Rodney Thomas
Well-known member
I'm not watching but apparently a few balls started kicking up dust too. Sub-continental wickets can go downhill quickly so you never know with a day 5 pitch (even one as good as this)
[Cricket] Cricket- England tour of Pakistan- October 2024
- Thread starter Eeyore
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LOLZ
0-1 (0.1 overs)
0-1 (0.1 overs)
pasty
A different kind of pasty
SCENES !
Test cricket having very few draws is exactly how it should be - that's a bare minimum requirement for a game that lasts five days. especially in this day and age.
As for this type of track not being the main problem, well I like cricket but would I choose to watch a game on TV as a neutral where the pitch is so clearly a road? No chance. I think it's a massive problem.
Reading and listening to test bores going on about good but unexceptional players making huge scores is really quite disconcerting. Test cricket should have peril and jeopardy in every over. In the incredible Ashes series of 2005, it felt like that was the case in every single ball.
Rodney Thomas
Well-known member
Surely, like with anything, a bit of veriety is the spice of life. You've got 5 days, might as well use them once in a while. I would say it might get a bit boring watching West Indies lose in 2.5 days every match, even for the neutral.
Yeah I agree that lop-sided series are every bit as bad as games on flat pitches that don't give the bowlers a sniff, but I think that's more about scheduling series sensibly as opposed to preparing pitches that are inadequate for sensible contests. Obviously the issue you highlight is another problem that the people running the game have little interest in fixing.
To be honest, this one feels like Pakistan are doing their best to disprove my annoyance anyway, as they are one down already and have given England two semi-presentable catches already.
TWO down.
29-2... Atkinson strikes.
29-2... Atkinson strikes.
THREE down
Babar Azam nicks off.
Babar Azam nicks off.
Pevenseagull
meh
- Jul 20, 2003
- 20,693
Poor shot
big wicket
big wicket
4 down - great catch by Duckett!
Boom - 5 down.
Imagine scoring 550+ and losing by an innings in 4 days 
Imagine scoring 550+ and losing by an innings in 4 days
How many times has a team opened with 550+ and lost?
From the BBC live text:
Only five times has a team scored 550 in the first innings of a match and lost. No team has done so and lost by an innings.