I have seen Irshad bowling against Australia A and there is no doubt that he has express pace and according to some reports, his line and length is not that bad either, he can reverse the ball as well.
But i don't think he is anywhere closer for being considered for TEST team, we have Sami,Akhtar,Rana, Gul, Shahid Nazir, Shabbir, Rao ahead of him. We also have Najaf Shah, Khalil and Mohammad Asif ( not that i rate these bowlers) ahead of him too.
One thing is for sure, Sami is going to FAIL once again but he is MOST likely to play with Shoaib and Kaneria.
i really am struggling to see a pak victory. eng are on fire and will undoubtedly have taken a lot of confidence from the ashes tour. even if flintoff or pieterson don't star, they're quite a few players like bell, vaughan, jones and trescothick who didn't have an outstanding ashes but against crap bowlers like pak's they'll probably cash in as well. all said, u never know. pak might be able to put up a surprisingly good fight.
i hope they win too …cos i wana see the smirk wiped of englands faces …as they are acting smug at the moment ..their cricket bores me to tears ..i have to say love watching pak play as they are so entertaining but unpredictable …ohhhhh i dropped a catch but look everyone my elbow is hurting me and is injured cos i gave 110% to catch that ball ..
yeah, thanks, but on bell, i’ve been watching a few highlights on him and he actually has a pretty sound technique. for some reason, though, he wasnt actually able to convert that into runs…most of his dismissals were by either mcgrath or warne and theyre not going to be around in pak
Now that Shabir is clear Pakistan will have a little difficulty picking up the bowlers. We have Shabir cleared, Gul, Sami and Akhtar fully fit and Rana Naved our unsung here from the last two series. So we have a choice between 5 pacers. I think dropping Rana would be cruel. The guy bowled with a lot of passion and fire when no other pacers were around and produced results as well. He isnt a gentle medium pacer either as he clocked 90 mph + a couple of times. Plus he is not a clueless batsman and has the potential of developing into a reasonable all rounder. Infact he scored a century while playing for his county last season in England. Gul bowled really well in the matches agaisnt Australia "A". Shoaib bowled nicley in the Asia XI Vs S. Africia XI games, let's see how he bowl for the World XI. So Shabir and Sami are no longer automatic choices or should'nt be automatic choice just cause they are fit. But this is a healthy sign, it means the bowlers cant take it easy and will have to produce results on a consistent basis to keep their place in the side secure.
i think akhtar is a necessary inclusion if were gonna hav any chance at beating eng. neither sami, gul nor shabbir hav that matchwinning quality of his. they might take a wicket or two each, but definitely wont produce huge hauls. having said that, shoaib is quite unreliable and a gamble really...if hes fit and on song he'll cause plenty of problems with the english batsman...if he breaks down after ten overs or is smashed all over the ground, then it'll really put a lot of pressure on the other guyz to perform... 50-50 but id take that chance as that is pretty much the only way we can win
I see lot of people EXCITED about Shabbir’s return, i was highly disappointed to see Shabbir getting CLEARED to play. Who cares even if he is a better TEST bowler than Rana, Sami, Gul etc??? The ultimate fact is that he CHUCKS like no one else and it’s an embarassment waching him bowl for Pakistan.
You are talking about old English team, you probably haven’t watched them play recently. I always had this opinion about England that they are average boring team and there hardly was an exciting player in their team BUT ENGLAND is by far the MOST EXCITING team in the world right now (not just bcoz they won ashes).
With players like Trescothic, Flintoff, Pieterson, Simon Jones, Harmison etc who can call them boring???
Pakistan was once exciting team when we had Anwar, Afridi, Raazaq(at peak), Azhar(to some extent), Akhtar, Akram, Waqar playing together and even now we have an exciting ODI team but a RUBBISH and boring test team.
It won't suprise me if Pakistan beat England. They have a steady batting line up with Youhana,Inzamam and a great bowling attack such as Shoaib,Kaneria and Naved Ul Hassan. Also what i feel will win Pakistan the series will be from the all rounder Shahid Afridi. If his form in the last year is anything to go by, England beware this is a strong Pakistani team.
No disrespect intended …I have watched england up until recently …and I do admit that they have made an improvement on their game in comparison to the nassar hussain days. But you said “With players like Trescothic, Flintoff, Pieterson, Simon Jones, Harmison etc who can call them boring???” well with players like these who can not call them boring lolz.
I still feel that Pakistan can be on form one day and not in form on another. and their track record of being like this goes back years. remember wcup 92 when they were on their way out 2nd to bttom i think. the rain got them into quarters and then suddenly they started playing. all i am saying is you can never rule them out. thats exciting to watch. I do agree however, that as a result they are inconsistent. I prefer odi’s to test matches anyhows so maybe thats y i like it.
… BTW welcome aboard diametric!
