Stokes & Bairstow putting together a decent stand 132/4 at half way......hope that doesn't put the mockers on them, but if they stay together for another 10/15 overs or so they will take the game away from Pakistann........however if Pakistan get them out in the the 5 or so overs then they will be favouites although England do have a long batting line up.....
Game back on? Stokes gone for 69.....175/5 England should have enough from here with 15 overs left 75 needed......
Easily I'd say, we've had some fine sides in the past with some fantastic individuals in there. But this current side is streets ahead of them,there's competition for places in every department. There isn't really a weak point anywhere,and when you consider that Anderson and Broad aren't even in the squad,it makes it even more impressive. The manor about how we are playing is the most exciting thing for me,it's fearless cricket that I only used to associate with the great Australian team that had Warne,Ponting,McGrath and Hayden etc in it. There are exciting times ahead with this side, and I'm glad I'm going to be around to watch it !
Most destructive batting ever. Not sure the bowling is good enough on flat pitches overseas. We don't have a top death bowler (Gough long retired) or a top spinner (Rashid does OK, but de Villiers, Kohli etc would murder him on most pitches)
Do we need better bowlers? The limited overs game is now just about batters, bowlers are cannon fodder. Who wants to see low scores and loads of maiden overs? As long as we have more destructive batsmen than the oppo it doesn't really matter who bowls. ( I used to be mainly a bowler!)
But we've seen how effective a good bowler can be. Look at what Badree does for the WI at the start of the innings and then Bravo later with his looping in-ducking yorkers. It puts a lot of pressure on the batters if you know you are either going to have to chase a big total or set one (because your bowlers can't defend it). In England against teams who don't have England's batting power, it doesn't matter - but if we want to win a World Cup on hard, fast pitches like Australia or SA or on turning pitches (almost everywhere else), it will make a difference, especially against teams who have big hitters too.
A good performance by the Pakistani bowlers today. England looked like they were heading for 350, but will now struggle to reach 300. This will be a test for England's bowlers.
