Appeal by Bashhir, given not out and reviewed. Apart from hitting outside the line of off stump and missing by a country mile, it was absolutely plumb!
For some creative reason Stokes switched ends for Rehan's latest spell and the bowler hasn't looked anywhere near as threatening and struggled with his length and line too
Saud Shakeel in his 15 matches has an Average of 57.17 which isn't too shabby.
Apparently 70 singles is the most in a Century !
Geoff Boycott must be impressed !
Boycott would be proud but, to be fair to Saud, he wasn't so much chewing up balls and those singles indicate how much he was rotating the strike. Most of the batsmen have got out in this match playing attacking shots not suited to this pitch. He has adapted superbly.
Saud Shakeel in his 15 matches has an Average of 57.17 which isn't too shabby.
Apparently 70 singles is the most in a Century !
Geoff Boycott must be impressed !
Boycott would be proud but, to be fair to Saud, he wasn't so much chewing up balls and those singles indicate how much he was rotating the strike. Most of the batsmen have got out in this match playing attacking shots not suited to this pitch. He has adapted superbly.
Saud gave one chance but other than that he deliberately just took the singles that were on offer and as you say rotated the strike. Jamie Smith with the help of Atkinson hit 7 x 6's but did hit straight the majority of the time and paced his innings.
Ah, I bet the West Indies would love to take the Sabina Park wicket from 1998 with them wherever they go.
Nothing like a home grown strip when you want to win a deciding Test.
Please stop this agenda. As McCullum says, all teams prepare wickets to suit their bowlers. Why do we produce green seamers instead of bunsen burners? Did you complain when England bowled Australia out for 60 and Broad took 8-15? Or every other occasion when we have skittled the opposition because of having the likes of Anderson and Broad? Pakistan and India bowl and bat better on their wickets. We do the same on ours. That is Test cricket.
I just like to see a fair test between bat & ball. Not a 150 all out and over within 3 days.......nor 700/5 and drawn after 5 days.
A pitch on day one should give the team batting first a chance to get between 300 & 400. The best batsman in the world has struggled to get into double figures in his last 2 innings.
150 all out? How about 324 plus in the second innings? The only reason that we didn't achieve that in our innings is that most of our top order played all the shots to the wrong balls by charging and not getting to the ball or by playing those sweeps that stood us in such good stead in the previous Tests - but where there is too much of a risk/reward on this pitch. We put those away post lunch and in doing so earned the right to put pressure back on Pakistan. That is why the likes of Smith and Atkinson did so well and why Saud is currently on 127 not out. And before anyone suggests it, the wicket did not change. It was always "slow and low", to varying degrees, but not turning square every other ball. As it still is.
Pakistan have produced a wicket that is better suited to their game. We produce pitches that suit seamers rather than spinners for two reasons - one because we don't have top quality spinners as they don't get a chance to progress in county cricket and two because, as our batsmen don't face that very often, they don't know how to play top class spin on anything other than roads. And also because docile decks allow us to score 600 plus off 100 overs with time to bowl the opposition out twice.
Leach and Bashir are very ordinary spinners at test level. They dont seem to be able to change their tactics or approach when they come under pressure. How long are they going to pick Bashir on promise? The Pakistan no.10 has just hit him out of the attack. At least Rehan has some variety.
Leach and Bashir are very ordinary spinners at test level. They dont seem to be able to change their tactics or approach when they come under pressure. How long are they going to pick Bashir on promise? The Pakistan no.10 has just hit him out of the attack. At least Rehan has some variety.
I'm sounding like a broken record and we keep re-visiting this but it does take spinners years to mature unless you happen to be a Shane Warne. It takes years of bowling on non turning tracks to learn how to get batsmen out.
I agree about Rehan re the ability to do something different but he lacks control and took just 13 wickets last season in county cricket. Bashir was plucked from Minor Counties two years ago and picked by England because there was a realisation that the county programme does not sit comfortably with spin - hence why Somerset would rather play Leach and a batsman in the shape of Archie Vaughan, instead of Bashir who has played more Tests (12) now than he has county games. What an indictment of our system that is.
Bashir who is 21, bowled well in the 1 st session with good control and he had one dropped catch and also had a umpires call go against him; he would've had 5 wickets.
Comments
*Freeze the TV for 3 seconds to have both in unison.
Gaffney correct and England lose a review.
213/7 and Noman 18 and the impressive Saud 86 and only 52 behind.
227-7 (74) and just 40 runs behind now
Now stokes gets a hand to a Root ball in the slips.
Frustrating 2nd session for England so far.
246-7 (78.4) and 21 behind
Apparently 70 singles is the most in a test Century said Andy Zaltzman. Jack Kallis had 66 singles.
Geoff Boycott must be impressed !
265-8 and 2 runs behind
Noman LBW B Bashir 45
265/8. 88 stand.
Just two runs behind.
267-8 (84)
Saud gave one chance but other than that he deliberately just took the singles that were on offer and as you say rotated the strike.
Jamie Smith with the help of Atkinson hit 7 x 6's but did hit straight the majority of the time and paced his innings.
150 all out? How about 324 plus in the second innings? The only reason that we didn't achieve that in our innings is that most of our top order played all the shots to the wrong balls by charging and not getting to the ball or by playing those sweeps that stood us in such good stead in the previous Tests - but where there is too much of a risk/reward on this pitch. We put those away post lunch and in doing so earned the right to put pressure back on Pakistan. That is why the likes of Smith and Atkinson did so well and why Saud is currently on 127 not out. And before anyone suggests it, the wicket did not change. It was always "slow and low", to varying degrees, but not turning square every other ball. As it still is.
Pakistan have produced a wicket that is better suited to their game. We produce pitches that suit seamers rather than spinners for two reasons - one because we don't have top quality spinners as they don't get a chance to progress in county cricket and two because, as our batsmen don't face that very often, they don't know how to play top class spin on anything other than roads. And also because docile decks allow us to score 600 plus off 100 overs with time to bowl the opposition out twice.
I agree about Rehan re the ability to do something different but he lacks control and took just 13 wickets last season in county cricket. Bashir was plucked from Minor Counties two years ago and picked by England because there was a realisation that the county programme does not sit comfortably with spin - hence why Somerset would rather play Leach and a batsman in the shape of Archie Vaughan, instead of Bashir who has played more Tests (12) now than he has county games. What an indictment of our system that is.
Batting fourth on this pitch shouldn't be fun.
15-1 (4.2)
Bashir who is 21, bowled well in the 1 st session with good control and he had one dropped catch and also had a umpires call go against him; he would've had 5 wickets.