Well we are at the eve of the match, England lose Vaughan so Trescothick takes over as captain and it looks like Bell will slot it at 3. Also, remember that young kid I told you about ages ago? Alastair Cook? Well, he's been called up as first cover and may open in the 3rd test when Strauss goes home. Here's to hoping he plays :) . Top player.

Should be an interesting test match, and a nice early start for us at 4:30am. Me thinks I'll have to get to bed soon if I'm going to be up for it.

Anyway, team news:

Pakistan (from): Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Asim Kamal, Hasan Raza, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmed, Arshad Khan.

England (probable): M Trescothick (captain), A Strauss, I Bell, K Pietersen, P Collingwood, A Flintoff, G Jones (wkt), A Giles, S Udal, M Hoggard, S Harmison.

Umpires: B Bowden (NZ), S Taufel (Aus)

I'm slightly aggrieved that Udal has got in shead of Loudon, I'd prefer to blood a youngster than take a backwards step. Anyway... Come on lads!!

I agree come on the lads, I'd also like to have seen Loudon play, but I'm abit worried about Marcus as captain I don't feel he's as inventive or attentive as Vaughany.

I'm not up to play with how good this current Pakistan outfit is. Should be an interesting first day.

How flat is this wicket?? It's probably the flattest wicket I've ever seen, there's absolutely nothing in it for the bowlers. This test has draw written all over it. Neither team has the fire-power on this wicket to bowl each other out twice to reach a result IMO.

Hmm, you don't seem to get draws in test matches as much these days though (except when it rains). Batsmen seem to be less able to bat all day than they used to.

Well, the Pakistani batsmen disappointed big time. On a feather bed wicket like it was yesterday they really should have been aiming for a total of around 300 for that day, then bat out today and his a total of 400-450 for the 1st innings. We bowled well though so credit where it's due I suppose. Flintoff, again, the main man for me. The wicket has become slightly more unpredictable today as it's started to break up a bit. Kaneria will take a few wickets today I'm sure, as will Shoaib as he's bowling quite well.
Strauss got out cheaply, sadly, but it was a good ball to be fair. Tresco and Bell building up a nice dangerous partnership here. Both have looked in very good touch and no serious scares, they look very comfortable. Come on Ian, keep showing your talent, I want a good score from you boyo, the wicket is still good for batting, let's have a ton :) .

Well, he managed 71 (EDIT: and it looks like Malik overstepped on the delivery where he was given out, so he was unlucky), so hopefully that'll be a confidence boost & he'll go on to prove BA right by scoring big this tour! ;) Good to see Tres scoring as captain & flying the flag for Somerset. England should capitalise from this position, score lots of runs and put the Pakistanis under pressure for the 2nd innings. A win here would really help banish some of the embarassing results in the build-up. Now we've managed to beat the Australians, we really need to prove we're consistently capable of beating the other test nations, too.

[ November 13, 2005, 16:21: Message edited by: The Magpie ]

Well, England need 174 runs tomorrow and we've won! :banana:

Shame Tres made a hash of things to get out so cheaply, but hopefully the rest of 'em will bat sensibly and see it out tomorrow. I'd rather avoid any Ashes-style nail-biters this series (although "finger-chewers" might've describe them more appropriately!).

The boy Butt looks good for Pakistan; if they hadn't collapsed he'd have put them on top, for sure. I'd watch out for him; but I'm sure Troy Cooley will have been studying the tapes and have a plan to get him out next match, don't you worry... ;)

Well, well, well test match defeat. I think I almost forgot what that felt like. Our boys got complacent if you ask me. That 2nd innings batting display was nothing short of garbage. Pietersen has to take the brunt of the blame for me. He HAS to learn when to reign himself in and not try to smash the ball in half. Collingwood was also poor, it's time he was dropped, I think we've established that he's just not a test player. Udal is also unnecessary if you ask me. Get the lad Plunkett in, or even Jimmy Anderson at a push but another finger spinner who just dollies it down is not what we need. Hopefully Vaughan will be back as well.

