Pakistan v Australia in England, June-July 2010

[sifter132]

Australia just played poorly. Johnson and Nannes both looked a bit rusty and the bowling probably lacked another paceman anyway. Pakistan threatened to let Australia get away with murder, but fortunately for Pakistan, Akmal capitalised and put them in their place.

Pakistan's bowling attack was near on perfect in composition and Australia could take notes. Six proper bowlers. Genuine pace, fast medium pace, off spin, leg spin and not to mention, a guy who can reverse swing the ball both ways. A real variety and plenty of wicket takers.

Oh my word yes. We seem to think that throwing more batsmen at the problem can solve anything. But I think the more batsmen you have the worse your top order plays because they feel like they can get out and it won't matter so much. Instead I believe T20 needs players to get 'in' and if only one guy makes it past 20 you aren't going to win matches no matter how many batsmen you play.

I wonder if Clarke would be willing to drop himself from the T20 side.

Yeah that 1 dot ball he played really killed us

If I'm picking anyone to be dropped right now it's Cameron White - the dude is struggling. Even that 80 he made in the ODIs was pretty awful. If it wasn't for the lenient field placings he never would have worked that many. The middle of the bat seems to have disappeared for poor old Whitey. I don't think he should be dropped though, he's just having an ugly patch. They should rest Watson/M.Hussey before the Tests and play Dougie so we have another proper bowler. Or give Steve O'Keefe a crack.

 

[Mike23]

Great win for the Pakis but i doubt they'd be this competitive in the tests.

 

[War]

Yeah that 1 dot ball he played really killed us

If I'm picking anyone to be dropped right now it's Cameron White - the dude is struggling. Even that 80 he made in the ODIs was pretty awful. If it wasn't for the lenient field placings he never would have worked that many. The middle of the bat seems to have disappeared for poor old Whitey. I don't think he should be dropped though, he's just having an ugly patch. They should rest Watson/M.Hussey before the Tests and play Dougie so we have another proper bowler. Or give Steve O'Keefe a crack.

Ha still defending Clarke i see. Dont stifle your conscience my friend, you know he is waste in the T20 side & is only making it worse.

Odd that you would say WHite in a "patch' currently. He just in the ODIs vs ENG & today just got out after good starts. Nothing to worry about really..

 

[Num]

Yeah that 1 dot ball he played really killed us

If I'm picking anyone to be dropped right now it's Cameron White - the dude is struggling. Even that 80 he made in the ODIs was pretty awful. If it wasn't for the lenient field placings he never would have worked that many. The middle of the bat seems to have disappeared for poor old Whitey. I don't think he should be dropped though, he's just having an ugly patch. They should rest Watson/M.Hussey before the Tests and play Dougie so we have another proper bowler. Or give Steve O'Keefe a crack.

I don't see how Clarke's spot in the T20 team can be defended.

 

[Gunner786]

expecting hasan or butt to go tomorow and umar amin to come in.
also we havent got enough batsmen we got lucky today with akmals innings but we cannot go in with 4 specialist bowlers.

hoping for akhtar to be replaced next match with a batsman

 

[sifter132]

Yep I'm gonna keep defending Clarke. Australia's generally played well with him in the side and he can definitely play a role. Last night it was Dave Warner who played the rebuilding role - apart from cracking Akhtar around the park, he was pretty tame. I maintain that Clarke can play that rebuilding role and can anchor the innings in the first 10 when you need stability for a later launch. He hasn't played that role well lately due to his form. That's the difference, I'm saying he's not playing well because he's out of form and not getting enough T20 practice and everyone else is saying Clarke will never do anything in T20.

 

[Insomniac]

Michael Clarke, who witnessed Umar frustrate the Australians during the World Twenty20 semifinals, couldn't agree more. "Played well. didn't he?" Clarke said. "Where he bats in the team the ball is a little bit older, so there is no swing. He is a very clean striker of the ball. The ground is not that big and he was hitting a couple of big sixes down breeze.

"But he has played really well in the last couple of times against us," Clarke added. "Hopefully we can get a few more wickets and get him on when the ball is a bit newer." But the Australian captain wasn't giving his young opponent enough credit for his talent: Umar had come in one-down at St Lucia and imposed himself without much sweat.

