England vs Pakistan 4th Test 11-15 August at The Oval

[jakarta]

Might as well start a thread about this game.

Can't see anyway back for Pakistan after the last Test but England have traditionally shot themselves in the foot when in a good position.

An unchanged Team, Vince in particular is a Lucky Man that his Team Mates are playing so well.

 

[BensGrandad]

Surely having won the last test so leading in the series the answer is to concentrate on batting a long 1st innings irrespective of whether we bat first or not, thus making a defeat virtually impossible.

 

[BensGrandad]

Surely having won the last test so leading in the series the answer is to concentrate on batting a long 1st innings irrespective of whether we bat first or not, thus making a defeat virtually impossible. If we could get 400 it would ideal as that would take in excess of a day.

 

[Easy 10]

Got a ticket for the 5th day

Rain please.

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

They were saying this morning that the wicket looks pretty green, and, its overcast. Could be a great toss to win and bowl first

 

[vegster]

They were saying this morning that the wicket looks pretty green, and, its overcast. Could be a great toss to win and bowl first

That's a tad unusual, The Oval traditionally used to be a dry dusty old Rice pudding skin of a wicket for years and we traditionally used to end up with a draw at the end of a series here.

 

[Titanic]

Got a ticket for the 5th day

Rain please.

I'm there tomorrow... sun all day please

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

That's a tad unusual, The Oval traditionally used to be a dry dusty old Rice pudding skin of a wicket for years and we traditionally used to end up with a draw at the end of a series here.

I was thinking the same and I think that is why they were saying it with some surprise. The reporter on SSN was saying he arrived 2 days ago and it was pretty much completely green.

Apparently that was the reasoning behind not bringing Rashid into the team for this test.

Might also be a tactic to nullify the spin threat of Pakistan and give England the best chance to get Number 1 in the world

 

[vegster]

I was thinking the same and I think that is why they were saying it with some surprise. The reporter on SSN was saying he arrived 2 days ago and it was pretty much completely green.

Apparently that was the reasoning behind not bringing Rashid into the team for this test.

Might also be a tactic to nullify the spin threat of Pakistan and give England the best chance to get Number 1 in the world

I see your thinking, we have better seamers than them but they have one spinner who could unlock the door...I remember Sunil Gavaskar scoring 221 batting in the 4th innings there years back...

 

[knocky1]

That's a tad unusual, The Oval traditionally used to be a dry dusty old Rice pudding skin of a wicket for years and we traditionally used to end up with a draw at the end of a series here.

Phil Tufnell would agree with that in 1991 and I think Embury and Edmonds had their moments. Devon Malcolm may beg to differ.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Surely having won the last test so leading in the series the answer is to concentrate on batting a long 1st innings irrespective of whether we bat first or not, thus making a defeat virtually impossible.

I think that after winning two tests in a row England should be going out there with only victory in mind.

Significantly, more importance is being placed on the ICC Test rankings with England keen to overtake Pakistan in third and put pressure on India in second as Cook plans his assault on regaining top spot. You don't get to be the best in the world by having half an eye on the draw in situations like this, you ram home the advantage and with all of the bowlers taking wickets in the 2nd innings at Edgbaston and some of the batsmen coming into form England should be looking to roll them over inside 4 days, weather permitting.

 

[Mackenzie]

I watched Mark Wood bowling last night, he was regularly reaching 92mph. Looking forward to seeing him back in the team again, he must be a better bet than Steve Finn.

 

[vegster]

I think that after winning two tests in a row England should be going out there with only victory in mind.

Significantly, more importance is being placed on the ICC Test rankings with England keen to overtake Pakistan in third and put pressure on India in second as Cook plans his assault on regaining top spot. You don't get to be the best in the world by having half an eye on the draw in situations like this, you ram home the advantage and with all of the bowlers taking wickets in the 2nd innings at Edgbaston and some of the batsmen coming into form England should be looking to roll them over inside 4 days, weather permitting.

I think there is a higher weighting of ICC rankings given to series results rather than individual Tests. The weighting is a combination of the strength of the opposition in world ratings X different values if the series is home or away. It means the likes of Australia would not pick up many rankings points for beating Bangaladesh 3-0 at home but would get more for say beating England 0-1 over 5 Tests in England.... I think we will go safety first and wall this test up.

 

[pasty]

England win toss and BAT !

 

[Titanic]

Captain Cook won the toss and England will bat.

 

[Titanic]

Two changes for Pakistan... Iftikhar Ahmed (for the hapless Hafeez but will bat in the middle order) and Wahab Riaz (for the injured) Rahat Ali in the side and the batting order reshuffled.

England: 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 James Vince, 5 Gary Ballance, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steven Finn, 11 James Anderson

Pakistan: 1 Azhar Ali, 2 Sami Aslam, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Yasir Shah, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Sohail Khan

 

[Titanic]

Michael Holding says he would definitely have bowled. Pakistan wouldn't have made 250.

Misbah says he would have batted.

Interesting.

 

[Titanic]

Ian Botham says he would have bowled.

 

[pasty]

Must admit I was very surprised at the decision to bat, and then even more surprised when Misbah said he would have batted too. Although I guess Misbah could be using a bit of kidology there.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think there is a higher weighting of ICC rankings given to series results rather than individual Tests. The weighting is a combination of the strength of the opposition in world ratings X different values if the series is home or away. It means the likes of Australia would not pick up many rankings points for beating Bangaladesh 3-0 at home but would get more for say beating England 0-1 over 5 Tests in England.... I think we will go safety first and wall this test up.

The more test you win the more points you get., and with Australia losing the series to Sri Lanka but India winning vs West Indies a win in this 4th test would really bunch up the top three. Before the series started the position was this:

England, which recently prevailed 2-0 over Sri Lanka in a three-Test home series, is only three points behind Pakistan’s 111 points. This means that margins of 2-1 or 1-0 win will be enough for it to go past Pakistan in the points table, currently led by Australia at 118 points. Either of these results will see England lift to 110 points and Pakistan slip down to 107.

If England prevails 2-0 or 3-1, it will tie with second-placed India at 112 points, which is due to take on the West Indies in a four-Test series that ends a week after the England-Pakistan series. In case England is able to capitalise on the home advantage even better, it can rise to second position to 113 points with a 3-0 win and to 114 if it blanks Pakistan 4-0.

The small difference in points between India, Pakistan and England throws up a number of interesting scenarios.

A win for Pakistan in the series, by a 2-1 or 3-1 margin, will help it leapfrog India into second place, a position it has reached only once since the officials rankings were launched in 2003. That was in November last year when it beat England 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan even has a chance to surge to the top of the rankings, but to make this happen it will have to win 3-0 or better. Pakistan’s best performance in England has been a 2-0 win in a three-Test series in 1996.

Some of the permutations are:

- If England wins 2-1 = England 110 and Pakistan 107

- If England wins 3-1 – England 112 and Pakistan 105