Originally posted by peterg: England might have scored faster and declared earlier but there's no great likelihood that they'd have dismissed Pakistan, even with a hundred overs at their disposal.
It would have made all the difference, esp with Pakistan's brittle batting. There is no such thing as totally risk free winning. You have to back yourself and your abilities. England lacked self belief, ability, or both.
Originally posted by peterg: England might have scored faster and declared earlier but there's no great likelihood that they'd have dismissed Pakistan, even with a hundred overs at their disposal.
It would have made all the difference, esp with Pakistan's brittle batting. There is no such thing as totally risk free winning. You have to back yourself and your abilities. England lacked self belief, ability, or both.
in the past you could say paks batting was brittle.
but with the run machines inzi and moyo never failing, and with afridi and akmal (comin in at 7 and 8) who have been revelations with the bat in tests over the last year, both averaging what genuine specialist batsman should avg and more , also razzler being his steady and mature self, you can hardly call pak batting brittle
England should start praying that Pakistan don't win the next toss and proceed to get Pakistan off to a blinder because if Pakistan is given the opportunity England had it's all over. Given the similar scenario, Inzi will be telling his batsmen to play some one day cricket on the 4th day and put England under pressure by making them bat through the last hour or two of play on the fourth day.
I think with what pakistan managed to get in the 1st innings meant it was always going to be a draw IMO. If England had managed to get them 8 down then I whould say batting on far too long cost them, but England only managed to get 4 wickets so i dont see if the extra half our would of made a difference apart from getting two new balls. I think the Lords pitch was and excellent pitch for batting.
I think England will be the favs going into the next test because Flintoff should be back for them. Where as Pakistan bowling attack will still be still weakened by the fact none of their injured will be fit. Having said that Younis Khan will be a big inclusion to their batting line up.
All reports the OT pitch will have everything, good bounce, spin and overall a good batting surface if you play yourself in.
Originally posted by Meow: I think with what pakistan managed to get in the 1st innings meant it was always going to be a draw IMO. If England had managed to get them 8 down then I whould say batting on far too long cost them, but England only managed to get 4 wickets so i dont see if the extra half our would of made a difference apart from getting two new balls. I think the Lords pitch was and excellent pitch for batting.
I think England will be the favs going into the next test because Flintoff should be back for them. Where as Pakistan bowling attack will still be still weakened by the fact none of their injured will be fit. Having said that Younis Khan will be a big inclusion to their batting line up.
All reports the OT pitch will have everything, good bounce, spin and overall a good batting surface if you play yourself in.
If Pakistan had of lost those 2 early wickets in the last session of the 4th day as apposed to losing them in the morning of the 5th day you don't know what might have happened. Things happen when teams are pressured and Andrew Strauss had no idea how to keep Pakistan under the pump.
Originally posted by Mr Cricket: England should start praying that Pakistan don't win the next toss and proceed to get Pakistan off to a blinder because if Pakistan is given the opportunity England had it's all over. Given the similar scenario, Inzi will be telling his batsmen to play some one day cricket on the 4th day and put England under pressure by making them bat through the last hour or two of play on the fourth day.
Pure speculation!
Pakistan failed to bowl out England in both innings.
What lies about Monty. Utter lies. Did people actually watch him bowl? I agree he wasn't great in the first innings but he bowled as well as could be expected. In the 2nd innings he bowled very well, had all the batsman in trouble at some point. One time Inzi just got his bat down in time and another edged excrutiatingly past slip. Razzaq could've been out in 3 out of 4 balls in a certain over. To say 'on current form, Giles blah blah blah' is utter bullsht. The deck was still decent, it's not as if he bowled in the wrong areas. Just happens that Inzamam can bat reasonably - shock horror. Sooky doom-mongering.
Originally posted by Meow: I think with what pakistan managed to get in the 1st innings meant it was always going to be a draw IMO. If England had managed to get them 8 down then I whould say batting on far too long cost them, but England only managed to get 4 wickets so i dont see if the extra half our would of made a difference apart from getting two new balls. I think the Lords pitch was and excellent pitch for batting.
I think England will be the favs going into the next test because Flintoff should be back for them. Where as Pakistan bowling attack will still be still weakened by the fact none of their injured will be fit. Having said that Younis Khan will be a big inclusion to their batting line up.
All reports the OT pitch will have everything, good bounce, spin and overall a good batting surface if you play yourself in.
If Pakistan had of lost those 2 early wickets in the last session of the 4th day as apposed to losing them in the morning of the 5th day you don't know what might have happened. Things happen when teams are pressured and Andrew Strauss had no idea how to keep Pakistan under the pump.
Did you even Watch the match
1) Pakistan scored over 200 not going after the bowling given 30 overs more they could have chased down the score.
2) Afridi and Kaneria were bowling extremly well after lunch on the fourth day and England were unable to up the scoring rate. If they had tried to score faster they would have been bowled out.
Yes, Pak were around 9.4 minutes away from victory. If Inzi had batted one-handed with his back to the bowler he'd have scored a double ton. If England had attacked the Pak bowlers we'd have been out for 19.
In essence, England have been incredibly fortunate and it's only my prayers to 5 different Gods that saved us from an innings & 729 runs defeat. Im incredibly proud of myself....
Anyone see how crap Plunket was? Geez, that guy reeks, even for a pom.
_____________________________________________ Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
I think Pakistan performed admirably. Indeed, had they held on to their catches, then they may have even won.
It would be a mistake to bring Shoaib Akhtar back any earlier than the 4th test at The Oval. Allow him maximum time to recover and prepare. Pakistan would want to use him to embarass England during the one day matches.
Younis Khan looks like being fit for Old Trafford which is brilliant news. I know Faisal Iqbal scored a few in the second innings but he has got to make way for Younis. Faisal looked very shakey and, besides, he's not an opener so unless Pakistan were to drop someone like Shahid Afridi, Faisal Iqbal looks like the man for the chop.
Mushtaq Ahmed's inclusion in the Pakistan Test XI will be mooted, I believe, until the day he retires. The fact remains that he's unlikely to play at the risk of lengthening a fragile Pakistani tail.
Possible Pakistan Old Trafford XI:
Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammed Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal (w/k), Shahid Afridi, Mohammed Sami, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria
Some very good points Nimrod, however I fail to see how Sami can justify his position in that side.
He has to give way to this new lad Samiullah, has anyone seen him bowl ? Perhaps Waqas has some comments to add ?
I would not entertain Rao, he is absolutely rubbish. Still think the bowling line-up is very poor but what can you do when your top three guys are out.
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