Pakistan v England, 2nd Test, Dubai, 22-26 October, 2015

Goodness me, Buttler needs to be put out of his misery.

Hey Trev, I see Suoersport do have this one live. They must have sorted out the money.

And as I write, Buttler fails again. England in big trouble now.

Chance for Bairstow to step up at last ?

Terrible from Rashid.

taipan wrote:Hey Trev, I see Suoersport do have this one live. They must have sorted out the money.

And as I write, Buttler fails again. England in big trouble now.

So England have lost 3 for 7 since I switched on.

Collapso pommy style.

taipan wrote:

taipan wrote:Hey Trev, I see Suoersport do have this one live. They must have sorted out the money.

And as I write, Buttler fails again. England in big trouble now.

So England have lost 3 for 7 since I switched on.

I blame Supersport. 

The qunts.

Henry wrote:

taipan wrote:

taipan wrote:Hey Trev, I see Suoersport do have this one live. They must have sorted out the money.

And as I write, Buttler fails again. England in big trouble now.

So England have lost 3 for 7 since I switched on.

I blame Supersport. 

The qunts.

You shouldn't have pissed them off.

And Wood refers the referral.

What a waste of the review. IF the third ump thought there was daylight between bat and ball, he would have told Reiffel he missed it anyway when Reiffel wanted to check the bump ball. Reviewing a review suggests fried minds.

Big Dog wrote:Chance for Bairstow to step up at last ?

Apparently not

And by the way, a big F*CK YOU to Fox Sports for not showing this until an hour into play, even though they could have with the red button. They decided to show V8 super car racing for the bogans instead. And golf in Hong Kong. and a replay of the 1999 World Cup rugby semi final, and more motor racing from America....

Good to know how highly they regard cricket.

What a collapse. It's hard to see Pakistan losing not winning this one from here.

Last Test for Bell, Buttler?

lardbucket wrote:What a collapse. It's hard to see Pakistan losing not winning this one from here.

Last Test for Bell, Buttler?

Buttler will come again, but Bell might be axed after this series. (Or retire)

lardbucket wrote:What a collapse. It's hard to see Pakistan losing not winning this one from here.

Last Test for Bell, Buttler?

Hales and Taylor should come in, but Bell will somehow survive.

Bairstow- Average of 26 after 31 test innings'.

Not up to it, and hasn't improved at all since he was last dropped by England.

Buttler- Regressed.

Bell- Losing it.

Stokes- Hit and miss.

Moeen- Hit and miss.

We have two of the finest English batsmen since world war 2 in Cook and Root, but the rest of them are amongst the worst/most inconsistent I can remember in the last 20 years.

Broad lucky to escape a bizarre dismissal.

All out 242

A meek surrender.

Well at least we Cook and Root showed some fight in Abu Dhabi....

Sweet Baby Jesus!!! 7-36 collapse. Soft qunts!!!!

So, Pakistan get their noses in front.

Cook
Hales
Taylor
Root
Moeen
Bairstow +
Stokes
Rashid
Broad
Wood or Plunkett
Anderson

btw: If Anderson is going to play the reverse sweep all the facking time, why doesn't he just bat right-handed (stronger hand lower) and hit the ball properly?

PeterCS wrote:So, Pakistan get their noses in front.

Cook
Hales
Taylor
Root
Moeen
Bairstow +
Stokes
Rashid
Broad
Wood or Plunkett
Anderson

btw: If Anderson is going to play the reverse sweep all the facking time, why doesn't he just bat right-handed (stronger hand lower) and hit the ball properly?

I honestly can't see Hales improving this side. Especially in these conditions. Bairstow isn't any better than Buttler either. England might be regretting their continual snubbing of Steve Davies. And I'd go with Jordan over Plunkett, who's pace is overrated, and isn't the outstanding catcher that Jordan is. Negligible difference in batting ability.

Henry wrote:Bairstow- Average of 26 after 31 test innings'.

Not up to it, and hasn't improved at all since he was last dropped by England.

Buttler- Regressed.

