Cricket IX

[Jeor]

So, the Australia-Pakistan Test match starts tomorrow and it seems the Pakistanis have rung up quite a few changes.

Faisal Iqbal and Misbah ul-Haq are gone, replaced with Shoaib Malik and Khurram Manzoor. I have no idea about Manzoor, but Malik is a welcome inclusion. He may not have the greatest record (averages mid 30s in Tests) but he does have a decent amount of international experience, which is otherwise lacking in the team. Kamran Akmal is dropped for Sarfraz, a new 'keeper. Supposedly Sarfraz is a better fielding wicketkeeper. Kamran has failed with the bat in all his innings so far so this new guy couldn't do any worse than he did (famous last words). Aamer comes back in for Sami, so the bowling attack will be very good with Asif, Aamer, Gul and Kaneria. The batting will remain a big concern (especially how Umar Akmal reacts to his brother's omission) but I still think Pakistan have a genuine chance of winning a Test match here. With their attack they can get 20 wickets, it's more a matter of whether they can post any significant total. One feels that a Yousuf century would be a vital ingredient.

[Sir Thursday]

So, the Australia-Pakistan Test match starts tomorrow and it seems the Pakistanis have rung up quite a few changes.

Faisal Iqbal and Misbah ul-Haq are gone, replaced with Shoaib Malik and Khurram Manzoor. I have no idea about Manzoor, but Malik is a welcome inclusion. He may not have the greatest record (averages mid 30s in Tests) but he does have a decent amount of international experience, which is otherwise lacking in the team. Kamran Akmal is dropped for Sarfraz, a new 'keeper. Supposedly Sarfraz is a better fielding wicketkeeper. Kamran has failed with the bat in all his innings so far so this new guy couldn't do any worse than he did (famous last words). Aamer comes back in for Sami, so the bowling attack will be very good with Asif, Aamer, Gul and Kaneria. The batting will remain a big concern (especially how Umar Akmal reacts to his brother's omission) but I still think Pakistan have a genuine chance of winning a Test match here. With their attack they can get 20 wickets, it's more a matter of whether they can post any significant total. One feels that a Yousuf century would be a vital ingredient.

My initial reaction to this was slight surprise that they got rid of Misbah (he'd always struck me as one of the stronger batsmen in the lineup), but I notice he had a pretty shocking tour of New Zealand, and only one decent score in the first two matches here...we'll just have to see how Malik goes.

Manzoor is an opener - he was dropped after the first test in New Zealand. We'll see how he goes at 3, I guess...but I'm not overly impressed by his Test average of 27.

Sir Thursday

[Jeor]

My initial reaction to this was slight surprise that they got rid of Misbah (he'd always struck me as one of the stronger batsmen in the lineup), but I notice he had a pretty shocking tour of New Zealand, and only one decent score in the first two matches here...we'll just have to see how Malik goes.

Yeah, Misbah to me also seemed reasonable with his temperament and a decent technique. He's a steady player and I assumed with his age of 35 he would be a mature player who knows his game, even if he hasn't played many Tests. However he just hasn't got the runs lately. The openers did well with the opening stand in Sydney, both have got half centuries, and Yousuf and Umar have played good innings so really it was only Misbah and Faisal that could logically be excluded. The batting lineup as a whole wasn't working so I can see the logic in wanting to swap out at least one batsman, and putting Malik in was a good move I think. The Aamer-for-Sami makes sense, as does Sarfraz-for-Kamran. Regarding the latter if you have a wicketkeeper who is dropping catches as well as not making any runs, you can't hurt yourself by swapping in a new guy.

On the Australian side, North and Siddle have not performed in this series and I have a feeling they will be playing for their places. Certainly once Hilfenhaus returns, Siddle's spot will be under pressure. And likewise with North - one feels the Aussie selectors still want the long-term Hughes-Katich to open and Watson down the order, despite Watson's success this summer in the opening position.

[ljkeane]

Looks like the Pakistani fielding problems haven't gone away, that's an awful drop by Aamer. I suspect that dropping Ponting on 0 probably isn't going to turn out well.

[Sir Thursday]

Looks like the Pakistani fielding problems haven't gone away, that's an awful drop by Aamer. I suspect that dropping Ponting on 0 probably isn't going to turn out well.

Reducing Australia to 80-3 at lunch after losing the toss is pretty good going though, it must be said.

[Jeor]

It must be said that Ponting is in awful form, but after that easy drop I suspect he's still going to make Pakistan pay and eke out a scratchy innings that might go the distance. The longer he stays in there the better he'll feel. But early on he was mis-hitting just about every pull shot he tried, inside edges were flying all over the place, even on the offside shots things were being jabbed straight into the ground. I guess at 35 the age is finally starting to show. Some of the pull shots that looked so uncomfortable showed him actually flinching at the ball and getting his head and upper body out of the way before he even properly played the stroke.

[DJDonegal]

7-2.

