Re: Pakistan v England A
^ abay acro, ur asking to have faith in him as a batsman keeper rather than keeper who can also bat, but you are sending him after the fluke master Razzler. Bhai he is the kind of batsman, who if given much confidence can bat at No. 3 easily. But thats a big no no these days as we have plenty of players competing each other for No. 3 with an only one geniune and proved player, Malik. But since we have a MUCH MUCH bigger problem of not having a settled opening pair, one down issue becomes a non-issue. Malik is tried and kind of forced to take on openner's job because of ever shaky Butt and Farhat pair. But since we all know Malik won't find his place in a test team in Razzaq's presence, so we have to push the batting line a little up.
What I really mean is, despite of the romance b/w Malik and Woolmar, what is the improvement in Malik's game as an opener. Has he learned to play not too high in first 10 overs? Will he be ready to wait for the ball instead of going on top in early overs? I don't wanna comment on abilit of playing erratic swing in seaming English conditions. Because thats a problem everyone has, be it Butt, Farhat, MoYo or Inzi. You know we can even make Hoggard a national hero in England this time along.
The teams you and ehsan bhai posted are Ok for the sidies, but what about the actual test match. Do we really need Razzaq, in the presence of Kaneria, Asif, Gul and Sami? I know Razzaq can be useful in seaming conditions, but we also need to strengthen our batting further. If Flintoff and Jones are not playing than the above lineup could work. But if Flintoff is in, then we need to bring Faisal for Razzaq, as we have 4 specialist bowlers supported by Malik and Farhat.