Although England did ok for 4 days, it just goes to show how you never know in cricket. A team can dominate a test match for 4 days then play crap on the final day and lose the game. I'm sure this will do the lads a world of good though, remind them they can never afford to take the foot of the peddle.

My series prediction, 1-2 England :) .

Stupid, stupid, stupid all that hard work thrown away and I agree with your assessment Barmy especially with Pietersen. I was at the Oval when he hit that hundred and he was picking his shots much better so he can do it.

My series prediction now 1-1 :)

EDIT: If Vaughan back 2-1 to England :D

Ah, so this England cricket team doesn't walk on water after all. Looks like exactly what happens every time NZ plays Pakistan (i.e. getting blasted out on the last day chasing an easy total).

There's only one Ian Bell! One Ian Beeeeell! There's only one Ian Beeeeell! :)

Come on England, let's salvage that debacle of a Pakistan 1st innings and save this test match. My series prediction stands, 1-2 England :) .

Wow, Pakistan are proving to be stiffer opposition for England than I expected.

Oh God not Jimmy Anderson, please no...
And predictable selection again! This was screaming for Cook to come in for Straussy in the final test, but no, Collingwood is coming in...

Collingwood = Journeyman

I couldn't agree more now.
At least Plunkett has a good chance at starting. Please, Plunkett ahead of Jimbob!!

Well, shows what WE know....

Collingwood was the only guy who held England away from total embarrassment on day one!

Still anyone's test though.

This wicket actually has a little bit of swing though. I don't think we'll see any 400+ scores this test, although the pitch still has a wickedly fast outfield and it's hard to get good bounce off it. Good too see Plunkett in the wickets in his first test match (even though he got slapped a bit), he's a very talented young lad.

Highlight of the day, Harmy nearly breaking Inzy's arm with a nasty delivery. It was a fantastic ball but really caught Inzy awkwardly on the wrist. He was forced to retire and it's not sure whether he'll be back in tomorrow either (hopefully not as he's been unbelievable so far this series, great batsman).

One thing I have noticed, when our bowlers manage to get a bit of pace and bounce the Pakistani batsmen seem to struggle, and that's on these wickets. God help them at Edgbaston and Headingley on a murkey day as that's exactly what they'll recieve. A whitewash is what I'll be predicting.

Well, England stand on the brink of a series defeat after Mohammad Yousuf and Kamran Akmal joined forces at 247 for 5 and proceeded to add an unbroken 199 for the sixth wicket. With roughly 150 overs left in the match, Pakistan are virtually uncatchable and a famous series win should now be a formality. Though its sad to see England's two-year run of series victories come to an end; Pakistan have been much the better team and worthy winners.

So now, England must travel to India, where they can expect little respite and then they must retain the Ashes in Australia. It just doesn't get any tougher than this. :(

Wow, Barmy Army makes 2 mistakes in 2 days - unheard of, I'm losing my touch :lol: .

Rubbish England today, garbage, but the performance looked knackered. Especially Freddie, he looks almost burnt out. The lad has bowled near 530 overs in the '05 calendar year, that's a lot for anyone nevermind an allrounder. The lads need some rest. Still, that's a poor excuse for a crap performance.

Bah, every team plays that many games. They're no more tired than anyone else. Guess they're just not good enough to win over there. Yeah, it's challenging, but it's still a test match and the team is hardly heroic simply for showing up over there.

Who said they were? :lol:

I think that just coming off the back of a very draining winning Ashes series, to go into a tour of Pakistan, which is incredibly tough was just too much for some of our lads. Certainly more than many other teams. Australia are back to winning ways straight away because they have a point to prove. It's harder for our boys.

As I said, it's not really an excuse, too many have underperformed, the batsmen in particular. We'll thrash them when they come back to our place though.

