Jeor Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Still some life in this yet. Lead of 56 with 4 wickets in hand, if England can get to a lead of 150+ then anything could happen with Pakistan's shortened batting lineup. Good work from Buttler and Bess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Yeah Stoneman is now in the position Jennings was in last season. Dead man walking. And how many fifties is that from Root now without a century? England are just still in this match. Plucky innings from Bess on debut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 46 minutes ago, Paxter said: Yeah Stoneman is now in the position Jennings was in last season. Dead man walking. And how many fifties is that from Root now without a century? England are just still in this match. Plucky innings from Bess on debut. I mean, 20 consecutive innings with a highest of 60 just doesn't cut it. As an opener, yes you face the toughest bowling but you also have a blank slate. You're hardly ever going to run out of batting partners so you've got the best chance of anyone of making a big score, you're never coming to the crease in the middle of a collapse or when the bowlers have built up a rhythm. In that context, to not get past 60 in twenty times of asking is pretty dire. If England can scramble their way to a lead of three figures, I reckon Pakistan will get nervous. They're already down a batsman and if England had taken their chances, they could have been bowled out for something much lower in the first innings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Yes and Pakistan had problems chasing a smallish total against Ireland. With all due respect to Murtagh and co, chasing 100-odd against Anderson, Broad and Stokes will be a much tougher proposition. In short: Pakistan will be sweating on getting these last four wickets (especially Jos) as quickly as possible. IPL final tonight...go Hyderbad! I’m expecting Dhoni’s men to get home though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 And Buttler goes in the second over of the day! Wood follows the over afterwards. Great start. Pakistan should have this sewn up before lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Hmmm ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 So England are leading by 56, with 4 wickets in hand and sitting on a good partnership with Buttler and Bess looking comfortable the day before, maybe they can fight and scratch their way to a meagre target and give themselves a chance... Then this morning they lose 4 wickets for 6 runs in 4.1 overs. Oh England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 All Pakistan have to do is not lose wickets. JIMMY!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Well, there's one down. Only 53 more runs to go though. Imagine what could have been if England had set Pakistan something 120+. They've only got four specialist batsmen plus Sarfraz at 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Even Pakistan couldn't lose from here? I wish I could have used a full stop at the end of that statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Haris playing a little gem to calm my nervous heart. Well played Pakistan. Lots of interesting talking points to come out of this match. One that might get overlooked is how superb Pakistan's preparation was for this series. Most die-hard test fans are forever condemning touring sides for not playing enough warm-up games to acclimatise to foreign conditions. But here was a visiting team doing it the right way: three matches against county sides, including a substantial four-day game at Northants that had a result. Plus that hard-fought test match against a competitive Irish side at Malahide. Other nations touring England (I'm looking at you India and Australia) should take note. In fact, the one-off match against Ireland to prepare for England could become quite fashionable. Another talking point I'll chuck in: that was the most un-Pakistan like Pakistan win in history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Congratulations, Pakistan - an amazing win. Where the hell were most of England??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 9 minutes ago, Paxter said: In fact, the one-off match against Ireland to prepare for England could become quite fashionable. I hope that catches on. Means the Irish team will get some Tests to play, and the touring team gets some quality time in English conditions. Great win from Pakistan and Mickey Arthur must get some of the credit. They're a very young, untested side (half the team have only played Tests in the single digits) and in those sorts of sides you have to expect the coach carries a lot of influence. He's reputedly a meticulous planner and drills the basics of fielding etc - this has to have been one of the better fielding Pakistani sides I've seen. The bowlers also bowled very well and to the conditions, and some of that also has to be Arthur's influence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Agreed on Pakistan's attack - they were fantastic. As much as England's batting will be pulled apart (rightfully so) in the press in the coming days, sometimes you just have to doff your cap to a brilliant bowling performance. A telling stat: apparently Cook/Stoneman is now the worst England opening partnership in test history (minimum 20 innings). The previous worst was Cook/Hales... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 I guess the problem is that no one is making a good domestic case for an opening bat? Otherwise Stoneman would have been history by now. Malan's got a terrible Test average but showed potential in the Ashes. The team just needs two quality batsmen and then you can still have the other four spots going to Cook, Root, Malan and Stokes and that would be a reasonable lineup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 I don’t think they want to bat Stokes in the top five. They want Jonny in there and Stokes at six, which is why Buttler was a more natural pick than say, Vince, at seven. Re: opening batsmen, it looks as if Gubbins might be the next cab off the rank. I think they saw some promise in Stoneman and he was extremely dominant in the county game last summer. But he honestly doesn’t deserve a last chance at Headingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted May 27, 2018 Author Share Posted May 27, 2018 1 hour ago, Paxter said: In fact, the one-off match against Ireland to prepare for England could become quite fashionable. Someone suggested yesterday that touring teams should instead play a warm up Test against England before touring Ireland. They have a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Open with Bairstow and give the gloves to Buttler if he is here to stay, maybe? It would then free up space for Woakes or Moeen. Probably the latter, as I would have Woakes in over Wood anyway. When was the last time an England debutant added anything to the team on a medium or long term basis? It seems an eternity. Probably would have been Roland-Jones if not for his untimely injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted May 27, 2018 Author Share Posted May 27, 2018 No, we need a proper opener who can take the shine off the ball and the energy from the bowler’s legs, so the middle order can play their shots. . Woakes should have played in this match instead of Wood, but I can see why they didn’t pick him. We need bowlers who provide variety. Four medium fast right arm bowlers is usually good enough in England but it will never win us an away series. The problem with Wood is he’s not that quick and neither seams nor swings it. Moeen is just not good enough when the pressure is on, or overseas, so we need to try alternatives. I think we need to get rid of Bayliss as Test coach, replace Root as captain with Broad, bring in Gubbins and Hildreth at 2 and 3, Northeast, as future captain, bring in Garton for Wood and Crane when he’s fit again. Admittedly, that would be tough on Buttler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Buttler did better than I thought he would but I still think a specialist batsman at 7 is a waste of time, we've already got 2 destructive batsmen to fill in a 6 and 7, we don't need another one. The problem is the top 5. If they think Bairstow's the best bet to bat 5, and he probably is, then he needs to be the specialist batsman. Even Sangakarra and Ab de Villiers struggled to bat in the top order and keep wicket. So: 1. Cook 2. Gubbins 3. lets say Hildreth 4. Root 5. Bairstow 6. Stokes 7. Buttler (wk) And, yeah, get rid of Bayliss as test coach. It's fairly ridiculous it hasn't already been done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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