England v Pakistan | 1st Test | Old Trafford, Manchester | 5-9 August, 2020 | Day 1 Thread

Babar going after Bess might be good for Shan if they decide to take him off the attack with Shan looking vulnerable against the spinner
Good batting in partnerships
 
Shan and Babar doing well so far.... hopefully the rain break doesn't disrupt them.
 
Honestly seen our next gen batsman. Most are hardworking, willing to put head down and work on mistakes unlike Shezzy or U. Akmal. I am talking about Imam, Shan, Rizzu and of course Bobby. Haris inspite of talent has been disappointment. If we get rid of toxic players like Hafeez, Malik, Azhar, Shafiq we will progress very soon.
 
Bad time for break - momentum was with PAK. Now they’ll have to start again
 
Honestly seen our next gen batsman. Most are hardworking, willing to put head down and work on mistakes unlike our past youngsters like Shezzy and U. Akmal. I am talking about Imam, Shan, Rizzu and of course Bobby. Haris inspite of talent has been disappointment. If we get rid of toxic players such as Hafeez, Malik, Azhar and Shafiq who drag our team down across formats we will progress very fast into a top side.
 
Honestly seen our next gen batsman. Most are hardworking, willing to put head down and work on mistakes unlike our past youngsters like Shezzy and U. Akmal. I am talking about Imam, Shan, Rizzu and of course Bobby. Haris inspite of talent has been disappointment. If we get rid of toxic players such as Hafeez, Malik, Azhar and Shafiq who drag our team down across formats we will progress very fast into a top side.

Wouldn't be Pakistan cricket without toxic players and a bit of masala.
 
Horrible timing for this rain for Pakistan. I'm at work today, so haven't been able to watch much of it but going by the scorecard, it looked like Babar was in flow.
 
Get to 250 and it's game on. Hard work is done now middle order just has to chip in
 
Rains stopped, but lots of dark clouds hovering around
 
Pakistan Players to Score 50+ In 1st 2 Test Innings In England

Saeed Anwar (1996)
Sami Aslam (2016)
Babar Azam (Today)*
 
Excuses if we do well
1. Bogey team England
2. Lucky with Toss
3. Eng always lose first Test
4. Fatigue for Eng
 
Nasser Hussain not happy with England

"No, they were rubbish. They were absolutely rubbish, to be honest. You can't say that about this England attack for a long time - South Africa they were brilliant, West Indies they were brilliant. You're talking about Broad, Anderson, Archer and Woakes, I'm thinking that is one of England's greatest ever attacks and they bowled absolutely pants there.

"You've got a bloke in Babar Azam, who is their gun player, who was struggling before lunch, getting all squared up. That is when you go hard at him, you don't run up and bowl little leg-stump clip ball four, leg-stump clip ball four, full toss four. That was poor. The rain came at the right time for England because they got that horribly wrong in that hour."
 
I thought we would be all out by now. Touch wood it is an excellent start by us all things considered. The tail seems very long though.
 
This is Pakistan's game to lose.

With 121 runs on the board? They've batted well, but don't bat very deep so a couple of quick wickets could easily see England back in the box seat. This is still very much anyone's game.
 
Babar Azam in the World Test Championship so far

Inns 9
Runs 667
50+ scores 7
Ave 111

He is the only batsman with average in excess of 100 in the competition
 
Dont want to spoil everyone's mood but this is what Azhar Ali reviewed.


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Pakistan has a come long way.

From terror attacks to peace.
 
Nasir Hussain said its not Fab 4 rather definitely Fab 5 with Babar Azam.
 
This 'Out of Exile' documentary is quite good. Sky Sports do a great job with cricket doc's.
Atherton is fantastic, Imran Khan and Wasim Khan speak well (as always). And Ramiz is Ramiz ''we'll have poster boys''
 
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This 'Out of Exile' documentary is quite good. Sky Sports do a great job with cricket doc's.
Atherton is fantastic, Imran Khan and Wasim Khan speak well (as always). And Ramiz is Ramiz ''we'll have poster boys''

Yes. Hopefully we will be seeing Eng touring Pak.
 
