I took 7/2 for Pakistan yesterday when they were 80 odd for 2. Teams batting first at OT, win. The pitch is very bowler friendly and looked quite difficult to bat on. The ball was moving, a lot. A few times a ball just short of a length was hitting the pitch and shooting through to the WK at ankle height. The Pakistan spin bowlers will have a field day in our 2nd innings. I’m also looking forward to seeing Naseem Shah bowling at us, the kid is such a talent.
I like Joe Root but feel he's an average captain and missed a few tricks yesterday. That said, we certainly didn't get the luck (Shan Masood seemed to get half his runs by edges through the slips/gully region) but overall it always feels like we underestimate opposition teams (or overestimate ourselves). In defence of the England team that is mostly the media. Buttler got a bit of a hammering last night and although you'd have hoped at least one of the chances coming his way were taken they were all tricky, I thought he did well in the WI series with the gloves. Thought Woakes was our best bowler yesterday by some margin though feel that for us to get the best out of Archer we need to get hi in for shorter bursts. Personally I'd have tried him for 3 overs right off the top (with Broad) and then put him in for 3 overs once Broad/Anderson finish their first spells. How Morgan captains the one-day side shows Root up a bit, he's very predictable.
I think we talked about Roots captaincy against SA. The class of the side is carrying him through because his bowling changes leave a lot to be desired. He’s not experimental enough and will often over persist with bowlers when change is clearly needed. I don’t like Buttler as our WK, I thought the dropped catch from Bess was difficult but you expect an international to suck them up all day. No excuses can be given for a missed stumping against slow bowling when the batsman is so far out of his crease. I like the look of Foakes, I’d like us to give him a go.
2 quick wickets 162-4 England taking control still if Pakistan get around 300 first innings could be an interesting weekend of cricket
He should have taken the stumping, i just feel that there's a lot who are waiting for him to fail with the gloves and pounce on his bad days but ignore the good ones. His performances with the bat have been sub-par for a prolonged period and Foakes never did anything to deserve to be dropped so I wouldn't argue with a change overall. I thought the catch was hard but the stumping was one you'd expect to be taken - i felt for Bess as he's looked "ok" (not test match ready but with time may become decent) and needs things like that to go in his favour. I'm still expecting 300 from Pakistan. Our batting line up is shortened, can confidently say we're not getting 400+ on this pitch so even if we get a lead in the first innings it wouldn't be tons, and batting last wont be fun.
ps. Shan Masood gluing their innings together, without him they'd have been struggling to 200. Wait for Dom Sibley to get lambasted for going at 2 an over when we bat.
God I hope they crumble now they're 5 wickets down. New ball in 5 overs, we've done so well this morning. Not fully turned it around but set it up for a tricky session for Pakistan, if we get a wicket in the first 10 overs after lunch so we can set about them with the new ball and it'll change the match. I want some of Shan Masoods luck, he's done very well but I'm not sure how he's still out there.
i reckon Pakistan get 300 it’s game on Weather declining after a hot day tomorrow...Pakistan bowlers gonna be lickin their lips for England’s last innings.
The difference in playing spin is going to be evident here. Our batsman should be taking note because they’ll get into a flap on this track. Need to get to the pitch of the ball because this wicket will turn a lot for their bowlers. This game is looking over already.
Masood is still there, though. If he carries his bat and gets them above 375, I think that will be enough for them tbh.
Yasir goes for 5. 7 wickets down. Masood is going to run out of partners but at least deserves to carry his bat.
At 12-3 and with Root looking like a walking wicket it felt like the follow on target needed to be up on the screen. Pope is batting on a different pitch to the rest of our batters, Buttler looked decent when he got in. Somehow, we need to still be batting at tea. If we can hold on for the first half hour we'll have 2 set players with decent scores on the board and a ball that's gone/going soft. We're not matching their score but need to get to within 100 and then bowl them out for under 200 to get back into it. Cricviz reckons England 24%, Pakistan 66% Haslam reckons England 10% Pakistan 85%
Raw talent always oozing out of the sub continent At 17 years and 174 days, Naseem Shah is the youngest bowler to take a wicket in a Test in England since fellow Pakistani Ata-ur-Rehman in 1992. The only person younger than those two is another Pakistan bowler, Khalid Hasan, who was 16 when he played at Trent Bridge in 1954. 147-5
