Pakistan v Australia, 2nd Test, Abu Dhabi, 30 October - 3 November, 2014

It's raining forum gold atm.

For our tweakers the mystery ball is the one which actually spins.

Yeah, Aus should've had plenty of practice at playing darts - X-Doh has been fizzing them down for years.

The odds for this match a truly bewildering.

Brass Monkey wrote:Yeah, Aus should've had plenty of practice at playing darts - X-Doh has been fizzing them down for years.

hehehe...welcome Monkeh to the team...D'oh is a special member of the x-men...his two super powers are 1. showing that anti pimple meds dont work and 2. being utterly empty of any talent whatsoever

JGK wrote:The odds for this match a truly bewildering.

Take the $4 on Pakistan now. You can't be greedy after cleaning up at sixes and sevens on T1.

Way ahead of you.

such a good bet

Even Pakistan might be having a bet on Pakistan.

even if bets were tax deductible, you'd be bonkers to have a zack on the Oz

JGK wrote:The odds for this match a truly bewildering.

Bradman wrote:

JGK wrote:The odds for this match a truly bewildering.

Take the $4 on Pakistan now.  You can't be greedy after cleaning up at sixes and sevens on T1.

JGK wrote:Way ahead of you.

Beware of the combo of JtB and a Wackie side who have raised their stocks with a good performance.

However, if we don't win the toss, we are so screwed.

Aye. You are effectively getting 4s on Pak winning the toss.

SOK and Doolan gone.

Maxwell batting at 3! Starc in too.

If Pak win the toss, pile in.

pile in

geebers...what is it with the dubbers Clarke and Smith who want to hide down the order.

No Show's first class average has improved - well into 40+ now, however he is a number 5 or 6 in a lowly performing Shield team.

Starc hopefully will do the hack work that Marsh was incapable of and will maybe jag a wicket...

Elmer must have incriminating evidence against the NSP...or he is playing his "I moved to spiv central to guarantee my spot - irrespective of form".

SOK was mediocre in the first test which puts him i the upper echelon of individual efforts in that debacle..he is unlucky

Can still 4.20s on Pak even though they are batting first.

Meanwhile, Aust set a record with 3 Mitchells (and a Michael and a Maxwell) in the Test team.

I'll leave it to RD to say he was stiff

Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah did not spring from obscurity to torment Australia in the first Test, at least not for Victorian leggie Fawad Ahmed. Ahmed and Shah are cousins, and the touring batsmen could do worse than phone home if they fancy some tips before a second look at Shah in Abu Dhabi.

Shah, 28, is from Ahmed's mother's side of the family and the pair grew up in the town of Swabi in the northern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They played together at under-19 level but then Shah moved away to build a career in Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore, while Ahmed played for Abbottabad and worked for a non-government organisation closer to home.

"We used to play together when we were younger in the late '90s. Actually, when I started playing cricket, the college [where he played] was close to his house," Ahmed said. "He was four, five years younger than me so he used to come there and watch me and at that time we were close. We played under-19s together as well. Good memories."

While the cousins' paths branched off – Ahmed was granted asylum and citizenship in Australia and last year represented his adopted country in one-day internationals and Twenty20s – he couldn't have been happier for Shah as he collected four second-innings wickets on Test debut (and seven for the match) to contribute to Australia's demise in Dubai.

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At the same time he is ready to help the Australians with information about his cousin's bowling, and believes they need to take a more positive approach to the Pakistan spinners in the second Test if they are to level the series.

"When I heard about him, I spoke to Alex Doolan. I know he already played for Australia and being a bowler sometimes it looks funny when you are telling the batsmen how to play the spinners. But being a spinner I am really happy to help the batsmen in any state because I know how they play me when I am struggling," Ahmed said.

"I was watching highlights and he [Shah] bowled quite well, he dipped the ball ... But on the other side, our batsmen didn't play him well, either. He is a good bowler, he's got all the tricks under his belt and plenty of experience. He's a bit slower than me and he's quite short.

"When Davey Warner played in the first innings he really attacked him and that was positive. Especially for a debutant, it's always good to put him under pressure. Our batsmen were very defensive against him in the second innings and that's where he got the most success.

"I was happy for him. He deserved it because he has 279 first-class wickets [before his Test debut] and a good record. He played well and it's a dream for any cricketer to play for their country."

While Shah was new to the Australians, he has been a first-class cricketer for 13 years and played a handful of limited-overs games after the 2011 World Cup. But it was not until Pakistan's star off-spinner Saeed Ajmal was suspended for throwing that he was given a chance at Test level.

Ahmed, who has 38 wickets from his 10 Sheffield Shield matches, is still hoping for an Australian recall but in the meantime wants to emulate his cousin's success at first-class level. Victoria's shield season starts against NSW at the MCG from Friday.

1 Pakistani birth certificates in action

2 Doolan benefited from the advice

JGK wrote:Can still 4.20s on Pak even though they are batting first.

Meanwhile, Aust set a record with 3 Mitchells (and a Michael and a Maxwell) in the Test team.

this is bizarre...the only explanation is the red necked bogans who have signed up the MM's Team Australia have got excited and plonked their life savings on Oz at screamingly short odds

Clarke is a shit tosser. We are farked.

JGK wrote:SOK and Doolan gone.

Maxwell batting at 3!  Starc in too.

If Pak win the toss, pile in.

You can hardly justify him (2/3s of the top 6 for that matter) batting above johnson.

Well, I'm amazed we've decided to bolster our fragile batting line-up by... playing fewer Test class batsmen.

Maxwell could come off in a hit-or-miss way, but if it's miss we're going to be under a lot of pressure. I mean, we've got Mitch Marsh coming in at Number 6, which is one position too high for him at this stage.

The tail is strong, but I don't really think we should be relying on our tail to hold the batting together.

Maxwell batting at 3! wrote:

I'm predicting Maxwell will be out for 13 going for a reverse sweep.

What a blancmange of a deck. Another 2 days in the field coming up.

At the pub having dinner with a mate who's in town. At least the beer can numb the pain.

So is Haddin back to Haddit now?