Incredible also when you consider half this side were playing white ball cricket in 12 degrees in England 2 weeks ago Red.
Well played Pakistan for what was a huge turn around in fortunes to go from a very humiliating loss to a superb win, tempered by the fact they started the match on a day 6 track, the ball turned sideways from ball one of the Test, and two spinners took all 20 wickets...!! I suppose they had to do something facing a run of 12 consecutive Test match defeats, and I suppose they have used 'home advantage' to their advantage to create the chance. and it wouldn't be too dissimilar to us producing a green swinging track at Headingly or Trent Bridge to force a win so we can't be too harsh towards the Pakistan lads.
We could still have won if Smith/Root had taken those gilt edged chances to remove Salman when they were 118/5. Likely have chased low 200s rather than 300. I know I suffer from broken record syndrome but picking a wicketkeeper who isnt good enough to keep for his county is barmy, particular on the sub continent. It appears to be a lesson we refuse to learn going back decades. Bairstow cost us the last Ashes. The absolute gozzer Smith shelled yesterday was embarrassing both for him and the idiots that put him there. He missed an absolute routine stumping in the first test too not that it mattered then. Foakes/Simpson are by common consent the best keepers we have and both are decent batters though not disposed to smashing it to all parts. The ghost of Gilchrist continues to live on in the England hierarchy and won’t be exorcised until we have one of our own.
Always been a Foulkes fan Chan, I'm with you, as we pick the best batters, best bowlers for the job and then choose the 3rd or 4th choice keeper... Broken record indeed...!!
He’s not even 3rd or 4th choice though Red. He’s miles down the pecking order on his glove work. I don’t see how he’ll improve either as he isnt looking to leave Surrey and Foakes has that gig as long as he wants it.
England failing to be ruthless again - how often do we have a team on the ropes, only to let them off again?
England 1st Test 823 for 7 dec. Combined 2nd/3rd Tests 814 for 40. Those stats tell the story really. Not enough runs and kept going for big shots when Shakeel had shown that a batter could apply himself and score at reasonable rate without playing high risk. I found Ben Stokes’ radio interview rather irritating afterwards. Interviewer not reasonably asked him if the England team could learn from the way Shakeel had played? Stokes’ answer was one word - no! When McCullum was interviewed later he was effusive in his praise for the Pakistan batter and seemed to imply there were plenty of lessons the England team could take from his batting performance. So maybe it’s Benball rather than Bazball England are playing. Either way one dimensional teams don’t tend to be successful for long. I could also point out that had our wicketkeeper taken a difficult catch behind when Shakeel was in his 20s the outcome would have been likely very different.
I dunno whether I’d put football manager on the same level as politician Oddy. ETH getting £13.5 million not to continue in his role. Hardly the sack just paid up his contract.