Dumb rain... just when Bobby had sharpened his knives for qurbani. Now he will have to resettle and sort of restart.
 
Dumb rain... just when Bobby had sharpened his knives for qurbani. Now he will have to resettle and sort of restart.

Yes, hopefully will be able to get the momentum again.
 
Dont want to spoil everyone's mood but this is what Azhar Ali reviewed.


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Didn't see the dismissal but Shahbaz Sharif could have built a flyover in the gap between bat and pad.


We might be the only team that has a tailender at number three
 
Nasir Hussain talking about England touring Pakistan in 2022.

Tells Wasim Akram that there needs to be a balance between security and freedom for players when they tour Pakistan. Touches the recent Pakistan Stock Exchange incident that things maybe a little concerning. Wasim tried to convince and assure him. But it's incredibly difficult to convince top teams in Pakistan because once the dirt was splashed on Pakistan in 2009, every other team now sort of consider their options before touring and these incidents, even though small does a whole lot of damage.
 
That Out of Exile documentary Sky has done was amazing and quite moving.

I love how Imran even as PM, with economic and foreign policy crises, still takes time to slam departmental cricket and explain the necessity of domestic cricket reform :))
 
Babar at 52 runs of 71 balls. This is the sort of pace or even less in some instances most of our ODI batsmen play at. :))

Note: This is against Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Archer.
 
Nasir Hussain talking about England touring Pakistan in 2022.

Tells Wasim Akram that there needs to be a balance between security and freedom for players when they tour Pakistan. Touches the recent Pakistan Stock Exchange incident that things maybe a little concerning. Wasim tried to convince and assure him. But it's incredibly difficult to convince top teams in Pakistan because once the dirt was splashed on Pakistan in 2009, every other team now sort of consider their options before touring and these incidents, even though small does a whole lot of damage.

I imagine there will some sort of mud slinging going on by a certain other board behind the scenes to prevent teams from touring.
 
Didn't see the dismissal but Shahbaz Sharif could have built a flyover in the gap between bat and pad.


We might be the only team that has a tailender at number three

:)) Good one
 
Man what an innings by babar. And that two in the first test of the series.
 
I imagine there will some sort of mud slinging going on by a certain other board behind the scenes to prevent teams from touring.

Key is to slowly build towards a full tour with a England, Aus or NZ over time.

Get friendlier boards (SL, BD, WI) to continue touring through 2021. Maybe a tri-nation series, just keep taking steps, build momentum.

I don't think it makes sense to push Eng, or Aus right now for a tour. Just don't see that happening, even right now you saw some pushback from Naseer Husain to all the fluff presented in the documentary and by Wasim Akram
 
Dont want to spoil everyone's mood but this is what Azhar Ali reviewed.


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That impact should have been umpires call!

Though, regardless, Azhar has completely lost it. He's shot when it comes to confidence. For a guy who finds it so difficult to score runs even in his best form, it would be nothing less than miraculous if he's able to get out of this rut.
 
Rain not as heavy now, could get some play in, though rain not fully expected to stop till after 5.
 
That's the problem with having Test matches in Manchester, everywhere else could be bathed in sunshine.
 
Key is to slowly build towards a full tour with a England, Aus or NZ over time.

Get friendlier boards (SL, BD, WI) to continue touring through 2021. Maybe a tri-nation series, just keep taking steps, build momentum.

I don't think it makes sense to push Eng, or Aus right now for a tour. Just don't see that happening, even right now you saw some pushback from Naseer Husain to all the fluff presented in the documentary and by Wasim Akram

True, this is the strategy to take, the bigger boards will decide on their own terms and hopefully be able to resist the pressure from this certain other board.
 
Update from Manchester: the weather has got worse. Heavy rain and we could be in for a lengthy delay (Sky)
 
We should get further play, weather can change rapidly in Manchester.
 
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