England vs. Pakistan: Starts tomorrow

[am Bays]

Got a mate doing some vcoaching work with the Surrey and kent academies and he rates Monty as a bowler, he certainly ain't no pie thrower. However as a fielder he makes Phill Tufnell look like Ricky Ponting.....

[Rik E Boy]

Didn't watch last night but England lead by 341 runs with 3 wickets remaining, Double century to Mohammed Yousuf and a century to skipper Struass in England's second dig. Yep, the draw looks the goods. Monty 0/93

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Andrew Strauss turned back the clock to the glorious days of bore when he elected to bat on for 30 minutes on the fifth day, declaring only when Liam Plunkett edged to Akmal. Pakistan with a mere 380 to get in 85 overs.

However, this decision looked a lot better than it turned out in the end when Matthew Hoggard broke with protocol and dismissed a top order player..Butt lbw for 0 of the first ball of the innings. The young Pakistan top order then proceeded to prod, smash the odd brilliant shot and threw in a few shots that would have embarrassed Bruce Reid along the way. Imran Farquat was the next to go, again hitting to Collingwood off the bowling of Hoggard who just loves bowling to lefties..Australia take note.

The rest of the day settled into the pattern I predicted two days ago, with 'Monty' coming into the attack and claiming two wickets for England getting a bit of turn along the way. The odd ball went through the top of the wicket but England's attack didn't threaten once the pros Yousuf and Inziman came in so in the end it's 0-0 and Strauss' decision was probably justified in the end.

The winner in this test was the wicket, not much swing at all which is quite unusual for the Lords ground. My cricinfo has crashed but I'd suggest that Mohammed Yousef with his double of 202 and 48 would have given him the man of the match award. See you next week sports fans.

regards,

REB

[mal]

Marvellous Richie!

Poms have go no depth.

Strauss,Tresthcotik,Hoggard,Harmison are good cricketers.
The rest are not good enough or ready to beat
the Aussies later this year.

[blink]

Marvellous Richie!

Poms have go no depth.

Strauss,Tresthcotik,Hoggard,Harmison are good cricketers.
The rest are not good enough or ready to beat
the Aussies later this year.

I think Flintoff is more than good enough to beat the Aussies....

Having said that, he can't do it all on his own. Strauss, Trescothick, Pietersen, Hoggard, Harmison (and Vaughan & S. Jones if fit) will have to play to the best of their abilities this summer for England to have any chance of retaining the urn. They certainly have the talent to beat Australia, but can it shine playing out of England - time will tell.

[mal]

Marvellous Richie!

Poms have go no depth.

Strauss,Tresthcotik,Hoggard,Harmison are good cricketers.
The rest are not good enough or ready to beat
the Aussies later this year.

I think Flintoff is more than good enough to beat the Aussies....

Having said that, he can't do it all on his own. Strauss, Trescothick, Pietersen, Hoggard, Harmison (and Vaughan & S. Jones if fit) will have to play to the best of their abilities this summer for England to have any chance of retaining the urn. They certainly have the talent to beat Australia, but can it shine playing out of England - time will tell.

oops I FORGOT fLINTOFF he is injured at the moment...

[Rik E Boy]

Vaughan's knee is rooted. He won't play all that many more tests anywhere I would have thought. Jones probably won't tour Australia.

regards,

REB

[blink]

The injuries to those two players are a shame. In the name of competition I would have loved to see these two tour Australia. Vaughan had arguably the best tour of Australia by a batsmen for a long time when he came out in the last Ashes. Plus we all know how dangerous a bowler a fully-fit Simon Jones could be on the Australian wickets.

[Maddogmike]

Its been said over here Vaughan def out of the Ashes - and Jones about 10% chance to tour. Basically means he is gone. Giles has hardly played in the past 10 months and would be lacking match practice. Bring it on. I have about 10 mates from the UK coming over with expectant dreams. KEEP DREAMING!