Pakistan vs England Jul-Aug-Sep 2010

[Dutchmen]

wow! what a victory for the English. smashing performance from Morgan and Yardy. one stage, it looked like it's going towards Pakistan's way.

Copycat!

Haha! after that comment, it made me laugh,

 

[SciD]

Shoaib clearly took money to drop catch and let by a four.

 

[angryangy]

Akhtar bowling 95mph from half the runup. Why the f did he not do this 5 years ago. Might have had an actual career

Indeed. Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Bob Woolmer all used to tell him to do that, but he refused.

 

[ZexyZahid]

I don't understand really why Pakistan has been stuck at 120-4. Either go for the runs in the end or have lost a lot of wickets. Surprisingly Afridi didn't go for the sixes when it was needed.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

To be fair to Afridi, he was trying but just couldn't middle any shots. At the death the bowlers were mainly bowling short balls and it was really difficult for them to smash them. It was Fawad Alam that completely slowed down the innings though. And when he was batting he looked really bad, his technique at times was awful.

 

[Sureshot]

Nice to see Yards showing his potential when the situation requires it. Really is such a useful cricketer in the short formats.

 

[BKB1991]

To be fair to Afridi, he was trying but just couldn't middle any shots. At the death the bowlers were mainly bowling short balls and it was really difficult for them to smash them. It was Fawad Alam that completely slowed down the innings though. And when he was batting he looked really bad, his technique at times was awful.

Afridi had all the intent to take Pakistan further, but It was Alam who was the culprit this time. He is not a stroke player and looked horrible when he was starting to go for the attack.

The bowling was tight, I loved Akhtars intensity, although the score was never gonna be defendable. Considering we didnt have a full squad, I think it was a decent performance.

 

[sifter132]

To be fair to Afridi, he was trying but just couldn't middle any shots. At the death the bowlers were mainly bowling short balls and it was really difficult for them to smash them. It was Fawad Alam that completely slowed down the innings though. And when he was batting he looked really bad, his technique at times was awful.

Australia also bowled short to Afridi all the time too when he was over here last. I think they figured that the way he swings so hard that it's very difficult for him to middle the cross bat shots and he was going to top edge one sooner rather than later.

 

[Owzat]

Nice to see Yards showing his potential when the situation requires it. Really is such a useful cricketer in the short formats.

Needs to either move up the order to do more with the bat, in ODIs in particular, or do more with the ball. At the moment he is suited to T20. Could say the same for Bresnan, the longer formats merely expose deficiences.

Luke Wright on the other hand does what exactly?!?!?!? Not bowl and not score runs. In fairness he did almost make a game of it by lack of contribution. And why do we need two keepers in the side? Kieswetter is no Gilchrist so I can't see any good reason to include him on batting alone, England seem stuck on this pinch-hitting opener wicket-keeper (as do Pakistan) when Gilchrist made it work as he was an exception and could open in any format. We're trying to turn average keepers into batsmen, why?!?!? Sure Davies made a few today, but surely openers should open, batsmen bat, keepers keep wicket and bowlers bowl? Strauss is agressive enough, has better technique and is capable of more than just the odd cameo.

I have to wonder if changing the bowlers for the various formats is good for them, Sidebottom coming in and not doing a lot but then again returning the same figures as Broad.


As for 'spot fixing' or 'match fixing', is anyone else a tad suspicious of the fact that this was the first Pakistan T20 without them hitting a six? (England didn't need to) There will always be doubts any time they do anything wrong, that's why it is such a shame Akmal was the only one to put up much fight 'the morning after' in the Test. Why did Afridi bat so far down the order? Kamran Akmal is out of touch with the bat, why on earth open with him?!?!? Everyone else got starts, too many got out when they'd got in though. I took one look at the score and concluded it was well short of enough. 150+ would have tested England, although England did do their best to make a match of it. This is one reason why I don't like T20, had it been a full 50 overs then Pakistan could have posted a decent total and made a fight of it, problem with T20 is if you struggle at any point then it can be game over with little chance of defending a low total.

 

[sifter132]

I have to wonder if changing the bowlers for the various formats is good for them, Sidebottom coming in and not doing a lot but then again returning the same figures as Broad.

Agreed with everything up to this point but the suggestions that the match was fixed was a bit of a stretch...well actually a huge stretch This is unfortunately what's going to happen everytime Pakistan has a poor game or makes a decision the fans don't agree with.

