“We’ve got to take the good and the bad out of this”.
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Five years on and today we are ranked second in the world. “If that means we have a bit of short-term pain for long-term gain then so be it”. When any player gets closer to the end of the career than the start, there are always questions.
“We’ve got to look into doing something extra”. Yes, his batting was fantastic from the time he launched into the Australian bowling attack past year.
This team has the ability to withstand pressure and produce results in any given situation. It is never easy when you are 70-odd runs in the arrears.
The English came within just six overs of securing an unlikely draw, thanks largely to a fearless batting display from their number eight – Adil Rashid. The 29 centuries scored by our batsmen in the past year is testament to our success. That’s not taking away from the fact he has a few improvements to make and things to work on.
We play by keeping the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition in mind.
Only briefly, in the second innings of the first Test, did Pakistan’s batsmen have any significant difficulty against England’s spinners. Recalled during the Ashes after an 18-month absence, he averages only 25.20 since returning and missed a regulation stumping on the fourth morning of the third Test against Pakistan.
“If you can do it once, you can do it again – and you can do it for longer”.
Pakistan ODI squad (v England): Azhar Ali (Captain), A Shehzad, M Hafeez, Y Khan, S Malik, B Azam, M Rizwan (wkt), S Ahmed (wkt), Anwar Ali, A Yamin, Y Shah, Z Gohar, W Riaz, M Irfan, R Ali, B Asif. But if he doesn’t and the Indian series doesn’t take place and he calls it a day at least he would have finished on a winning note and a total of 109 runs in his last game. The amount of reverse swing they were generating was unprecedented for us.
“If the opportunity comes along that would be an incredible achievement for me and playing out in South Africa against arguably the best bowling attack in the world in away conditions would be a great challenge”. He looked absolutely out of form with the bat and couldn’t replicate the efforts of Anderson and Broad with the ball.
Imran gave a slightly better showing than Rahat but will still be frustrated not to have shone on pitches that did help seamers, albeit not as much as the slower bowlers. Also their throws were reaching the stumps on the bounce.
“If we want to be the best Test team in the world then we need to have two or three top-line spin bowlers”, said Bayliss.
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“It’s really good for me to go and think whether I want to continue or not, but let’s see”. I haven’t decided yet if I will be touring England. “You can not have the surfaces you’re playing on in county cricket and think that the pool of players (available) to pick from, just a level down from the worldwide Test stars, are going to be good enough to fill the gap and play well in these conditions”. “We managed it because we came from the region where the ball gets dry and rough quickly and we did it with our ability”, he said. At this stage of my career I simply can not afford a four or five month gap before touring England. “It was a childhood wish that I could bowl with him, play with him and I was excited to have him here for me”. Cook himself is struggling with a groin injury, but is likely to play through the pain in order to lead his side in what will be a must-win Test.
