take the positives out of his game.

He also believes that Giles is better than Monty and that Mahmood is better than Chapple....

I don't think Fletcher is that good in terms of player judgement, he gets some right but gets more than his fair share wrong. I think he's coming to the end of his reign, some fresh coaching would be good I think.

 

[evertonfan]

So who would you reccommend for the job then?

 

[irottev]

Damn, its a shame the game got called off. It was in the bag from Pakistan

Wow, The bowling from Pakistan was fantastic. World class performance. The batting from England was crap. I totally agree with a lot of you guys views about them having the right players but not using them right.

They lack an Afridi, Gilchrist, Vincent up the order who will hit over the top at the start. Bell's innings today was good, but there was no one around him taking the inititive to up the scoring rate. 200 runs is no where near good enough.

Their game plan isn't right. They need to do some work. Then they need hitters down the bottom to finish off. The middle period they have heaps of players fit for.

-> On Broad, he is one for the future. He actually has promice and potential. That wicket he got was a beauty. He was impressive. He will only improve.