3rd Test: England vs Pakistan @ The Oval

[CHAPPERS]

Teams:

Pakistan: 1 Yasir Hameed, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Salman Butt (capt), 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Azhar Ali, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Amir, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Mohammad Asif

England: 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn

 

[Titanic]

England won the toss and elected to bat

 

[Scoffers]

Watching it on Skyplayer via my iPad

 

[brightonmark1234]

great start 9 for 1 cook out again

 

[Scoffers]

Cook just cannot stop nicking it. He needs a break from the test team to rediscover his form

 

[Titanic]

AN Cook c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Asif 6

 

[CHAPPERS]

Cook has no idea where his off stump his.

 

[Cromwell Road Gull]

After having the discussion on here last week regarding Cook it appears many think there is no way he will be dropped before the Ashes.

However would it not make sense to drop him down the order to 4. Push Trott up and possibly Morgan to 3. Take a bit of pressure of Cook with hopefully runs on the board then already.

 

[Simster]

We really miss Banger

 

[Perry Milkins]

After having the discussion on here last week regarding Cook it appears many think there is no way he will be dropped before the Ashes.

However would it not make sense to drop him down the order to 4. Push Trott up and possibly Morgan to 3. Take a bit of pressure of Cook with hopefully runs on the board then already.

But he is an opener and he has to step up to the plate in his regular role. Arguably we have better batsmen who can score freely in nos 3,4,5 and 6.

 

[Perry Milkins]

We really miss Banger

agreed.

 

[brightonmark1234]

35-2 strauss out caught behind

 

[Titanic]

10.3 Wahab Riaz to Strauss, OUT, huge appeal for a catch behind! Is that a maiden Test wicket for Wahab Riaz? Umpire Hill says no... but they think about it and refer it. Well, he's got a huge edge on that so the decision's over-turned and that's out! Great moment for the young bowler. And despite the fairly lifeless wicket England have lost both openers

AJ Strauss c Kamran Akmal b Wahab Riaz 15 (34b 3x4 0x6) SR: 44.11

 

[Scoffers]

Looked out in real time, and so it proved

 

[Simster]

52/4

 

[Billy the Fish]

The thing about Cook is that an ashes tour might suit him. On the bouncier aussie wickets he'll have more scoring opportunities off the back foot where he's comfortable.

 

[Gerbil]

Kp gone now 67-5
Matty in

 

[Titanic]

74-6 Morgan gone ct behind.

 

[Titanic]

Wahab Riaz on debut has 9-5-16-4 bowling left arm over.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Looks to me like complacency's crept in.

Winning 7 tests on the trot isn't something we've done in recent history. The Aussies were so good for so long because they kept setting their goals higher and higher. When Glenn McGrath predicted the Aussies would beat England 5-0 in the Ashes he meant it. That's the sort of place we need to be reaching.