Pakistan v Australia: Umar Akmal soars as Pakistan win at last | Cricket Features | Pakistan v Australia 2010 | Cricinfo.com

Alright Michael, what's your T20 record? That's what I thought.

Insomniac added 1 Minutes and 19 Seconds later...

expecting hasan or butt to go tomorow and umar amin to come in.
also we havent got enough batsmen we got lucky today with akmals innings but we cannot go in with 4 specialist bowlers.

hoping for akhtar to be replaced next match with a batsman

I say let's leave Butt and Shahzaib at the top, as they may come good tomorrow, and drop Akhtar and play either Fawad Alam (who is a very good fielder as well which may save us 10-12 runs), and he can bat.

I guess the other option would be Umar Amin, but Alam would be a better player down the order than Amin.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

cameron white should probably move onto being a wicketkeeping opener. he's gone from spinner, to all rounder, to explosive lower order bat, to top order steadier already so he might as well complete the cycle.

 

[drainpipe32]

How embarrassing :o

Paine is an absolute spud sometimes. What's happening Cameron!

Really impressed with how consistent Warner has been in the last six months though

Warner
Watson
White
Dussey
Clarke
Mussey
Paine
Smith
Johnson
Bollinger
Tait

 

[Num]

Yep I'm gonna keep defending Clarke. Australia's generally played well with him in the side and he can definitely play a role. Last night it was Dave Warner who played the rebuilding role - apart from cracking Akhtar around the park, he was pretty tame. I maintain that Clarke can play that rebuilding role and can anchor the innings in the first 10 when you need stability for a later launch. He hasn't played that role well lately due to his form. That's the difference, I'm saying he's not playing well because he's out of form and not getting enough T20 practice and everyone else is saying Clarke will never do anything in T20.

An anchor in T20 should score at a minimum strike rate of 115 120 in my opinion as well as be relatively prolific (in terms of runs) due to the reduced risk in maintaining a comparably low strike rate (Such as Kallis in IPL 2010, upon reflection I think he scores a tad slow in T20s although he still maintains a significantly better strike rate than Clarke in T20Is). Clarke hasn't scored above a strike rate of 100 in his past 7 T20I innings and has a T20I career strike rate of 101.14. Furthermore, the perception that "Clarke will never do anything in T20" is rather justified by a T20I record that does not suggest a good T20 player now or into the future.

T20I record: Average of 21.04 at a SR of 101.14.

 

[ali_ed2001]

Great win for the Pakis but i doubt they'd be this competitive in the tests.

They will be competitive, but not for all 5 days. Even in the series we played in Australia, we were competitive in the first 2 tests. The problem with them is that they just can't seize the opportunity they get, and have lost lot of close games under pressure.

I expect Australia to probably coast to easy win in the first test, then a hard fought one in second.

 

[Robelinda]

For as long as ive been watching cricket Pakistan havent been competitive for all 5 days of test cricket, consistently. One test here and there they play well and win, but never much more than that. I fear they- like other countries- just wont be able to produce players who can last even 3 or 4 days now that 20/20 is so huge.

 

[War]

Yep I'm gonna keep defending Clarke. Australia's generally played well with him in the side and he can definitely play a role. Last night it was Dave Warner who played the rebuilding role - apart from cracking Akhtar around the park, he was pretty tame. I maintain that Clarke can play that rebuilding role and can anchor the innings in the first 10 when you need stability for a later launch..

Why do you need a player as you say in a T20 to play that " rebuilding role and can anchor the innings in the first 10 when you need stability for a later launch"?. Not at all, a batsman who can maintain the high scoring rate after the openers can give you a launch would be much more preferred.

The only position a anchor type player can bat in a T20 is as an opener. To date Kallis & Jayawardene are the only "Clarke type" players who have done well doing that.

He hasn't played that role well lately due to his form. That's the difference, I'm saying he's not playing well because he's out of form and not getting enough T20 practice and everyone else is saying Clarke will never do anything in T20.

How is Clarke out of form?. He is in peak form as a test batsman & just come off a another solid ODI series (although some may not be too pleased with his scoring rate in ODIs as a #4). His game is just totally not suited to batting in T20s in any way or any position.

 

[AkshayS]

Aussies :

WTF was Paine doing there and Smith
Hussey couldn't do anything.

 

[khalek]

^ Dude did you see Umar Gul bowling? His yorkers were almost unplayable, he's probably back to his best.