Pakistan v Australia in England, June-July 2010

[Insomniac]

lol, Ponting's average is in danger of going down to 40s.

Ponting needs 23 more ducks for that to happen.

 

[TumTum]

lol, Ponting's average is in danger of going down to 40s.

He averages 55 atm, needs about 20 consecutive ducks to achieve that.

 

[khalek]

So how many ducks does he need to bring his average down to 49 at least?

He averages 54.83 atm, it was 55.89 before the test.

 

[Insomniac]

So how many ducks does he need to bring his average down to 49 at least?

23.

 

[McLOVIN]

This is a cracking Test match, low scoring matches are always more enjoyable.

Ya I am sure as hell not even going to bother looking at India Sri Lanka scorecard. Have you seen the WU scores? Almost 6 centuries. Jesus!

It's gonna be one of those 450/3 pitches after day 1 and half.

 

[angryangy]

The thing is that Afridi can bat a lot slower than that and still succeed. Look at his Test centuries. Clearly, at some point he was capable of facing 100 odd balls without hitting them to the fence.

I do agree that a big counter-attack was needed and could still be needed for either side with the bat. However, Afridi could have taken an extra 15 balls yesterday and still be criticised for going too fast. To be fair, those balls wide of off and down leg were there to be hit. For a little while it looked like he might be able to feed off those and just play off the straight and shorter ones. However, he got the rush of blood to the head and let it all go. Even with all those big hits, you could argue he played "properly" to half the balls he faced. Nobody would have faulted him for playing straight to just a couple more balls. You can bet high stakes without going all-in every time.

 

[McLOVIN]

I love how those are all against Indians. north south east west.. ya ya ...


Lowest time 111 min. If he can last 1 and half hrs in this test, Pak might just win it ...

 

[sami ullah khan]

Gutless show by world's weakest batting line up. I mean how can a team lose the their hard earned advantage just like that. Imran Farhat shows why he can't cement place in team and for some odd reason keeps getting into the team. Akmal Brothers were pathetic especially Kamran Akmal. The guys is kept in team despite his despicable wicket keeping because he is supposed to be a good batsman . His dismissal of yesterday belies that argument. Debutants can't be criticized as such. Azhar Ali looked quite good when he was in. Pakistani fans may be very pissed off but this sort of performance is expected from our below average batting line up.

 

[Dabi]

I don't agree with Afridi's gameplan either. That's the way you bat with the tail not with your top scorer. But there's one factor that no one's mentioning: Shane Watson. I'm not sure what it is about Watson, maybe batsmen hate his smirk, his cockiness and want to smash the crap out of him. But the eyes of batsmen definitely light up when they see the big fella lumber in, probably mostly because he's seen as the weak link. It does wonders in the short forms. His ODI average is excellent and he's done pretty well in T20 with ball too because he's the bowler who's always targetted and he has the knack of slipping off that target and getting scalps. So I can understand how Afridi got tempted by having Watson bowl at him. If it were Hilfenhaus bowling with Bollinger at the time it might have been different.

Yeah I agree completely. Watson has always been looked at as the slowest bowler and the weakest link, which is unfair in my opinion because he can bowl it in the 140s and has really improved his bowling in the last 2-3 years. He was Australia's better bowlers to that tour of India. Afridi most probably fell into that exact mindset you talk about.

Dabi added 3 Minutes and 4 Seconds later...

Because he took out 31 runs from the deficit, while everyone else in the top / middle order contributed a total of 26 runs (barring Salman Butt).

I'd rather him get 31 off 15 balls than 17 off 30 balls.

The thing is that even if he was playing proper cricketing shots, the idea is that if you're in such a positive frame of mind, you will eventually try and hit one that's not there to be hit. No batsman is perfect in that he only hits the ones that are there to be hit. If you're in a positive frame of mind, you will hit a few good balls for four and being in a negative frame of mind, you will defend some that are there to be hit.

Dabi added 4 Minutes and 58 Seconds later...

The thing is that Afridi can bat a lot slower than that and still succeed. Look at his Test centuries. Clearly, at some point he was capable of facing 100 odd balls without hitting them to the fence.

I do agree that a big counter-attack was needed and could still be needed for either side with the bat. However, Afridi could have taken an extra 15 balls yesterday and still be criticised for going too fast. To be fair, those balls wide of off and down leg were there to be hit. For a little while it looked like he might be able to feed off those and just play off the straight and shorter ones. However, he got the rush of blood to the head and let it all go. Even with all those big hits, you could argue he played "properly" to half the balls he faced. Nobody would have faulted him for playing straight to just a couple more balls. You can bet high stakes without going all-in every time.

This post sums up my thoughts exactly. Nobody expects Afridi to bat like Dravid but the point is that he was way too aggressive and on that pitch in those conditions it's only a matter of time when you do play one shot too many. Some of his recent ODI and T20 innings are better constructed than the way he played in this match. Besdies I believe that using his aproach this was the maximum he could have hoped to acheive (30 odd runs), on another day it could very well have been 10-12. To expect your captain, who's playing as a specialist batsman, to not score more than 30 (that too if he gets lucky) is very disappointing.

 

[riz7khan12]

i was expecting a collapse like this, i was 98% sure it would happen. afridi played irresponsibly i must say. As a captain he should've been at the crease for a longer period of time.

I guess Watson got the ball to reverse thats the only way he gets wickets in tests.

 

[Dabi]

i was expecting a collapse like this, i was 98% sure it would happen. afridi played irresponsibly i must say. As a captain he should've been at the crease for a longer period of time.

I guess Watson got the ball to reverse thats the only way he gets wickets in tests.

Yeah everyone of us (except Insomniac) knew we'd collapse but still it is pretty disappointing.
As for Watson, he actually got the ball to swing rather then reverse here! It was a good spell, one that used the conditions better than most.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Watson is Pakistan's favorite player. If they don't have him score a century, they make sure to give him a 5-wicket haul. He bowled beautifully but what were the Akmals doing. Umar Akmal went very far across like he was playing in a T-20 and Kamran Khatmal let go a straight ball that did swing in a little bit.

 

[TumTum]

Watson swung it more than Hilfy did

 

[Mota Aloo]

Some strange shot selection in that total of 148.

 

[angryangy]

The ball tends to swing more after it has lost its lacquer. Hilfenhaus got shafted a bit because he was finished after 25 overs.