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.

He couldn't do any worse than Morgan, and I can imagine Bopara being as rooted to the crease as the others.

You know who's a cracking player of spin? Owais Shah.

It's a shame he's spaffed his England career away in an orgy of dodgy running, hand cramps, crap fielding and promising more than he delivered - these back to back winters on the subcontinent would've been right up his alley.

Dello wrote:You know who's a cracking player of spin?

David John Grimwood Sales.

I used to think Ian Bell was a good player of spin. Running down the pitch and whacking the spinner over mid on second or third (or even first) ball has worked well for him in the past and helped him get his feet moving and his innings going. Why has he abandoned that now?

It seems like England are sh*t scared of running past one and being stumped, probably because it looks worse (in their eyes) than getting out playing back to a doosra, staring in amazement at the pitch, and giving the impression it was unplayable.

Henry wrote:I used to think Ian Bell was a good player of spin. Running down the pitch and whacking the spinner over mid on second or third (or even first) ball has worked well for him in the past and helped him get his feet moving and his innings going. Why has he abandoned that now?...... sh*t scared....

Think you've just answered yourself... it's all well and good doing it to Mishra, Harris, Herath etc, especially coming in at 5 or 6 but back against the wall is another story.

playing spin well in the sub-con is quite different to playing it outside the sub-con

just ask ricky ponting. an average of 86 at home vs india and 26 away. against pretty much the same bowlers

Brass Monkey wrote:

Henry wrote:I used to think Ian Bell was a good player of spin. Running down the pitch and whacking the spinner over mid on second or third (or even first) ball has worked well for him in the past and helped him get his feet moving and his innings going. Why has he abandoned that now?...... sh*t scared....

Think you've just answered yourself... it's all well and good doing it to Mishra, Harris, Herath etc, especially coming in at 5 or 6 but back against the wall is another story.

It might do Ronnie good to drop him down to 6 again for a bit. The electric musical chair.

Or do England good, if not.

Dello wrote:You know who's a cracking player of spin? Owais Shah.

It's a shame he's spaffed his England career away in an
orgy
of
dodgy running,
hand cramps,
crap fielding
and promising more than he delivered - these back to back winters on the subcontinent would've been right up his alley.

The heat might cure one or two of those.

PeterCS wrote:
It might do Ronnie good to drop him down to 6 again for a bit. The electric musical chair.

Or do England good, if not.

Thing is, all the batsmen have been so unbelievably gash that he's essentially been coming at number three in terms of the state of the ball / bowlers / score (minus the wickets column). So it'd be better for him to come in above Anderson and Panesar at number 9.