England 2012 Cricket Thread

[Chris Smith]

Proceedings being held up by a Bears flag behind the bowlers arm.

[PaulWinch again]

Well Pakistan are finding it considerably easier against our pace attack.

[olaftab]

If England want to sustain the best test side in the world ranking this is their moment. Best sides recover and win from this sort of situation.

[PaulWinch again]

Well that is an absolute shocker of a day, Prior excluded. Really poor batting display. Bowling looked really toothless as well, I think we've made a big mistake not picking Monty. For some reason over the last year Swanny has lost a bit of something, he doesn't look as threatening. Hopefully he'll get it back quick. They need to bounce back hard tomorrow.

[Villan For Life]

The batsmen looked woefully underprepared. Two practice games ahead of your first test match since August is not the way forward. All batsmen other than Cook performed badly in the warm ups so this performance is hardly surprising.

This team is nothing if not resilient and they will bounce back. We need to strike early on day 2 with the ball and build on that.

The non-selection of Monty is an interesting one. All I can think of is that his batting and fielding although improved still counts against him.

[TheTimVilla]

I would have left KP out, he's been out of touch for a while and hasn't done much so far this tour against weaker attacks. I'd have moved Bell, Morgan & Prior up and played Panesar, giving 2 spinners & 3 quicks.

[olaftab]

The batsmen looked woefully underprepared.

They are as under prepared as  Sri Lanka and India were here last summer. To tour properly you need to prepare for the climate and the pitch.

[OzVilla]

And that's a big part of it.  Because of the amount of international/ IPL Cricket in the schedule, players are burning out faster so there's little or no enthusiasm for teams turning up a month before a tour starts and playing 4/5 warm up matches and aclimitise to the conditions.  They want to rest and spend time with their families and being as well paid as they are now the pretty much call the tune on this.

It's no coincidence that England arrived a month early in Australia last year (for the first time in ages) and hit the ground running.  I think that's a major part of why touring teams are performing so badly in World Cricket right now.

[PaulWinch again]

And that's a big part of it.  Because of the amount of international/ IPL Cricket in the schedule, players are burning out faster so there's little or no enthusiasm for teams turning up a month before a tour starts and playing 4/5 warm up matches and aclimitise to the conditions.  They want to rest and spend time with their families and being as well paid as they are now the pretty much call the tune on this.

It's no coincidence that England arrived a month early in Australia last year (for the first time in ages) and hit the ground running.  I think that's a major part of why touring teams are performing so badly in World Cricket right now.

I will say we were pretty poor in the first innings of the first Test in Australia and it was only a great rearguard action from Cook and Trott that saved that Test in second innings. I do agree that they should have been out in Dubai much earlier though.

[PaulWinch again]

Well this showing how badly we batted. Other than Broad we look completely toothless, Swann isn't building any pressure.

[Warren Aspinall]

I don't think we're bowling that bad, the pitch looks as flat as a witches tits. Our problems are yesterday, how the hell didn't we make 400 on this pitch.

[PaulWinch again]

That Hafeez wicket gives a slight glimmer of hope, they really need to run through them now and get them out for under 300 and then go onto score 450 + in the second innings.

[hipkiss92]

Hopefully Trott's wicket will be a turning point in this Test, Younus looked capable of batting out the day before that.

[PaulWinch again]

They need to have them out for under 300 and then bat very well.

[PaulWinch again]

So Pakistan are 96 ahead with 3 wickets remaining, it's crucial we knock them over early tomorrow. No more than an 120 run deficit and then score 450 + in our second innings.