England v Pakistan - Official Third Test Match Thread

[Collyisamackem]

So, here we go with a potential series decider in the third installment of this exciting series, starting at 11am tomorrow at the still-oddly-sounding Headingley Carnegie stadium. England without doubt have the upper hand, and Pakistan have been rattled by their innings defeat and must be deeply ruing the continued absence of their key bowling trio of Shoaib Akthar, Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

As far as England team news goes, it's the same line-up that won so convincingly at Old Trafford...almost. The most debated position on the team has been that of the wicket keeper, and after his run of low scores Geraint Jones has been dropped in favour of Chris Read, who has at least two tests (one would feel) to prove his worth to the team. Aside from Read, Matthew Hoggard will be looking to improve on his wicketless Old Trafford performance at his home ground, as will Sajid Mahmood, and Marcus Trescothick and Kevin Pietersen will be hopeful of their first fifties fo the series. As a whole though, this is a confident side.

Pakistan, the mercurial Pakistan who can be brilliant one day and woeful the next. Despite their drubbing at Old Trafford, only a fool would rule them out of this game due to the continued presence of their batting colossi in Inzi, Younis and Yousuf. Still missing the three pacemen already mentioned, they may choose not to play Shahid Afridi, who has been out of form on this tour after originally stating he would not play in it due to fatigue. Also, Kamran Akmal is likely to return to the lower order after his twin failures opening in the last test, and Imran Farhat's broken finger looks likely to rule him out. Therefore, changes are likely for Pakistan, but they must surely be hoping for their first imposing opening stand of the series to put them into contention for a good batting score. Expect an improved performance.

So, let's see what's in store between tomorrow and Tuesday!

[clancricket]

It will be interesting to see if we will get a simaler pitch to old trafford last week if so i cant see anything other than an england victory especially if hoggard regains his form but you can never write the pakistanis off but it will be difficult for them with all their injuries

[Mongoose]

Pakistan's big three will produce more than at Old Trafford. Younis Khan did well, but the other two will be disappointed with their scores. They are very high class players, Yousuf and Inzi in that second bracket just below the top guys like Ponting and Kallis. Akmal will be looking to raise his game, with both bat and gloves, after a poor series so far. Maybe the weight of expectation has affected him, but he has got nowhere near the high standards that he has shown over the last few months.

For England, competition among the middle order should continue, and hopefully their confidence will help them continue the big scoring. It's tim for KP to move on from the 30s and 40s he has been getting, to get a big score. Trescothick is also due some runs. He doesn't have usually spend many innings without getting a decent score. The main focus of course will be Chris Read. We know about his keeping ability, but his batting is more divisive. I felt in the past that he was a player who let the pressure get to him, and didn't seem confident of his ability at test level. Maybe his improvements over the past 2 years will show, but I fear that there may still be too much pressure, and that he will not feel able to play his natural game. He says the change in test cricket batting approaches, with more attacking play, will help him feel more comfortable playing his shots. Only time will tell.

[Mr Cricket]

pakistan will comeback with a solid performance and silence their critics up.....so come on pakistan we know u can do it!!!

[gangstacocacola]

well i would put pakistan line up as:
Salman butt
taufiq umar
younis khan
mohammad yousaf
inzamam
kamran akmal
shahid afridi
shahid nazir
saimullah khan
umar gul
danish kaneria

[Collyisamackem]

Can you see them dropping Sami after all of the bowling injuries they've had? Sami is now Pakistan's most experienced strike bowler, and only Razzaq is a more experienced bowler of any description in the side at the moment. I don't know anything of Nazir or Khan, but I can't see Sami being dropped for this game.

[Mr Hutt]

Fingers crossed is all i can say for now... lets see what happens... we havent lost since 82.. and i dont wanna see it happen!

[greg]

Originally Posted by uham

pakistan will comeback with a solid performance and silence their critics up..

With that bowling line up i doubt it.It isn't strong enough to do dmaage to an average county attack.

[Notts Exile]

Lewis omitted. Is there any point in them ever naming him in the twelve?? Mahmood to serve up pies again.

[Collyisamackem]

England won the toss and are batting, currently at 30/0 from 7.1 overs, Trescothick on 9 and Strauss 21. The teams in full:

England

ME Trescothick, AJ Strauss,AN Cook, KP Pietersen, PD Collingwood, IR Bell, CMW Read, SI Mahmood, MJ Hoggard, SJ Harmison, MS Panesar.

Pakistan

T Umar, S Butt, Y Khan, F Iqbal, Inzamam-ul-Haq, M Yousuf, K Akmal, M Sami, S Nazir, U Gul, D Kaneria.