Pakistan In England.

[Ernest]

Well soon be the first Test between Pakistan and England.

Pakistan took the honours in Pakistan will a very good series win after England Ashes victory.

I think that victory has made this series more interesting, and England won't want to get beat two on the trot.

Pakistans best bowler will be missing "Shoaib" that's a shame as I enjoy good pace bowling, but to even things up I think Michael vaughan will be missing, and a question mark over Flintoff.

So it should be a hard fought series - I really don't know who will win.

Do you?.

[Vrock]

Looking from this scorecard of Pakistan's first warm-up match against Leicestershire I would suggest that their batsmen are all in good touch, particuarly in the first innings where they all contributed with solid scores. I do understand that Leicestershire's pace bowling attack especially were lacking in any real kind of first class experience but you still have to hit the ball to the boundary and play your shots. This can only boost their confidence ahead of a series where England will be looking to win it with the ball rather than the bat.

I think we will get a better idea of Pakistan's form going into the tests based upon their match against England 'A' next week. We will see Matthew Hoggard in that game as well as Alastair Cook. If Pakistan prevail in that match I think we could see a very close series, although Sri Lanka struggled against England 'A' earlier this summer and they managed to draw the series, Pakistan may be more effective in ceasing the opportunities given.

With the loss of Akhtar and still possibly Rana as well Pakistan will depend upon Kaneria, Malik and Afridi to play a bigger role in taking wickets. It is well documented of England's less than fabulous play against spinners some of the time and we will see if the Pakistani slow bowlers can take advantage of that.

Flintoff missing the first test could provide an excellent opportunity for Pakistan to snatch an early victory and put England on the back-foot for the rest of the series. Not forgetting that the first test is at Lord's - not exactly the best ground for England in terms of success either.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Vrock

Flintoff missing the first test could provide an excellent opportunity for Pakistan to snatch an early victory and put England on the back-foot for the rest of the series. Not forgetting that the first test is at Lord's - not exactly the best ground for England in terms of success either.

Yes Lords is not a good ground for England, worth remembering that England got thrashed here if 2005 by the Aussies, but came back and won the series.

I still can't decide there are so many factors not least Flintoff and Vaughan, but Pakistan have problems also, I think Akhtar missing could be the deciding factor for England, i think he was Pakistans main threat, him and Flintoff not playing has spoiled things a little.

I think this series is very important for England with the Ashes due, nothing less than a series win will do to prove Englands one day form (not yet at least) is not the same as Test form.

[batoutofhell]

i predict 70-30 in favor of pakistan

[Vrock]

Originally Posted by Ernest

nothing less than a series win will do to prove Englands one day form (not yet at least) is not the same as Test form.

Just to focus on our bowling for this post, looking at our choice opening bowlers in the one-dayers we had Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett, then moving to the test arena and we have Harmison again and Matthew Hoggard. Seen as Harmison, of recent times, has had similar form it seems in both forms of the game I shall take him as the same for the purpose of my point.

When Plunkett opens in one-dayers he has an erratic bowler with him, someone who is currently not able to keep good control of line and length and this rubs off onto Plunkett. Clearly Plunkett's straying of line and length is a problem, we have seen it before and I am sure we may see it again in the future.

Now look at Matthew Hoggard opening in the tests with a like-for-like (one-day) Harmison, a little bit erratic and can spray it about at times. However, Hoggard himself keeps a good line and length, irrelevant of whether he takes wickets he generally bowls with much greater control than Plunkett has done in one-dayers.

Clearly, Plunkett does have the capacity to bowl with good control and get the ball to do something, this was evident in the tests against Sri Lanka when he a couple of spells where he really got the ball to come out nicely and troubled the batsmen.

I believe that it's Hoggard's mental strength which gives England a better setup for test bowling so that youngsters have a platform to bowl with, a stand-out guy who they can take confidence from and put that into their own game. It is his ability not to be affected by what the guy at the other end is doing, especially when it is something negative. He can ignore that and get on with his own game which allows the change bowlers to really produce something.

Plunkett opening in one-dayers does not have this same ability, his bowling becomes very erratic and the change bowlers take nothing from the openers bowling. Thus resulting in poor control throughout an innings till someone like Collingwood, who has that presence to ignore the guy at the other end, makes a breakthrough or we get a bit of luck with a batsmen giving his wicket away.

That, for me, is why Test form will be so much better, for now, than our one-day form in bowling.

[greg]

I think we have to wait and see which team has the strongest bowling line up as both sides bowlers are dropping like flies at present which is a shame as it was looking like being a great series.Hopefully it still will be.

[Mongoose]

Pakistan will be stronger than a depleted and inexperienced England line up. Pakistan also have a few injuries, but not to the same extent as England, who have now lost the entire bowling attack at some point since the Ashes. A struggling Harmison looks like the only front line England bowler to feature.

Pakistan will be hit by the injuries to Shoaib and Rana, who are a superb opening pair. Kamran Akmal is also injured, I've just heard. Not sure how long he will be out for, but he is a key player for Pakistan. The middle order for Pakistan is very strong. The big three od Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf and Inzi will all score runs, it's almost guaranteed.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Mongoose

The big three od Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf and Inzi will all score runs, it's almost guaranteed.

Well two of the big three got nice round zeros yesterday... and they are not even playing England's main team yet!

[Mongoose]

Any batsman can get a round zero, M. But not every batsman can score 200+ or average 45-50 over a career. Pakistan have three of those, arguably three more than England have. I am counting on those three getting some big scores. The key for Pakistan's batting could well be whether at least one of the younger players can give the big guys some decent back-up. Salman Butt looks very impressive, but is untried on English wickets. This could be the series to really set him up as a quality test match opener.