2nd Test England v Pakistan, Old Trafford, 22-26 July

[hopeforthebest]

I'm pretty confident that England will win this test as I think the defeat at Lords came as a great shock to them. England has been something of a fortress against foreign invasion and I suspect a degree of complacency was evident at Lords. Vince must tighten up his approach to batting or this could be his last game and Hales cannot go on living off his one day reputation forever. Root is recently beginning to play like Ian Bell in his last two years with England often prettily but too often pretty awful. The fact is that it's the top four who must set the tone to achieve a good innings total and put Pakistan under pressure.

[bigfluffylemon]

I wish I shared your optimism.

I can't see the point in playing six bowlers/bits-and-pieces cricketers when the batting was the issue last test. With Anderson coming back in, if an attack featuring Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes (plus one spinner) can't bowl Pakistan out in English conditions, cutting a batsman for a second modest spinner/allrounder isn't going to help matters.

The only thing that puzzles me is the amount of surprise running around that England lost. Pakistan are a good side with a strong bowling attack, and England are very inconsistent. I said before the series I wouldn't be at all surprised if England didn't win.

[hopeforthebest]

I was unimpressed by the WI umpire, he was giving LBW decisions that barely scraped the edge of the stump on umpires call. At present for the fielding team's referral to overrule an umpire's decision on LBW, at least 50% ( in future that will be reduced to 25% ) of the ball must be in contact with the stumps yet for the batting team, the umpire's decision is correct if there's any contact with the stumps no matter how tiny.

[Aidan11]

A week ago I would have said we'd win this but Pakistan fought well at Lord's and I don't think it was a one-off.

Pakistan have been known to blow hot and cold but under Misbah they look a good professional outfit.

[Aidan11]

Also I'd prefer it if we didn't play two spinners.

[hopeforthebest]

I agree Aidan, Pakistan are no pushovers if they are at their best but we didn't put them under sustained pressure.

[Arthur Crabtree]

The only thing that puzzles me is the amount of surprise running around that England lost. Pakistan are a good side with a strong bowling attack, and England are very inconsistent. I said before the series I wouldn't be at all surprised if England didn't win.

Formidable at home, but little record away, and struggled against Zimbabwe, drawing on their last tour outside Asia. Wahab and Rahat's Test records are ordinary, and Amir's career was brief, troubled and long ago. Their spinner has never played outside Asia, and wasn't expected to receive much encouragement from the groundstaff. Their best batters are unusually old, Misbah has never played a Test in England before, and of the others only YK has played much at all. Their catching is unreliable. England had just beaten SA away, and another visiting Asian side to the UK had just been trounced. England beat the world's best side at home last summer.

Great win for Pakistan. They're not a side I've liked much in the past because of many incidents which have damaged the game, and the belief expressed by some of their players that they are somehow morally superior, which made their hypocrisy seem worse. But they appeared an extremely likeable group of players at Lord's. Misbah has performed a bit of a miracle in changing the way his side is perceived.

[hopeforthebest]

I hope England bat first in this test so we can see how our batsmen perform without scoreboard pressure and how the Pakistan bowlers perform without 340 runs behind them as they did at Lords.

[Dr Cricket]

Pakistan should probably be the favorites in this test, pitch more likely to suit their bowlers.

[Dr Cricket]

Lol just checked the oval website for tickets and tickets are half price now the best seats are 60-70 pounds and the side on seat the ones I don't really like are 30-40 pounds.
2 days sold out and 2 days about half to 60 percent sold.

Good value as well since the T20 blast games at oval usually are 25-30 pounds if you buy it on the day.

[Aidan11]

We've won the toss and are going to bat.

[yuppie]

No leg spin ordeal in the 4th innings for England then.........

[Dr Cricket]

Wonder if England actually planned and prepared for yasir shah or just assumed because it is being played in England he won't play a big part.

Especially with it being his first test outside Asia.

[yuppie]

Has England ever been able to play quality leg spin. They don't seem to come across it much in the country game. The ECB don't seem to want to nurture leg spin players. From the outside it almost seems that they have there heads in the sand when it comes to leg spin bowling.

[Dr Cricket]

They finally sing Jerusalem, guessing mcc couldn't afford a singer last test match lol.