Pakistan v England Test Series *** Spoilers ***

I think we have to be careful when comparing players on averages; KP batted over 70 last summer; that was down to one or two good knocks, the rest of the time he was very ordinary. Bell is a cracking player, probably one of our best "pure" batsman but he is very patchy. I'm not sure if it's confidence or pitch/bowlers that means he can't maintain form but I wouldn't drop him yet - the are certainly places up for grabs - but I'd hope Bell's ins't one of them.
 
Monkeymatt said:
I thought exactly the same, I remember posting on these forums that he only got wickets because his bowling was so bad! He is very like Stuart Broad at the start of his career, hopefully he doesn't spend the next few years bowling half track ***** like Broad did! The only problem for Finn is that there are several more experienced bowlers who should be coming back from injury soon(Tremlett and Bresnan) which means he is unlikely to get a place in the test tea to aid his development..
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I remember that. I remember disagreeing with you, and saying that Finn was a good bowler ;)

I also remember that for a while now everyone has been going on about Jonathon Trott's average, saying how it was the 2nd highest of all time etc etc.

I was hoping for England fans to calm down. His average is now 53, and will continue to go down ;)
 
Monkeymatt said:
Interesting to see the Bell debate reemerging, he does very little when he is in the ODI team, yet when he isn't in it people seem to think he was brilliant. In 2011, Bell averaged 28.6 in ODI's whereas Pietersen averaged 31.7. So despite Pietersen having awful form, he is still outscoring Ian Bell in one-day'ers...

I think now is the perfect time to get rid of the "old" middle order and bring in new, younger faces to take us towards the next world cup. I think Morgan, Pietersen and Bell all need to sit out for most of the English summer, get some form for their counties and then try and earn their places in the side. If they are as good as we/they believe, then they will get back in the team, if not then the younger players keep their places. Win win for everybody.
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I think you're missing my point with regards to Bell. I'm not denying his record is poor, but he simply hasn't had the chance at the top of the order since he's been in good form. During the summer his strike rate in test cricket was over 60, he also got a 50 at over a run a ball against Sri Lanka in one test. When it came to the ODIs, he was stuck in the lower-middle order. It doesn't make sense for him to bat there in ODIs - can you think of any other side in ODI cricket who do that? Look where Jayawardene and Tendulkar bat (no, I'm not saying he's as good, but a similar style of batsman).

On the other hand, Pietersen is now being given the chance to open when he hasn't shown any potential to open in ODI cricket before!
 
oli collett said:
I think you're missing my point with regards to Bell. I'm not denying his record is poor, but he simply hasn't had the chance at the top of the order since he's been in good form. During the summer his strike rate in test cricket was over 60, he also got a 50 at over a run a ball against Sri Lanka in one test. When it came to the ODIs, he was stuck in the lower-middle order. It doesn't make sense for him to bat there in ODIs - can you think of any other side in ODI cricket who do that? Look where Jayawardene and Tendulkar bat (no, I'm not saying he's as good, but a similar style of batsman).

On the other hand, Pietersen is now being given the chance to open when he hasn't shown any potential to open in ODI cricket before!
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Pietersen didn't do too badly when he opened in the World Cup, 39 v Holland, 31 v India, 59 v Ireland, 2 v South Africa and then didn't play the rest of the world cup due to injury. Bell had his chance against Sri Lanka and only scored 25...

I don't think Pietersen is the best man to be opening, but personally I don't see Bell is a better alternative. I think Kieswetter should be opening, with Pietersen at 5 and Morgan at 6 to take advantage of the batting powerplay.

Well played Broad, getting a wicket only for it to be a no-ball and conceeding 13 off the over..

EDIT: Broad gets a wicket, but would have preferred to get Hafeez out..
 
One More Solo said:
I'm not convinced by England's ability to chase a total with Trott and Cook so this should be interesting.
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Not sure Trott is the main man at the moment, he has scored 23 runs in 2 games, in the same period Pietersen has scored 40 and Bopara 108. I think we are in a very good position to chase down any total Pakistan set as we bat right down to order. Patel, Broad, Swann can all bat.

Well done Finn, Pakistan are 50/3 off 10.
 
LOLworthy batting performance yet again by Paks top order...**** me they are crap:(...absolutely raging at how inept the Paks top order batsmen are at times:mad:

Unless we get 200+ i cant see us winning this game therefore losing the ODI series...probably end up getting whitewashed in the ODI's:p.
 
Least we have some sort of a game now with Afridi and U Akmal having steadied the innings slightly. If Afridi bats right through until the end, we can possibly see 220-230+ but that is a huge ask.

It will be interesting to see how England go chasing under lights.
 
Big wicket, Afridi gone. Now we will be lucky to see 200 but we can get there, we just need to see out the remaining overs.
 
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