Pakistan v Australia in England, June-July 2010

[AngryPixel]

So quickly forgot Clarke's 6 for 9?

It was a rank turner of a pitch. A disgrace. Scores were: India 104 allout, Aus 203 allout, India 205 allout, Aus 93 allout.:laugh Even kumble was turning the ball square on that pitch

 

[TumTum]

Hmm maybe Clarke's 3 wickets in an over then

 

[AkshayS]

Hmm maybe Clarke's 3 wickets in an over then

Australia's 93 allout should've keep you mum.

Still what's with just one over also when India won it.
Kumble, Karthik and Harbhajan all were in the wickets and shared a total of 18 wickets.

 

[War]

Lovely test match. Nice even battle between bat & ball. Bowlers dominating intially & then the pitch flattened out nicely. A very 1990s feel, we need more test pitches like that.

On Australia's performance. Well this test further proved to me why Australia should play 4 quicks more often than they dont - especially when North, Clarke, Katich can roll over their arms.

Smith aint ready yet. Although i was satisfied with the fair control he displayed over his leggies - didn't bowl much long hops that i can recall.

I want to see this team line-up in the 1st Ashes test:

Katich
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
North
Haddin
Johnson
Harris/Siddle
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

 

[AngryPixel]

Agreed with you there War. I would prefer a pitch like this than those flat beds that we used to these days or occasional unplayable rank turners or 4 inch grass pitches.

 

[BKB1991]

Well I'd rather play Alam than bring back the Ys. Yes Yousuf and Younis are good players but they aren't the future of Pakistan cricket and when they are around lately the team has been fragmented, not working together and have lost. The last series Pakistan won was nearly 4 years ago for crying out loud, it's not as though by sacrificing veterans for some future players they are going to lose their advantage. They don't have an advantage to lose.

And what happened to the kid that played well in Aus, Manzoor? He stonewalled us for a long time in Hobart. That's the kind of play Pakistan needs right now.

Yes and No. Interesting that we havent won a TEST series in awhile, but a team with the Ys is likely to win in this series. I still think we need atleast one of those Ys in the team to have some experience and add some solidity to the fragile middle order. Rumours are Afridi wasnt very pleased with the TEST squad claiming it didnt have much experience.

Mansoor is another example of the stupidy of Pakistan cricket. That guy put up a fighting performance in Hobart and surely did enough to cement a spot. But no, we have to play stupid.

Butt
Mansoor
Younis/Malik
Yousef/Malik
UAkmal
Amin/Alam/Ali
KAkmal
Aamir
Gul
Asif
Kaneria

This is probably the strongest squad to go with.. We have the one spot in the middle order to experiment, and I still dont believe the exclusion of Fawad Alam and Khurram Mansoor.

 

[aussie1st]

Butt was the only choice for captain and with his form the best choice. Akmal have run into problems and the below par keeping is not something that will inspire a team.

 

[War]

PAK would have very solid test team if all the internal politics wasn't causing all this confusion:

Butt
Farhat
Younis
MoYo
U Akmal
Malik/Amin/Ali
K Akmal
Aamer
Gul
Asif
Kaneria

At the end of the day Y Khan is the perfect captain for them. Dont think Butt will last long as skipper TBH.

 

[sifter132]

I really think it should be up to Butt and Waqar Younis to decide if the 2 Ys should come back. They may want the extra experience around, or they may not want the political baggage. But whatever the decision, it should be made with team unity in mind, not short term competitiveness.

And War, I'll agree with you that 4 quicks is the most threatening lineup, but I think we should only play 4 if the pitch has something in it eg. Headingly '09. 4 quicks on a flat pitch would be hard work and over rate hell. If we can't bowl teams out in a day (which really means 80 overs with 4 quicks) it ain't worth doing.

 

[Num]

Lovely test match. Nice even battle between bat & ball. Bowlers dominating intially & then the pitch flattened out nicely. A very 1990s feel, we need more test pitches like that.

On Australia's performance. Well this test further proved to me why Australia should play 4 quicks more often than they dont - especially when North, Clarke, Katich can roll over their arms.

Smith aint ready yet. Although i was satisfied with the fair control he displayed over his leggies - didn't bowl much long hops that i can recall.

I want to see this team line-up in the 1st Ashes test:

Katich
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
North
Haddin
Johnson
Harris/Siddle
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

Just because Australia don't have a spinner that is Warne/MacGill quality doesn't mean Australia should go in playing four quicks + Watson.

The variety a specialist spinner offers would be more valuable than another paceman. Part-timers are effective because they are exactly that, they bowl part-time. Start relying on them as your primary spin options and I think you would find that they would become less effective. The fact that our pace attack is wayward at times and not draw much movement from the ball and/or pitch is the reason why we need a reliable, economical spinner such as Hauritz.

 

[angryangy]

If Watson can handle bowling ten overs, then it's a bit of a redundant point. If the pitch is good for the seamers, then he comes into the equation, if not then you don't miss a trick with spin.

 

[Robelinda]

I think you do have to play a spinner, 4 quicks plus Watson is a lot of pace bowling, plus if we dont play a spinner how ill we develop one? Warne wasnt great straight away, we played and played him until he came good, even though guys like May and Matthews were getting loads of wickets in shield cricket.

 

[aussie1st]

As mentioned, Watson is more than capable of filling the 4th seamer spot. He was our best bowler in India a few years back, up there again last summer and more than effective in the 1st test. Ideally I'd like to see:

Katich
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Smith
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

Gives you all spin basis covered, reverse swing from Watson.

 

[Robelinda]

Yep thats a good team for me too. Might look thin from #6 but anyone who has watched Smith bat can tell he is no mug, you dont score multiple tons in one season and be a bad bat. Though lets hope he doesnt turn into another Greg Matthews- averaged 40 with the bat with 4 tons in his test career, but averaged 48 with the ball. All 4 of those test tons were absolutely magnificent too by the way, the one vs Hadlee during that famous 85/86 Gabba test was a supreme innings.

 

[drainpipe32]

Katich
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
White/Ferguson/Bailey/Khawaja
Haddin
Smith
Johnson
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

I'm still seeing that for the 1st Ashes test. Let Smith get some confidence with the bat at test level before moving him up to number 6.

The 2013 Ashes (or whenever Ponting retires) however:
Cooper/One of the below
Hughes
Khawaja
Clarke
White/Ferguson
Smith/Finch/M Marsh/Lynn
Wade
Johnson
Hilfenhaus
Holland/Smith/Boyce
Hastings/George/Cutting/Bollinger