Pakistan vs. England - 3rd ODI

[Victor Frankenstein]

Solanki i'd agree with, he looks the part but often gets out to a rash short early on so hasn't made the volume of runs to justify a regular place. But Colly, whilst i disagree with him in the test side, he'd be one of my first picks for the odi's. He regularly contributes to partnerships in the middle order, rotates the strike well and is a competent replacement as chief nurdler for graham thorpe, he can also hit the big boundaries when needed. Add to that his excellent fielding and passable bowling i don't see he has much to prove at all and should be a regular.

[Crunchy]

Collingwood doesnt score the runs though, 4 of his 8 fifties and 1 of his 2 hundreds have come against the 2 minnows. Looking at his record innings by innings it suggests he's out of his depth when meeting quality opposition

[honestbharani]

England have a tough tough job. They are missing a few key players and Pak will be in full strength. Plus England are already demoralized because of their defeats.

[Occasional Fan]

England won the toss and put Pakistan in. Pakistan got off to a fairly solid start before Plunkett came on to do some initial damage, removing Salman Butt and Younis Khan in the space of three balls. Pakistan, however, are not holding back and England - Harmison in particular - are not helping their own cause with their offer of nine wides so far. After 19 overs, Pakistan are 97-2, and England must stop these runs coming. Fielding restrictions will end for England at the end of the next over.

[greg]

Well done Plunkett.Seems a bit of a repetitive theme over the last few weeks.He looks a real find for the future.Could restrict James Anderson to a bit part player for years to come.

looks like Bell will replace Anderson later on to get the extra bat in.We will have a long batting line up today.

[greg]

TMS are having a nightmare.They keep losing the line.Every time i go in the kitchen and stick radio on they are in the studio.Thank goodness for Sky.

Well batted Kamran Akmal,another ton.We will be glad to get out of Pakistan and see the back of him.

[Victor Frankenstein]

Fantastic performance by Pakistan so far, Kamran Akmal is a real find, if he carrys on like this over the next couple of years then he'll definately earn the crown of "next adam gilchrist".

Some good bowling by Plunkett but poorly backed up by the other bowlers and even the fielders, a very dissapointing display by England as a team so far, they just haven't gelled at all on this Pakistan tour, I fully expect another collapse and big defeat here. We'll have no trouble with the run rate, it's the loss of wickets that we'll lose by, if only each batsman was allowed 3 goes Still, you never know, we have the batting ability to match whatever Pakistan get but i fear it's the batting intelligence and tactics that let us down in odi's, if Pakistan don't hold their catches or we get a lucky break from one of the umpires then any score is possible, especially if Freddy, Solanki, Tresco and Bell (he actually scores pretty quickly in odi's) get in and start scoring heavily.

[greg]

Akmal out.Dancing boy in.Great innings by Akmal.Durham have taken all the wickets so far.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by greg

TMS are having a nightmare.They keep losing the line.Every time i go in the kitchen and stick radio on they are in the studio.

The Cricinfo commentary is also breaking down every couple of minutes. And they apparently don't have a studio! I am listening to the testcard and music at the moment. Very annoying.

Good to see Plunkett getting involved in another wicket. Interesting also that Afridi has come in ahead of Inzamam. A commentator on Cricinfo suggested that that really was a gift to the Pakistan viewing public in general, and the Karachi crowd in particular. If he clobbers a few runs, everyone's happy. If not, Inzamam is next in. Good PR for sure, and we are looking at a big target here for England.

[trojan!]

great innings by Kamran Akmal for his 109 off 111 balls