Did England take the right decision to bat first at Lord's?

[MenInG]

Given the inexperience of Pakistan's batting line-up would it not have been better to get Pakistan in there and bowl them out for a small total? Instead England find themselves struggling here on Day 1.

 

[UN talkz]

It was poor decision imo

 

[ManFan]

ENG is making the poor decision of having their best player captain.

Root is not a leader, he’s a schoolboy prankster type.

Across the landscape of Test cricket, boards make this mistake time and time again.

 

[hadi123]

Well Pakistan aren't known to be the greatest chasers. Even a lead of 100 + and Pakistan will struggle to chase it down.

 

[Amjid Javed]

If england get 200+ here it will be a good score on this surface. Lets be grateful we didnt have to bat 1st as we would have been all out by now with our batting.

 

[BreadPakoda]

250+ will challenge Pakistan if conditions remain consistent for batting.

 

[Sherlock]

You really can't answer that until Pakistan [opposition] bats too. England could skittle out Pakistan for a paltry score and get on top . Simply put, wait until Pakistan bat.

 

[James]

I think it was a good decision and quite a brave one as well. 4 innings game.

 

[Ab Fan]

Brave decision but I would say a very good decision too. You need to show faith on top order batters.

 

[Zahid87]

Looks like a pretty poor decision right now!

 

[Hasan123]

They should be performing better. Can't blame the outcome of the toss here.

 

[Robert]

I would have done the same as Root.

 

[MenInG]

I would have done the same as Root.

Think that is the done thing at Lord's

 

[Amjid Javed]

Lets hope and pray pakistan can get near englands total 1st. I thought 200 would be a very good total here for england and they fell 16 short.

 

[ads101]

I think so. I don't think it will magically flatten out tomorrow either and on this sort of pitch good to get early runs on the board. And I don't think anyone wants to bat last on this pitch.

Batting first is very rarely a bad decision really in tests. Even if batting second might be better than batting first, it's nearly always better batting third in the second innings than batting last so it'll even out.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

It's probably going to be a low scoring game, Pakistan will do very well to get a significant lead given their batting line up and England's seam bowling being very good at home. Like I said in the commentary thread this game is still wide open, so it's one of those games where the toss is probably not going to be that significant. Pakistan bowlers did really well, got to give them credit.

 

[Cric1234]

Yes collapses are on anytime on this wicket and you don't want to chase anything over 250 batting last on a wicket giving the bowlers some assistance.