Anyway back to the point about bowlers, I really think teams should be trying to specialise bowlers in the different formats if they can. Firstly, it's good rest for your Test attack if they don't have to play the mickey mouse stuff and second, it's better tactically for the bowlers as they can work on specific skills for their format. The downside of course is that most teams don't have enough good bowlers to play 4 different bowlers in each format.

 

[Biggy]

FFS how come Swann and YARDY gets a mile of turn, and we get nothing.

Insomniac added 1 Minutes and 29 Seconds later...

This game's fixed.

There, I said it.

Insomniac added 16 Minutes and 12 Seconds later...

We lost because we didn't have Aamir and Butt - especially Aamir's bowling.

Oh well.

Needs to either move up the order to do more with the bat, in ODIs in particular, or do more with the ball. At the moment he is suited to T20. Could say the same for Bresnan, the longer formats merely expose deficiences.

Luke Wright on the other hand does what exactly?!?!?!? Not bowl and not score runs. In fairness he did almost make a game of it by lack of contribution. And why do we need two keepers in the side? Kieswetter is no Gilchrist so I can't see any good reason to include him on batting alone, England seem stuck on this pinch-hitting opener wicket-keeper (as do Pakistan) when Gilchrist made it work as he was an exception and could open in any format. We're trying to turn average keepers into batsmen, why?!?!? Sure Davies made a few today, but surely openers should open, batsmen bat, keepers keep wicket and bowlers bowl? Strauss is agressive enough, has better technique and is capable of more than just the odd cameo.

I have to wonder if changing the bowlers for the various formats is good for them, Sidebottom coming in and not doing a lot but then again returning the same figures as Broad.


As for 'spot fixing' or 'match fixing', is anyone else a tad suspicious of the fact that this was the first Pakistan T20 without them hitting a six? (England didn't need to) There will always be doubts any time they do anything wrong, that's why it is such a shame Akmal was the only one to put up much fight 'the morning after' in the Test. Why did Afridi bat so far down the order? Kamran Akmal is out of touch with the bat, why on earth open with him?!?!? Everyone else got starts, too many got out when they'd got in though. I took one look at the score and concluded it was well short of enough. 150+ would have tested England, although England did do their best to make a match of it. This is one reason why I don't like T20, had it been a full 50 overs then Pakistan could have posted a decent total and made a fight of it, problem with T20 is if you struggle at any point then it can be game over with little chance of defending a low total.

Was just thinking the exact same thing. They need to pick one or the other, no point playing them both (for the reasons you said). They'd be better of giving someone like Jimmy Adams a crack.

 

[Owzat]

Agreed with everything up to this point but the suggestions that the match was fixed was a bit of a stretch...well actually a huge stretch This is unfortunately what's going to happen everytime Pakistan has a poor game or makes a decision the fans don't agree with.

It was an observation, tongue in cheek, not serious.

Anyway back to the point about bowlers, I really think teams should be trying to specialise bowlers in the different formats if they can. Firstly, it's good rest for your Test attack if they don't have to play the mickey mouse stuff and second, it's better tactically for the bowlers as they can work on specific skills for their format. The downside of course is that most teams don't have enough good bowlers to play 4 different bowlers in each format.

Nice in theory but Swann and Broad played Tests and then ODIs. The 'specialists' are dubious anyway, surely quality shines through regardless of format. I don't agree with chopping and changing when it is a player who was dropped from Tests only for want of form. Only Yardy hasn't bowled in Test cricket at all.

For the sake of T20 for what it's worth I might go along with just fielding a second string, I doubt they'd fare much worse and frankly who'd care?!?

 

[Sureshot]

On the Wright subject, I still struggle to believe how under-bowled he is. Give him the 7 ODI's, and he needs to show some results.

 

[Themer]

And why do we need two keepers in the side? Kieswetter is no Gilchrist so I can't see any good reason to include him on batting alone, England seem stuck on this pinch-hitting opener wicket-keeper (as do Pakistan) when Gilchrist made it work as he was an exception and could open in any format. We're trying to turn average keepers into batsmen, why?!?!? Sure Davies made a few today, but surely openers should open, batsmen bat, keepers keep wicket and bowlers bowl? Strauss is agressive enough, has better technique and is capable of more than just the odd cameo.

I'm sorry but Kieswetter and Davies are both openers at domestic level (having success there as well) regardless of the fact they are also keepers. And the reason they went with both of them was to have a closer look at the both and decided which one should be given another extended run in the side.

 

[angryangy]

This is unfortunately what's going to happen everytime Pakistan has a poor game or makes a decision the fans don't agree with.

Business as usual. It's what people were saying after the last Champions Trophy, how can it change?