Wow, Shoaib Akhtar, what a performance. Pakistan absolutely blown us away in the last session here, and there's no life in the pitch what so ever. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up to a fantastic performance. Kaneria hasn't been half bad either!
Well played Pakistan, deserved winners.

Oh dear, another disastrous second innings collapse. England had looked in good shapeat lunch and I thought they might salvage a draw but well bowled Pakistan. Still there have been a number of positives in the peformances of Bell and Collingwood; who both overcame subdued summer peformances and subsequent criticism to demonstrate their long-term potential. Well done to both of them and congrats to Pakistan for registering a famous victory.

At least NZ isn't the only cricket team getting destroyed over the weekend. Not only did England get thrashed completely, but Paul Collingwood might have done enough to get reselected!

Gee takes a bit of the Ashes then :D :D especially considering how well we played against Pakistan last series*.

@Barmy - they [Aussie selectors] gave Hussey a shot and he's already scored a couple of centries. After his first one the media predicted that he would be the fifth Aussie to be dropped after making a centry (and be replaced by langer, who had just gotten over his rib injury). Anyway they dropped Clark instead and Langer is batting middle order.

[EDIT] sorry - we played @ home, so the results arn't directly comparable.

Hussey is a brilliant player, I've said before a few times that he should have been in the test side before now. I've always rated him and I honestly think he'll turn into Aussies best batsman. He can defend with the best of the, but also slap a few runs when it's necessary. He's very much a complete batsman.

Hussey is the hottest batsman in world cricket at the moment.

@Barmy - yeah its good to see such a good player in the side. Its a pitty that they waited this long. Mitchell Johnsons going to replace Lee for the last Chappell-Hadlee one-dayer. Lee requires minor nasal surgery. I would have prefered Gillespie to be in it, considering his recent form - at the moment there are no South Aussies in the side. Shaun Tait is fine to bowl now, but needs to work on his throwing arm a bit (for fielding). Still change is good!
Has the English team changed much since the Ashes?

Wow. Just seen the second of the two greatest one days games I have ever seen. NZ set 332 to win. An impossible target. And they do it with an over to spare! Set a new world record for the highest successful run chase in history. Absolutely astounding, coming only a few days after they fell 2 runs short of chasing a target almost as big. Wow.

Nice, go New Zealand! :D I'm chuffed that they won, it's always good to see the Oz lose. Well done shiny tops :) .

Pakistan will have to do something almost as massive, we just set them 328 to win ;).

Well, Pakistan gave it a good go, but not as good as New Zealand. You need Styris and McCullum if you're going chase a score like that. Amazing that we did it pretty much without Fleming (who got 0) and Cairns (who got 6) and Astle (who got 14).

I was a bit worried until Inzamam got out, they were looking good until then and that was crucial. Good to finally beat these guys even if it's only one day.
Weekend belongs to NZ though, good old Scot Styris! Shows they can do it when they apply their minds to it.

Easy win for Pakistan in the next one dayer. What is the point of having Vikram Solanki coming in at number 10?

That was crap.
Solanki was our super sub after our batting collapse; should have subbed him at 6 or 7 though if you ask me, when it was obvious non of our remaining batsmen were going to get many runs - give him more time.

Ouch, another even bigger thrashing by Pakistan over England. That is a massive one day score!

Utter ****. Not good enough England, simple as. Sort it!

Jimmy Anderson and Ian Blackwell (he used to live near me; claim to fame!) claimed 7 wickets between them to get England a narrow consilation victory. O' God, it is bad if we have to turn to those two pie throwers. The England cricket teams empire has taken a serious pummelling on this tour. You can blame the conditions or whatever you like, but our performances were just appalling at times. This was echo's of England pre-Vaughan: hopeless.

Time to regroup, lick our wounds, sort ourselves out and get our selfs ready for India, because that will be even harder against Dravid, Sehwag, Singh, Kumble and company *sigh*.

Well, well Pakistan just hammered India by 341 runs to win the series 1-0. That England series loss to Pakistan doesn't look so bad now, Pakistan area really firing on all cylinders.