I wonder if they'll start playing for a draw? KP's chance to finally put an innings in for this series.

[Zoë Sumra]

Given the start England had, I think crawling to 100-4 at lunch off 26 overs isn't bad going. :ohwell:

[ljkeane]

Given the start England had, I think crawling to 100-4 at lunch off 26 overs isn't bad going. :ohwell:

Sounds like conditions aren't too bad either, so it's basically down to bad batting.

Ponting scored 137 not out for Australia as well so the bad fielding of Pakistan has been punished.

[sckma]

apparently.... aamer in his 8 matches has not caught a ball.

I find that hilarious, and easy to see why.

shame, because if he did hang on to it, this summer likely would have been pontings worst for a long time.

[DJDonegal]

I think KP in his first five test matches didn't make a catch either. At least his first five - in Ashes 05. Not sure how long it was before he made one stick.

[Hereward]

There goes the series win.

[Vestrit]

Hmm, I'm not so sure. The forecast in Jo'berg is for it to rain a lot over the next four days

But yeah, I can't see SA batting that badly. And presumably the pitch is going to get better at some point. If Sidebottom and Anderson can start well, then England have a chance, but if they let Smith or Kallis get set, then yep, she might be all over

[Paxter]

This Aus v Pak series is testing my anger management. Just the thought of how different/awesome/exciting the series would have been if Akmal and Aamer had held on to their catches makes me want to throw something at the TV. :tantrum:

[Horza]

Pakistan has ruined cricket for me. I'm on strike until the Ashes at least.

[Rimmer]

And if the pitch isn't offering much to the bowlers, Pakistan go ahead and run themselves out. Too frustrating to watch really.

[Vestrit]

OK, SA vs England is turning into major humpage

Still, the forecast is still for light showers today and heavy showers all weekend, so how much cricket actually gets played may be questionable

A funny old series really. SA have actually been the better team, but until now, England have seized the key moments

[Paxter]

Smith's innings comes to an end, but he has certainly put SA in the driver's seat here. Barring a massive collapse, SA should end up with a minimum lead of 175.

Fair to say that Smith is in truly awesome form at the minute. Average of over 70 in his last 22 test matches, and he has played the vast majority of those matches against SA's top three rivals: Australia, India and England. He will never win plaudits for elegant cover-driving or a flawless batting technique, but he more than makes up for it with his aggression and tenacity.

[Jeor]

Agreed that Pakistan are extremely frustrating to watch. Apparently according to one commentator they have shelled over 600 runs worth of catches already, and I can well believe it - Aamer's off Ponting was worth 209, Hussey made a century of Akmal's dropped catches, and Watson has been dropped a couple of times early as well. Apparently 14 catches have gone down in just the first two matches and one innings. As if that's not shooting yourself in the foot enough, they then run out their two best batsmen (Yousuf and Umar) on a flat pitch that is playing well after their openers had done a great job in seeing off the new ball, which would have been the only threat on this pitch.

I guess that's the way Pakistan are. A diabolically unpredictable team capable of absolute brilliance and sheer frustration, sometimes within a few deliveries of each other. They have never been a great fielding side and that's disappointing given that other countries have had poor fielding reputations but have since cleaned up their act in the last few years (India is a big example here). Pakistan seem to be the only ones who have lagged behind. I remember a commentary once where it was shown that Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis had the greatest % of wickets as bowled or LBW in history. The fellow who was saying it no doubt wanted to emphasise how the two bowlers always attacked the stumps with swing and pace, but now I'm thinking a more insidious reason may have helped that percentage. ;) After all, bowleds and LBWs are two main dismissals that don't involve any fielding...

South Africa are still in with a great chance here. The rain may screw parts of this match up, but they should be aiming to only bat once which will save a lot of time. It would be a miscarriage of justice (sorry Hereward and other Englishmen) if England were to win a series 1-0 when South Africa dominated three draws!

On a sidenote...Morne Morkel is really developing into a great opening bowler. Morkel and Steyn together could be well on their way to forging one of the more fearsome opening partnerships in the world, in the vein of Walsh/Ambrose or Waqar/Wasim. They're both still comparatively young and have time on their side.

[Sir Thursday]

Smith's innings comes to an end, but he has certainly put SA in the driver's seat here. Barring a massive collapse, SA should end up with a minimum lead of 175.

Fair to say that Smith is in truly awesome form at the minute. Average of over 70 in his last 22 test matches, and he has played the vast majority of those matches against SA's top three rivals: Australia, India and England. He will never win plaudits for elegant cover-driving or a flawless batting technique, but he more than makes up for it with his aggression and tenacity.

South Africa are going to have Morne Morkel batting at 11. 11!! And he's not too bad a batsman. So England forcing a collapse is unlikely and really wouldn't bode well for the England second innings.

I think for England to get out of this one, they're going to need a hell of a lot of rain and a rearguard action even more Athertonian than the last test's. And this time we don't have Onions to bail us out at the end :(.

Sir Thursday