Pakistan v England 2012

T.O.W.I.E. ...again, the Cook & Bopara show ! Eng 250-4

Pakistan are 230 all out. Some good bowling from England at the end secured a 20 run victory in Abu Dhabi after it had been looking like being a very tight finish.

Who's going to step up if Cook doesn't score a ton in the next match ? How will we cope if we have to bat 2nd ?

Another win but only Cook, Bopara and Finn are really performing

(16-02-2012 10:05 )Suurbier Wrote:  Another win but only Cook, Bopara and Finn are really performing

Patel has taken 5 wickets in the 2 matches and scored 17 runs from 12 balls when he batted. He's looking a useful player for England in ODIs. Anderson bowled well at the end yesterday and I thought played a big part in England's victory. It might be more difficult though if England have to bat second next time and it would be good to see more runs from the batsmen other than Cook and Bopara, but then Morgan had a handy 25 not out yesterday from 29 balls and couldn't have done much more. Credit to England too for their fielding which has been very good throughout the 2 matches.

Bad captancy by Cook. The England quicks had Pakistan at 50 for 4, so instead of going for the kill Cook pushed the field back and brought on his spinners.

And then Pakistan have given themselves a lifeline by getting 222 all out.

Most captains do the same in ODI's, Misbah let Cook & Bopara get away twice.Afridi got some easy bowling from Bopara.Swann never gets used as an attacking option.Pakistan's one quality batsman missing & a bowler short to accomodate a keeper,makes England favourites.

At last THE EGO delivers ! KP took a more positive option,which is what must happen at the top of the order.Commentators made a good point that the wicket wasn't a typical sub-continent track,so it suited England's bowlers & batsmen.A 9 wicket win is pretty convincing though.

(18-02-2012 15:38 )Charlemagne Wrote:  Bad captancy by Cook. The England quicks had Pakistan at 50 for 4, so instead of going for the kill Cook pushed the field back and brought on his spinners.

But he had to bowl the spinners at some time - maybe that was the right moment? It would have been a big risk to bowl his pace bowlers out and leave only the spinners for the closing overs. It's always hard to decide how best to juggle the bowlers in situations like that. If Cook had kept his pace bowlers on and they hadn't got further wickets it would have put England on the back foot.

An England win by 9 wickets. It's surprising to remember that Pakistan had won 13 out of 14 ODIs before this series. Not to mention that they had whitewashed England 3-0 in the Tests.