Pakistan vs. England - 3rd ODI

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Mike

Prior runs himself out backing up too far.

Backing up too far, he was hairing down the pitch, he could have shock Tresco's hand!!

[smickel]

Rana gets the wicket of Trescothick, caught by inzi in the slips.

[Victor Frankenstein]

Originally Posted by uham

There should be at least 2 ODI's here,but England I dont know why wants only one

Afraid of being blown up by some nutty Muslims is the main reason, seeing as they are quite capable of getting on a train or a bus though i think it's daft to say one place is safe and somewhere else isn't, if we change things then they've won and the decent majority lose out.

Back to the cricket, great start by England, chasing a massive total lets all go for stupid run outs and gift them an easy wicket in what is already an uphill struggle.. planks. I'll let prior off this time simply because he's inexperienced in odi's and the pressure probably got to him, if he does it again though i expect to see him in the stocks covered in mouldy fruit and veg.

With the exception of the pointless runout, Tresco and Strauss are moving along quite well, Shoaib bowling well so there's no point swinging for it, a lot can happen in 50 overs, 5 an over whilst they get their eye in is a good effort, oh balls, typically as i type this tresco gets out, right, not going to type anything more as i'll put the mochers on them all, see you in an hour when it's all over

[Mike]

Embarrassing stuff: Inzi has given Naved-ul-Hasan two slips so he bowls a widish outswinger and Solanki dutifully obliges by going for the off-drive, with the bat well away from his body, and gets the regulation edge to 2nd slip.

[smickel]

3 down inside the first 10 overs chasing 350+, hard to see England winning from here, but as they say, cricket is a funny game........

[Mr Cricket]

I THINK MOHMMAD SAMI should be brought in for Shoiab he looks very tired. and bowling to many wides

Sami or Arafat

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by smickel

3 down inside the first 10 overs chasing 350+, hard to see England winning from here, but as they say, cricket is a funny game........

Indeed. Letting the first three wickets go so easily leaves a big ask for the middle order, but curiously, at least according to the graphs on Cricinfo, England are slightly ahead in terms of runs scored at this stage (14 overs). Commentators are talking about damage limitation and England not going for the target, but the progress doesn't actually bear that out. Graphs here for anyone who is interested.

Pakistan also take their third power play in overs 16-20, so the graphs are directly comparable. The loss of Strauss right now is a bit of a blow, though. We need Flintoff to fire. England are 79-4 as Collingwood comes in.

[Occasional Fan]

The Cricinfo commentators tell me that Karachi is the only ground on which a serving US President has watched a cricket match. Apparently, in 1949, President Dwight Eisenhower attended to watch part of the contest between Pakistan and Australia. When he was presented to the teams, he was wearing a Pakistan blazer. Richie Benaud reportedly said to him "Mr President: I see you have joined the opposition," and gave the President his cap before he was presented to the Aussies.

President Eisenhower is also credited with changing the nature of the game in Pakistan. Reportedly he said that, as an American, he knew nothing about the game, but he had always understood that it was played on the grass. That was the last season in which Pakistan played its international fixtures on matting.

[Mike]

What did I say earlier about yorkers? Both Strauss and Flintoff undone by yorkers. This loss to Pakistan will drop England to 7th on the LG ODI rankings which means they may have to playoff with the other teams outside the top 6 for the final two seeded places in the World Cup.

[Occasional Fan]

Is that a World Cup issue, Mike, or ICCCT? I know they are expected to have to deal with the preliminaries for the ICCCT next November, but I didn't know there was a bearing on the WC as well.