***Official*** Pakistan in England

Oh dear. Right silly shot by Taufeeq by the sounds of it.

It's like the Pak openers have a bet among themeselves as to who would get out on the dumbest shot.

now a run out, good work from pietersen but a pretty poor run in this situation

The level of incompetence continues to go to new heights. What a dumb *** decision to take that risky and wholy unnecessary single.

Well done, Colly, best fielder in the world apparently, still nice of him to help with the selectorial decision of who to drop when freddy comes back

Straight forward catch to third-man next over, why do swe never have a fielder there?

grecian said:

Well done, Colly, best fielder in the world apparently, still nice of him to help with the selectorial decision of who to drop when freddy comes back

Straight forward catch to third-man next over, why do swe never have a fielder there?

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In all fariness to him he averages 47 in last 5 tests and has taken 18 catches in 13 test. I don't reckon that drop will have any bearing on his selection considering the catches he does take, although he is probably the most likely batsman to go.

Anyone else bored of the blind praise of Mahmood by Lloyd and co? He bowls the odd good ball but everything else is tripe, still baffling how he got called up for England.

Gloucefan said:

In all fariness to him he averages 47 in last 5 tests and has taken 18 catches in 13 test. I don't reckon that drop will have any bearing on his selection considering the catches he does take, although he is probably the most likely batsman to go.

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Agreed hes played well, but if he fields at slip, then dropping him strengthens two factors of our game, as freddys a better slipper.

I'm not a massive fan of Collingwoods, but I have to admit I've been wrong, the guys been great in tests recently.

Yet I'm not one that feels we should go in with 4 bowlers in Tests, I feel overbowling my avatar has helped to cause his injuries. So if we have to drop one of the batsmen, I go for Colly, but he'll be bloody unlucky, I have to say.

Lets face it Simon Jones is our Shane Bond, theres no point talikng about him being fit, as 90% of the time he won't be. We should use Fred in the type of short fast reverse-swinging spells that hes capable of, 4 or 5 overs bursts at most. Yes he can bowl for long, tight, accurate spells tying down batsmen, but I feel thats denting his wicket-taking abilities.

We should be looking at Anderson, Hoggard, Harmison and Panesar with flintoff to bowl us to victory in the future, who cares about tail-end batting. We've finally got a batting-order where they all average over forty, it should be enough, with Fred and Read to follow the top 5.

tooextracool said:

if bell goes on to make another century tomorrow, how do you drop someone whos scored 3 centuries in 3 games and only been dismissed by andrew strauss thus far this series?

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you dont have to drop Bell, both him & KP can & should play.

Monty getting big turn again.

wouldn't say big turn, but his first two overs were encouraging

Good partnership and fine half centuries by both batsmen.

hmm, collingwood miss proving costly

Good recovery today by Yousaf and Yunis. Need to build on this tomorrow obviously. There's really only these two plus Inzi that can save the match for Pak. Fortunately, both look comfortable out there.

Fusion said:

Good recovery today by Yousaf and Yunis. Need to build on this tomorrow obviously. There's really only these two plus Inzi that can save the match for Pak. Fortunately, both look comfortable out there.

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Pitch looks ideal for batting at the moment and Yousaf does look in an imperious big ton mood. If they can effectively bat out tomorrow and get anywhere near are total, than this game is as good as drawn IMO.

Not surprising to see Steve Harmison back to his usual self, far too short on this wicket and far too wide. Also the thought of KP being able to become an effective part time bowler seems a tad hopefully given the over he served up today. Gave Taufeeq Umar a run for his money.

Pretty worrying for Pak, the middle order cant bail you out every time

Shame Hoggard had to bowl pap with his dodgy knee. Anyway my reservations with Mahmood remain - he was picked for England 2 years ago (albeit in ODIs) and it's hard to imagine he was any more inaccurate than he is now, so where's the improvement?

aussie said:

you dont have to drop Bell, both him & KP can & should play.

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So who misses out then?

Scaly piscine said:

Shame Hoggard had to bowl pap with his dodgy knee. Anyway my reservations with Mahmood remain - he was picked for England 2 years ago (albeit in ODIs) and it's hard to imagine he was any more inaccurate than he is now, so where's the improvement?

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Regardless of that, he can hold a bat so is ahead of Plunkett if we play 4 seamers and Jones and Anderson are injured.

PY said:

As long as GBH doesn't try that horrible horrible reverse sweep thing.

That's not far from the ugliest thing in cricket.

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