England v Pakistan Test Series 2026.

[Arthur Crabtree]

And now the Imam faking injury story is gathering more and more momentum...tour in crisis

Anyone doing that should be looking at the end of their international career.

[sussexpob]

And now the Imam faking injury story is gathering more and more momentum...tour in crisis

Anyone doing that should be looking at the end of their international career.

Obviously something is very wrong behind the scenes that we don't know about, so I reserve judgement pending further details. Could be refusing to play as a protest against the board/management. Who knows at this point.

Pakistani cricket has a delightful capacity for full meltdowns, so I expect this isn't anywhere near finished.

[meninblue]

And now the Imam faking injury story is gathering more and more momentum...tour in crisis

iirc this is the 3rd or 4th time fans have alleged that he is faking injury. Younis Khan has played with broke finger, for whole of Champions trophy. Inzy played with a bad back a tone point of time in his career, Misbah also carried injuried, MOYO also fought for the team. Needless to say questions are aske of Imam.

PCB has sent letter to selectors why Imam and Rizwan were selected. If there was a isuse with these selections then PCB should not have approved these selections. Imam was always a reference player with Inzy being the chief selector and Imam being his relative. His selection continues to be in limelight. Going back to Rizwan again is like taking a step back as his keeping isn't that great either. His batting too is not worth to merit selection.

Umar Gul and Sarfaraz who are bowling and batting coaches respectively have been called back as well. Mike Hesson who has not had any success for Pakistan as white ball coach is now called from NZ to coach in red ball format.Mike Hesson has been awful. He is trying to build a team of all-rounders. Recently there were 5 all-rounders in Pakistan playing 11. England has the easiest match coming in this series given all the bad environment and negative attention on Pakistan team. Time to make it 3-0 and improve chances for qualifying for the WTC finals.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Carse and Fisher are out the squad, Baker is in.

[Arthur Crabtree]

BBC pushing the current four man pace attack as comparable with the one in 2005. They seem to be enthusiastic about regeneration and have forgotten England have just lost series to NZ and Australia...

Anyway, this is my view...

Flintoff>Atkinson
Harmison>Archer
Jones>Tongue
Hoggard<Robinson.

[sussexpob]

Going back to Rizwan again is like taking a step back as his keeping isn't that great either. His batting too is not worth to merit selection

He averaged about 40 at the start of this series, in an era of failing scores this pretty high, let alone for a person who brings a second skill to the table. His keeping has been the least of Pakistan's concerns in the field, took a blinder last test and he generally been a tidy presence around schoolboy level play from the others. Not sure I can agree with this.

[alfie]

BBC pushing the current four man pace attack as comparable with the one in 2005. They seem to be enthusiastic about regeneration and have forgotten England have just lost series to NZ and Australia...

Anyway, this is my view...

Flintoff>Atkinson
Harmison>Archer
Jones>Tongue
Hoggard<Robinson.

Hard to disagree with that. Though Tongue is new enough and may well prove more durable and eventually outdo Jones. Plus of course they don't have the King of Spain to give them occasional variety and rest...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Plus of course they don't have the King of Spain to give them occasional variety and rest...

Yes, a big negative.

[sussexpob]

Comparisons between the eras are entirely worthless really.

The 2004 West Indian team was seen as being historically bad at the time, by that you can read into the fact that they had merely 1 or 2 batsman in the top 7 that wouldn't be a high standard, with Gayle, Lara, Chanderpaul and Sarwan. Not a single 2026 batsman is getting literally anywhere near that side in a million years, and no England bowler in the current team has arguably had to bowl to anyone remotely in the skill level of Lara or Chanderpaul (Smith is the only argument, but he's clearly no longer anywhere near his career peak).

Same with Pakistan. Early to mid 2000s you'd of had to play vs Saeed Anwar, Inzi, Khan, Mohammed Yousuf et al..... again, literally no one in this 2026 is getting near a Pakistan team of that era. Flintoffs period of about 3 years up to/including that Ashes in 2005 when he averaged under 25, is a level of bowling that is hard to compare across many decades. Factoring in relative batting averages, pitches, a glut of high quality batters, etc, he sustained a high quality of bowling only Glenn McGrath could match at the time.

Id imagine if we took 2002-2005 Flintoff and put him against this trash, he'd be averaging 14 a wicket. England have bowlers averaging in the 28s like Archer.... this is below average now, when Simon Jones averaged 28 in the mid-2000s, it ranked level with the 3rd best bowler in the world at the time. As I said, only McGrath and Flintoff in the peak of pancake pitches went below 25.

Robinson and Flintoff maybe cancel at the moment
Simon Jones is better any other person in the team now
Hoggard is better than any other person in the team now
Harmison declined a lot at the end, but if we are talking 2005, he is better than anyone in the team now.

[meninblue]

Going back to Rizwan again is like taking a step back as his keeping isn't that great either. His batting too is not worth to merit selection

He averaged about 40 at the start of this series, in an era of failing scores this pretty high, let alone for a person who brings a second skill to the table. His keeping has been the least of Pakistan's concerns in the field, took a blinder last test and he generally been a tidy presence around schoolboy level play from the others. Not sure I can agree with this.

His test average is nearing 38.

Have a look at his test innings scores from recent to oldest: 1,7,41,12,18,11,12, 94,13,15,59,18,19,14, 75,25,49,2,71, 41,46,3,27,25,23,41, 10,0,43,29,51,171 . I agree though that 37 is not bad given that the next best batsman for Pakistan in current setup average 43 (Babar), but these low scores from senior (who was also a captain across formats with enough internaitonal experience and chances) has meant that he has got ropped few times in test matches. He could never secure a place because of lack of runs and is dropped again. Considering that he is past 34 years of age, it is right time to replace him.

[sussexpob]

His test average is nearing 38

Comparing his test average to other keepers to have played more than 5 tests in the last 3 years as a keeper

Jamie Smith averages 38
Litton Das averages 35
Alex Carey averages 35
Kusal Mendis averages 36
Tom Blundell averages 34
Verreyne averages 30
Shai Hope averages 28

Only Rishabh Pant averages more.

[bigfluffylemon]

Gotta agree with Sussex here. Rizwan is a solid batter, even if his returns have dropped off lately, and his keeping has been one positive in an otherwise diabolical Pakistan fielding performance in the first two tests. He doesn't deserve to be binned.

If I were Rizwan at this point I'd stick two fingers up at Pakistan cricket and head off to the franchises for the rest of my career.

[andy]

Yeah I'm in agreement I wouldn't have dropped Rizwan by modern day standards he is a very good keeper -batsman and I don't think they have anyone better....it's far too easy to scapegoat him it isn't the first time and it definitely won't be the last

[alfie]

Four changes for Pakistan (three on debut) , no change England. And to no one's surprise , Root has sent Pakistan in under grey skies. Robinson doubtless licking his chops at the prospect of some more new ball fun...

[Arthur Crabtree]

And Pakistan collapse.

Hadn't noticed this started today. Normally only get a Wednesday start in back to back Tests.

Rumours of England resting pace bowlers prove unfounded.