Bell- Losing it.

Stokes- Hit and miss.

Moeen- Hit and miss.

We have two of the finest English batsmen since world war 2 in Cook and Root, but the rest of them are amongst the worst/most inconsistent I can remember in the last 20 years.

By the same token you have two of the finest English bowlers since WW2 as well. Doesn't say much for the other 7.

Henry wrote:

PeterCS wrote:So, Pakistan get their noses in front.

Cook
Hales
Taylor
Root
Moeen
Bairstow +
Stokes
Rashid
Broad
Wood or Plunkett
Anderson

btw: If Anderson is going to play the reverse sweep all the facking time, why doesn't he just bat right-handed (stronger hand lower) and hit the ball properly?

I honestly can't see Hales improving this side. Especially in these conditions. Bairstow isn't any better than Buttler either. England might be regretting their continual snubbing of Steve Davies. And I'd go with Jordan over Plunkett, who's pace is overrated, and isn't the outstanding catcher that Jordan is. Negligible difference in batting ability.

I agree Hales is a gamble - in fact, this is the first time I've advocated his selection. I may well have been carried away by a surge of exasperation (which I generally resist). But, with all considerations of not shifting around deckchairs or wholesale frustration mania, this lineup is just not working. In Bell's case, hasn't for a year and more (one Edgy exception apart). And it wasn't just me who kept saying shoving Moeen in to open for the first time in whites (or almost) was likely to be a dingbat idea: bad for him, bad for the team.


Not sure, Bairstow may well be better than Buttler at the mo - if only by virtue of being luckier! I admit he looks at sea vs decent spin, and just nurdles. But Buttler looks like he's carrying his own dismissal around with him. And he's started dropping catches too.

Anyone following England knows only too well it can be counter-productive to drop players, switch teams round and choose in exacerbated panic. But if a player keeps failing and failing, and failing, and shows no signs of addressing the failures, shows no sign of anything "clicking" by design or accident, it can sometimes be kinder to "rest" (or drop) players. Bell too. He's completely floundering, and looking for reassurance. He's a liability at the moment.

I'd be delighted if Jos smashes a matchwinning century in the second innings and invalidates all of that. But he looks as if someone's thrust a never-before seen piece of timber in his hand and said "Go out there and get out ASAP, young man". (Hyperbole.)

Well that was a mad morning session - for the 2nd consecutive day.

Was it just me or did any of you think that whilst Wahab bowled with great pace, consistency and heart didn't really think he was putting the batsmen under massive pressure? Certainly not a 3 for bugger all type of spell.

Root is a star player but he really shouldn't have been chasing those wide drive balls. The few that he managed to connect with went to the well-defended offside field - so it was a relatively low percentage scoring shot that he ought to have put away in that situation. I reckon if Root had seen off that 4th over from Wahab then Wahab would've been taken out of the attack.

The commentators often talk of making the bowler bowl to you - well the reverse was true in that duel and Wahab got his reward for his persistence and Root was suckered into the trap all too easily.

Bairstow - is he not particularly bright or something. That cut shot he seems to play off the leggie to pretty much every ball that pitches on off stump almost did for him on a couple of occasions last night and he edged to (that was deffo out caught by Younus - no different to Anderson's catch last match) or through slip 3 or was it 4 times today before he eventually succumbed to Shah. He was lucky to get as many as he did - as several of you guys have already stated.

Stokes - just a poor, loose shot. But I don't think he'd have lasted much longer as he seemed clueless against Shah and surely his wicket was imminent from that end.

Buttler - extended poor run of form or just a guy who is out of his depth in test cricket?

Rashid - that was purely ego and was bad cricket on so many levels. I think that will be a factor in probably costing him the spinner's berth for the SA test series.

Let's allow for the fact it's the first outing for many of the above in the sub-cont and see what they can learn from it. This match is gone but if we can win the toss in the 3rd test then it may give us a hope of making it a drawable series.

Buttler is an absolute shell of a man out there. Now his keeping has gone along with his batting.

Send him home.