Pakistan v England, 3rd Test, Dubai, 3-7 February, 2012

A seems approppriate.

Will Engulund make some big changes? Will the Wackies sweep the series? These and other questions will be answered in the next week or so.

As I said in the other thread, England have been unflinching in their lack of panic when adverse results occur. Hence I can't really imagine any changes. Definitely not in the bowling dept, the only chance I can envisage happening is Bopara for Morgan... but think it unlikely - they'd rather go in with a crapper bat than admit any kind of wrongness.

As I said in the other thread, the amazing meekness and timidity of our batsmen give me no other indication than it will be another Pakistan win to make it 3-0.

Re. the second test collapse, Chappelli said tonight that the tape of their innings should be sent to coaches everywhere as the blueprint for how not to play spin!

He's an advocate of using your feet and avoiding being anchored to the crease.

Red wrote:
He's an advocate of using your feet and avoiding being anchored to the crease.

Sh1t, why has no one thought of that before.

Red wrote:Re. the second test collapse....blueprint for how not to play spin!

What planet are you from? We were just unlucky.

taipan wrote:

Red wrote:
He's an advocate of using your feet and avoiding being anchored to the crease.

Sh1t, why has no one thought of that before.

No need for sarcasm, that was the way he played and so have many others. Surprisingly though many still opt the English way of things under the cosh.

BTW he said it didn't surprise him as at last year's WC he thought they had some of the most terrible players or spin going around.

Red wrote:
BTW he said it didn't surprise him as at last year's WC he thought they had some of the most terrible players or spin going around.

What planet are you from? We were just unlucky.

^^^ Obviously I was being jovial in both the above comments. However, I'll stick my undersized 'serious Fedora' on for a minute. The point about us being utterly sh!thouse at playing spin bowling rarely comes up because the oppo's spinner(s) is / are usually all manner of shitheap:

Since the start of 2009:

Saeed Ajmal 29 @ 20.00
Shakib Al Hasan 17 @ 36.94
SJ Benn 16 @ 44.31
Abdur Rehman 12 @ 15.08
PL Harris 11 @ 40.36
NM Hauritz 10 @ 32.10
Abdur Razzak 9 @ 57.55
HMRKB Herath 6 @ 49.83
Mohammad Hafeez 5 @ 14.80
SK Raina 4 @ 62.75
XJ Doherty 3 @ 102.00
A Mishra 3 @ 106.66


Really quite telling, IMO.

Red wrote:

taipan wrote:

Red wrote:
He's an advocate of using your feet and avoiding being anchored to the crease.

Sh1t, why has no one thought of that before.

No need for sarcasm, that was the way he played and so have many others. Surprisingly though many still opt the English way of things under the cosh.

Exactly. Its a nothing comment stating the bleeding obvious.

We're f*cked.

Drop KP and Morganna.
Both totally out of their depth here.
KP's mind is elsewhere ... perhaps on the f**king IPL no doubt .. and Morganna just ain't up to the task.

Fetch in the lkes of Bopara (extra bowler ...ish) and Bedwetter or Carberry perhaps...NEED someone or two to ATTACK the bowling rather than crab around prodding in hope.

What to do with Belf?
Ring his neck and gloat.

Merlin wrote:Drop KP and Morganna.
Both totally out of their depth here.
KP's mind is elsewhere ... perhaps on the f**king IPL no doubt .. and Morganna just ain't up to the task.

Fetch in the lkes of Bopara (extra bowler ...ish) and Bedwetter or Carberry perhaps...NEED someone or two to ATTACK the bowling rather than crab around prodding in hope.

What to do with Belf?
Ring his neck and gloat.

I can only assume you've never seen Carbs play spin. He's a crab. Prodder and poker to the max.

As they've only got one spare batsman and it seems highly unlikely that they'll draft anyone into the squad a few days before the game, Bopara for Morgan is really the only change they can make. The bowlers did their job.

So that's it: one change. At six. That'll make all the difference...

Saw carbs once but t'wasn't against spin.

The cruel irony (in the last test) was that if half the "batsmen" had been instructed to treat the chase (of 145to win) as a T20 circus game, I reckon England would have strolled it ... and got the runs in 17 overs to boot.

Fecking clueless crabs - the lot of them.

Yeah agree - 3rd test ..... Essex boy for the Oirish import.

How about Steve Davies for Morgan? Statistically he's a better first class batsman than Morgan, and he likes to hit over the top against spinners.

Henry wrote:How about Steve Davies for Morgan? Statistically he's a better first class batsman than Morgan, and he likes to hit over the top against spinners.

That would be a lame selection, frankly. Davies might be second in the wicket-keeping ranks, but as a pure batsman, there's no way in the world he's in the top ten in England.

Desperate stuff if they're giving him a game.