England v Pakistan 2020.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Sounds like he's fairly quick.

[mikesiva]

Rizwan showing Buttler how to take catches off the spinner.

[DiligentDefence]

Butler has a lot of runs to score to make up for his mistakes.

[Durhamfootman]

106 just for Masood

[Durhamfootman]

he might have made more mistakes for all I know

[sussexpob]

Rizwan showing Buttler how to take catches off the spinner.

Shame Kamran Akmal isn't around still. He gave everyone nine lives.....

[Arthur Crabtree]

he might have made more mistakes for all I know

Dropped Yasir today, but it didn't cost any.

[bigfluffylemon]

England bowl first, bowl the wrong length, miss chances and let their opponents set the tempo of the game? Followed by a top order collapse? England play like sh1te in the first test of the series? All so depressingly familiar it makes you wonder why we bother watching, sometimes.

Will this be the 5th or 6th series in a row where England have lost the first test (ok, they haven't lost this one yet, but they're going to need a minor miracle not to)? Are they only capable of putting in a performance when all the fans and media are down on them? We're going to be toast (as usual) in 2021 in Australia...

[Alviro Patterson]

Rory Burns side on technique might work well against county trundlers, but he needs to be straighter against a potent Pakistan bowling attack. Sibley fared better but got unstuck with a delivery that appeared faster than the speed gun of 80mph suggested. Stokes going down the track early on was not smart batting against a wicked delivery. Root playing a cut shot at practically 5th stump, again not smart when leaving was suffice.

The junior bowler bowling near 90mph looked good, but he was up and down and too predictable. Shaeen Afridi has taken English conditions like a duck to water.

[Durhamfootman]

he might have made more mistakes for all I know

Dropped Yasir today, but it didn't cost any.

poor old Dom Bess. No chance of becoming the fastest spinner to 100 test wickets with Jos behind the stumps. Probably no chance of getting 100 test wickets with Jos behind the stumps. Good luck trying to make your way as an international spinner if you have to miss out on 3 wickets in every innings

[Arthur Crabtree]

Matt Prior missed plenty off Swann. But he made a lot of runs.

[Durhamfootman]

Pope brings up his 50

a good time to do it with all his senior players dropping like flies around him

[sussexpob]

Hes a real quality player, Pope. I think hes going to go on to be a really important batter for England moving forward. Just needs to work on his initial concentration, hes a bit susceptible early on, but once he gets in he has test match quality written all over him

[sussexpob]

Rory Burns side on technique might work well against county trundlers, but he needs to be straighter against a potent Pakistan bowling attack

Its been something mentioned before, AP. But Rory has explained that his technique is actually built round his eyesight. I assume from his previous interviews that he suffered from amblyopia as a child that wasnt picked up or treated, so he has a very strong left eye ocular dominance. Its a condition where you have a vision imbalance between the right and left side of the eye, it can come from many causes but mostly from people who have near sight in one eye, far sight in the other. The brain tries to focus both eyes the same way, so you end with different vision in both eyes. If left untreated, the worst focusing eye over time gets passed over by the brain, and it stops processing visual stimulus in that eye (hence its name lazy eye).

Adults who never had treatment for it as children end up with the vast majority of their vision coming from one side. Its common for people in Burns case to have completely blurred vision and pretty much zero visual clarity or depth perception in their lazy eye.

So he actually has to open his stance towards mid on so his left eye can see for him down the pitch. If he was straight on he would be totally blinded, he simply couldnt do it.

[Arthur Crabtree]

With Pope, Stokes and Root (if the latter refinds his game) England actually have a middle order again. They have openers that will do for now. And plenty of useful pace bowlers. They need a number three, a keeper and a spinner and there's finally a team there