Mickey Arthur insists England have 'issues' as he looks to exploit selection uncertainty

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur is hoping to exploit England’s uncertainty over selection ahead of the two-Test series starting at Lord’s on May 24.

Arthur’s team famously went top of the Test rankings after their 2-2 draw in England in 2016, but have since dropped to seventh following the retirements of batting legends Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan.

But he believes England – who are only two places higher in the table – find themselves in similar difficulty, with Joe Root desperate for a win after losing 4-0 to Australia and 1-0 to New Zealand during a dismal winter.

‘England are in our position,’ Arthur told the Mail on Sunday. ‘They’ve got two wonderful opening bowlers, and Joe Root and Alastair Cook are wonderful players. Jonny Bairstow’s a fantastic cricketer.

‘But then there are other little issues. Who do they bring in? Who’s their supporting seamer? Chris Woakes was superb against us two years ago, but does he play or does Mark Wood play? Does Moeen Ali start, or do they go with Jack Leach?

‘They’re a very good team in their own conditions, but they’ve certainly got a couple of questions about where they find themselves as a team at the moment.’

Despite the youthfulness of this Pakistan side – opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq and seam-bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf are both making their Test debuts against Ireland – Arthur wants to use the memories of the draw two years ago to inspire his team to their first series win in England since 1996.

‘There are some players here who were part of that,’ he said. ‘They did exceptionally well. Asad Shafiq got a hundred at The Oval and is leading our batting. Azhar Ali got a hundred at Edgbaston.

‘They’re our senior players now – the others bat round them. Haris Sohail and Babar Azam are very good players. Imam-ul-Haq will become a good player. We bat quite deep, and we’ll draw on that.’

Then there’s Mohammad Amir, the left-arm quick whose 12 wickets at 42 in the 2016 series did little justice to his skill that summer. But his new-ball spell in the final of the Champions Trophy at The Oval last June, when he reduced India to 33 for three, was a reminder of his class.

‘He’s a phenomenal bowler and we’re just hoping he gets that one spell that kickstarts the series for us,’ said Arthur. England have been warned.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cr...ach-Mickey-Arthur-insists-England-issues.html

 

[Mamoon]

He is talking too much about the opposition these days. England do have a few question marks, but our whole team is a question mark. You know that your batting is in the dumps when Azhar and Shafiq are your two senior batsmen. There is not much the younger lot can learn from these two.

That "one" spell of Amir has been around the corner for two years now. Time to get real - it is not going to happen. Whatever the underlying reasons are, the fact that is that he is an average Test bowler.

A 2-0 whitewash awaits us, our batsmen have no chance of standing up to Anderson and co. This is not 2016 and we will not get dry pitches. Unnecessary statements by Mickey that will not look good after we are dished out the inevitable thrashings.

 

[hadi123]

Mickey should stay away from these mind games. It's good if you're trying to put the opposition down but when you're the away team and are massive underdogs, best to focus on yourself.