Spineless performance by Pakistan and congratulations to England. It was a thoroughly emphatic victory thanks to Harmisson.
It needed a miracle from Pakistan otherwise the match was ended after lunch on the first day. Long time ago we use to have 2 W's who were famous for bringing us back our pathetic batting displays :(
However it was painful to see how Pakistan gifted the match today. I said it earlier as well that Monty is an over rated player and now the media will make him more. Yes some of his deliveries looked unplayable but that often happens with a batting side is playing for no cause. Pakistan batsmen had mentally accepted defeat when the came to bat today and it was just a matter of making someone hero. Not something new with Pakistani batsmen. They have often done this in the past in pressure situations.
Yes. Pakistan have fought back alot of times in the recent past but I am afraid with this pathetic bowling attack it will be difficult this time. I wish Shoiab can make a miraclous return. Management need to dump Sami. Shahid Nazir or Sami ullah must come for the Leeds match. One of the allrounder must be dropped as well for a batsman. I think it will be Afridi. And no Kamran Akmal as an opener.
What is very likely to happen is that they will dump Umar Gul and bring in Yasir Arafat or Shahid Nazir, see Sami brings so much pace (their passion for pace) in the attack.
Monty should have been MoM. His all 8 wickets were established batsmen. Harmission grabbed tails to get his 11.
Good job Monty and Harmission.
So ..I think the best result possible for PAK is 2-1 intead of expected 4-0 wih by Pak. :D
Next test match will be played at Leeds,Which has a even more,Swinging and Seaming Wicket than here Historically. I don,t think that Pakistan can come back in this series now.But I think they will still win the One Day series though,which will again hide their shortcomings at the end of the tour,because most of the people only remember the end.
I have a feeling that Pakistan will come back Strongly in the series
Partially, our batting line failed but if we had a good bowling attack that of Asif, Shoaib or Rana, our batting line up would not have come under that much pressure to throw the game like that…
Did any one see the interview with Bob Woolmer at the end of the match on Sky sports? He complimented the useless Farhat for the gutsy batting with a broken finger.
Does this indicate that they may retain him in the next test match or simply for being brave batting with a broken finger?
If he is retained for the next test match - then there is got to be something seriously wrong with the thinking of the team management.
Thre are suggestions that Yasir Arafat may be included as may be Niazi and Sami or Gul dropped.
From what I have seen of Yasir and Niazi they are no better then Sami or Gul (we all know both are crap). If they are selected then I am afraid England will tear them apart as their confidence will sky high after this win.
If he is retained for the next test match - then there is got to be something seriously wrong with the thinking of the team management.
Well Inzi did finish his post match interview by saying "Still we are not thinking" (Atherton asked him about possible changes for Leeds Test). Poor Inzi wanted to say that we haven't thought about it yet :D but said something else
I saw Shoaib's interview. You could tell that he wants to start bowling right away but Woolmer doesn't want to take the risk of letting him play the 3rd test and then lose him after the frist couple of days.
I say, bring him in, if he has to sit out after bowling a few spells, it will still be better than Sami bowling :D SOMETHING is always better than NOTHING :D
Absolutely right. I think Pakistan will struggle even more at Leeds especially if they bat first. No doubt there will be some improvements in their batting and are unlikely to get out for 119 but the question is will they be able to post big enough total on a seaming wicket and then bowl the opposition out with 'juvenille bowlers' for a win. I think it is asking too much.
Yes I also feel that Pakistan will win the onde day series but it may be closer then people think. If Pakistan does win the series then they will go back to Pakistan as heroes / superstars.
There may be a red carpet reception for them by the Presdient, a plot allocated to each player, a parade in the capital for the players and cash given.
Everyone may forget about especially the concerned people as to where they went wrong in the test series.
I can understand Woolmers concerns as being out for a long time he doesn't want to make things worse for him.
You are right - half fit Shoiab Akhtar is better then the khusra's Sami / Gul put together. Even if he does not take wickets his presence in the team phsychologically puts fears in the opposition.
Somone suggested that Sami should be a Pizza delivery man. I think he should be a barber as he seems to be changing his hair styles all the time and therefore may make a good career out of it rather then trying to be a international cricketer which he is useless at.
Definetely right about Akmal - I feel he is over-rated.
What wil happen when the oldies retire especially the batsmen? Pakistan may have to continue using the services of Butt, Farhat etc as it will be majboori.
Butt and Farhat may be dropped for the next test match or next series but I think they will not be forgotten for ever considering the lack of class batsmen who are good enough for this level.
Pakistan may find few players like Yasir Hameed etc and may get few runs on the sub-continent which will get the die hard Pakistani fans and media really excited but when they travel outside the sub-continent - God help them.
Yes Akmal we all know is not an opener and its not his natural position. It was wrong strategy for Pakistan to send him to open; however if someone is good enough the they should be able to play at any position.
As far as how good Akmal is - we will find out in the remaining 2 tests. I am not saying that he will not score, he may get a decent score but will struggle as England will not make it easy for him.
Ehsan bhai I can’t believe you actually responded to someone who probably has just started watching cricket. The first thing he did after coming out of his diapers was to start posting on BBC forum
We should not make Kamran Akmal being an opener in test matches. In fact, he is better at lower order in which he can singly handle the pressure and he has proven this several times. I would say bring Salman Butt back. Why did they have to drop Salman Butt when he performed well vs Australia A match. Why not just stick with young openers amongst Butt and Farhat.
It takes a single match to turn the opinion around - FGS
In the next match moyo hits a ton, inzi carries his weight around, Afridi throws a couple of balls out of the stadium and all ya EXPERTS will be singing sweet poetry about the paki team.
Just shows how deeply involved you are - and how deeply you love our team
bhai jaan nobody here is even talking about Inzi and Moyo here, opening has always been under scrutiny whether we won a match or not, so is our bowling, I am sure you have seen previous threads in past.
