Pakistan v England 3rd Test, Sharjah, Nov 1-5

[shankycricket]

Didnt say at the time, but what do people think of Riaz bouncing Stokes?

Fair game, or unfair?

I didn't see it, but sounds fair enough.

Not sure how I feel about it. Stokes was stupid for going out to bat, but I do think there is a little bit shameful about bowling short to a clearly injured player.

Not as shameful as sending out an injured player to bat in the hope that they will give him easy stuff?

[yuppie]

Not the session England hoped for and Hafeez and Misbah look in supreme form so more misery is probably ahead. Wonder what Pakistan are think about the declaration, they wont want to give England even a snif of a chance so I reckon they will go for over three hundred as a minimum target.

Bat the whole day if they can. Maybe have 3-5 overs at England this evening. But no need to risk loosing the series.

England need to force match. Probably should have taken the new ball before lunch. Even though it was only one over.

[backfootpunch]

Not the session England hoped for and Hafeez and Misbah look in supreme form so more misery is probably ahead. Wonder what Pakistan are think about the declaration, they wont want to give England even a snif of a chance so I reckon they will go for over three hundred as a minimum target.

They are 1-0 up and will surely bat as long as possible

England have to go for the win either way so I can't see a draw happening

[backfootpunch]

Just seen the stumping

How on earth does bairstow not pick rashid, surely he has kept to him thousands of times in matches and in practice

[shankycricket]

This team has 9 batsmen and 6 bowlers but only 4 specialist batsmen and 2 specialist bowlers. Just imagine how much of an impact one player (Swann) has had on the team balance.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Pakistan will want England to have to score 3 runs an over, so England's positive intent will become their downfall. But I can see England bowling Pakistan out today anyway.

[shankycricket]

Does the spin bowlers' fan club still think its better to play rubbish spinners than good seamers in Asia? Swann and Monty's success might have been just down to them being good (and in Swann's case, world class) and not because they are "spinners". Maybe. Just maybe.



(now that I've said it, Pakistan will probably spectacularly collapse to spin).

I think they've got to reconsider how they are selecting their spinners. They should have been seen as their lead bowlers, rather than support bowlers. They have to start again. Pointless going through names, as no one can know how they would have done. Lack of belief in spin has cost England before, and perhaps it has once more (Samit Patel?). I don't think there's much point just picking more and more seamers. Once you get past A&B, there's a sharp fall off in quality. Pakistan have batted well.

Not really. Wood & Stokes have been excellent in this series. Both outbowled Broad in the first 2 Tests in fact (in my opinion). There is Finn too.

There is not point picking 3 spinning allrounders. All are as good or bad as the other. All do a similar job. If there is no specialist spinner available, pick one of these spinning allrounders and replace the other 2 with a specialist batsman (an opener who is not Hales) and a specialist fast bowler (both Wood/Finn are good. I'm not suggesting you should pick Jordan etc).

[hopeforthebest]

Pakistan will want England to have to score 3 runs an over, so England's positive intent will become their downfall. But I can see England bowling Pakistan out today anyway.

Maybe it's time to visit specsavers AC. They apparently only take cash though.

[budgetmeansbudget]

Misbah can book himself in for bed and breakfast.


We won't get him out like this.

This is what happens when you expect all rounders to perform like bowlers.

But are there any better English spinners out there?

[shankycricket]

Misbah can book himself in for bed and breakfast.


We won't get him out like this.

This is what happens when you expect all rounders to perform like bowlers.

But are there any better English spinners out there?

Then don't pick them. Pick fast bowlers. England looked much better with 4 quicks (and yes, I remember I was against it before this series).

Samit looks the best of the English spinning allrounders to me. Better control with the ball than the other 2 and a better batsman against spin (also plays the short ball better than Mo).

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not really. Wood & Stokes have been excellent in this series. Both outbowled Broad in the first 2 Tests in fact (in my opinion). There is Finn too.

There is not point picking 3 spinning allrounders. All are as good or bad as the other. All do a similar job. If there is no specialist spinner available, pick one of these spinning allrounders and replace the other 2 with a specialist batsman (an opener who is not Hales) and a specialist fast bowler (both Wood/Finn are good. I'm not suggesting you should pick Jordan etc).

I thought Wood was disappointing, though he had a good spell. Obviously the spinners have disappointed too. England have suffered from a lack of confidence in that department. McCullum got some impact from his rather limited spinners in UAE, maybe Cook could have too. Impossible to say. If England fielded two spinners who averaged 40 in the series, and went at 3rpo, that would have been very useful. To write off the use of spin in these conditions feels depressingly lacking in imagination, though that kind of thinking is endemic to the soul of English cricket. The sort of orthodoxy that routinely sends England to WCs in Asia with four right fast mediums.

[hopeforthebest]

Can't get CMS on my PC but it works on my laptop. It seems almost every time I get updates for my windows 10, something goes awry.

[yuppie]

Misbah can book himself in for bed and breakfast.


We won't get him out like this.

This is what happens when you expect all rounders to perform like bowlers.

But are there any better English spinners out there?

Well there is Tredwell but he will never get picked or go on tour. Even though he would be better than whats be on show so far. Other than that, the ECB must develop spinners. How it goes about that im not sure. But something has to be done.

[hopeforthebest]

Seems Broad has been allocated the role of enforcer.

[shankycricket]

Not really. Wood & Stokes have been excellent in this series. Both outbowled Broad in the first 2 Tests in fact (in my opinion). There is Finn too.

There is not point picking 3 spinning allrounders. All are as good or bad as the other. All do a similar job. If there is no specialist spinner available, pick one of these spinning allrounders and replace the other 2 with a specialist batsman (an opener who is not Hales) and a specialist fast bowler (both Wood/Finn are good. I'm not suggesting you should pick Jordan etc).

I thought Wood was disappointing, though he had a good spell. Obviously the spinners have disappointed too. England have suffered from a lack of confidence in that department. McCullum got some impact from his rather limited spinners in UAE, maybe Cook could have too. Impossible to say. If England fielded two spinners who averaged 40 in the series, and went at 3rpo, that would have been very useful. To write off the use of spin in these conditions feels depressingly lacking in imagination, though that kind of thinking is endemic to the soul of English cricket. The sort of orthodoxy that routinely sends England to WCs in Asia with four right fast mediums.

Well, they've tried the unorthodox here and it hasn't worked here. Maybe, just maybe it depends on the quality of personnel available? Describing Wood as disappointing while pimping up the spinners is something I don't understand.