England v Pakistan - Official Fourth Test Match Thread

[Vrock]

We're back down in London for the final test having spent the previous two tests further up north. (Old Trafford and Headingley) It's the Oval that will provide the entertainment for an England side trying to further increase their series winning lead to 3-0 or for Pakistan to regain some pride and peg one back at the last opportunity.

England will be going into the test with an unchanged squad and will be going all-guns-blazing to win the final match and take high levels of confidence (from a team perspective) into their next test series against Australia.

From a bowling perspective, it is unlikely for Jon Lewis to be given the nod over Sajid Mahmood, who helped England win the third test with 4-22 in the second innings. Matthew Hoggard, having been passed fit after his knee-trouble, will be looking to take some wickets to get his personal confidence up; the past two matches have yieled very little for the Yorkshireman. Steve Harmison, it appears, struggles to adjust his length when the conditions require it. At Old Trafford, where there was plenty of bounce, he performed extremely well and reaped the rewards. At Headingley he, once again, tried to bowl short as he did at Old Trafford to get the batsman unsettled but the pitch did not offer him any help and it became easy runs, especially, for Pakistan's big three. If he is to perform in this match then it will be hoped that the groundsmen have prepared a bouncy wicket to suit him. Monty Panesar has had a great series so far, he has performed on a mixture of pitches so it is hoped he can just have another good game.

England's batting has fired in the first innings in every match, so far. There is not much more we can ask from the line-up other than make another big score. Personnel wise, Marcus Trescothick will be looking for runs, having struggled to make scores (only a battled 58 at Headingley) he could get himself out of touch and might get into a form slump ahead of the one-day series. It's not that he has been out of touch, having dispatched some of the bad balls that were offered up by Pakistan's opening bowlers and generally played good deliveries well, he has also looked settled at the crease. However, if a very effective plan to bowl accross Trescothick and get him flashing, whether intended to or not, it has sure worked. Often his dismissals have been to deliveries which could have been left alone, he will want to put that right in this game. The Ian Bell/Paul Collingwood/Alastair Cook situation is a difficult one to read, all three of them can do in this match is keep making runs; there might arise a situation where they will have to play for the team and make some quick-fire runs or defend to save the match. If one of them was successful and helped the side win the match this could only impress the selectors and boost their future selection chances. Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, having both made centuries in the last match, have kept any critics quiet for now and will be looking to cash in on good form that spreads down the order. Chris Read, having had a good debut with both gloves and bat, will be looking to make runs again. As long as he makes runs consistently his dropping appears unlikely.

Onto Pakistan now, having lost the series, at Headingley, all they have to play for is their pride and keeping themselves second in the ICC rankings, thus, preventing England from going into the Ashes as world number two.

As a bowling unit they have disappointed this series, struggling to bowl England out on numerous occasions has allowed England to post big scores and prevent Danish Kaneria, who could have been predicted as their main weapon before the series, from being able to attack and expose weakness of England, the ball spinning and having men around the bat. The toss could provide crucial as to whether Kaneria will get a likely chance of bowling with fielders around the bat. If Pakistan bat first and make a good total then Pakistan will be able to attack, this could allow Kaneria the chance to really show what he can do when he is purely looking for wickets. The return of Mohammad Asif could increase the chance of Kaneria being given attacking fields if the pace bowler does play. Inzamam Ul-Haq has stated that Asif has played matches in Pakistan so if fully fit. If he is included this will result in the likely removal of Mohammad Sami from the side; he was out-bowled by Umar Gul and Shahid Nazir at Headingley and his own personal performances have offered little to smile about.

Pakistan's middle order will, once again, have great expectation upon their shoulders. Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf are both in great touch and it seems almost inevitable they will make decent contributions in one of the innings. Inzamam, after his consecutive run of half centuries ended, has struggled to really get going this series, scores of 0, 13, 26 and 37 suggest he is getting better innings by innings but he will really want a big score to take some form and confidence into the one-day series. As for the openers, I don't have much to suggest for them, only question the need for the selectors to drop players after one poor performance in a match and allow for no consistency in selection. With the loss of Shoaib Malik, this series, there has not been a solid opener present, surely this would alarm the selectors into not chopping and changing every game. Given the past three match performances from the opening pairs, not much will be expected from the opening stand this match.

The weather forecast suggests that there could be rain intervals towards the middle and end of the match. This could work against both sides if a batsman friendly wicket is on show.

Please discuss all build-up to the match in this thread and I hope that you enjoy your viewing (whether watching, listening, reading or any other way) of the match itself.

[gangstacocacola]

Inzamam has hinted that mohammad asif can play which will be a major confidence boost for pakistan and especially umar gul whos been under pressure a bit as he was the only bowler that got england struggling. also there is a chance that rana naved can play. pakistan will be hoping for a win that can boost their confidence a bit and enough to get them going in the ODI series. England will be hoping to make it 3-0 and get some momentum going for the ashes rematch

[greg]

Rain will intervene if the forecast is accurate.

[greg]

Pakistan have won the toss and elected to field.Strange decision to field at an Oval test.

[Vrock]

I agree greg, there is the returning Mohammad Asif to strenghten the attack but I think a lot is rested on his shoulders for Pakistan to perform with the ball. It's a very risky move but it could win the test match, it depends if the bowlers get the ball in the right areas and whether they take any chances England's batsmen offer.

[Mr Hutt]

strange decision but it may prove to be a great one.. depends on whether pak can do what they back themselves to... bowl england out

[Vrock]

Rain, rain, go away. Come again in five days.

[Speedboy Salesman]

Quick shower.... Asif/Gul both look dangerous against a unsecure Trescothick (again..)...

England 11-0

[Vrock]

You've got it on the head there Speedboy, Trescothick is looking tentative, there are no doubts about that and some good lines from Asif and Gul are not allowing him any easy runs.

Still no wickets down for England and no major opportunties yet created.

[Speedboy Salesman]

Massive screw up running between the wicket from Strauss and Trescothick, nearly resulted in a run out...