Pakistan - best team to tour England in the past few years?

[KhalidRafi]

England have been excellent at home for a period of time now. They haven't lost a series at home in three years. And since, Pakistan have seemed like the only team that really threatened their chances of winning and drew 2-2. New Zealand also managed a 1-1 draw but i guess it could be argued that the result would have been different if the series was longer.

Since losing their last home series in 2014 to Sri Lanka, England have:

Defeated India 3-1
Drawn New Zealand 1-1
Defeated Australia 3-2
Defeated Sri Lanka 2-0
Drawn Pakistan 2-2
Defeated South Africa 3-1

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

The best team to tour England has obviously been India bro...

 

[aloo paratha]

Their series against NZ was very competitive, one that deserved at least 3 or 4 matches, too bad there was the ashes.

 

[hadi123]

Yes. We were fantastic in the series last year and tbh we should have won the series. We deserved to lose the second test as we were outplayed. But, in the third test we had a 100 run lead and to lose from there is heart breaking. And the pitch was flat so not really an excuse for getting bowled out on day 5. We should have drawn that match tbh, if not won. 2-2 was still a good result though

 

[KhalidRafi]

Their series against NZ was very competitive, one that deserved at least 3 or 4 matches, too bad there was the ashes.

True. But I doubt New Zealand would put up a similar fight if they toured again. The New Zealand side under McCullum was a completely different team altogther than it is now under Williamson.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Yes. We were fantastic in the series last year and tbh we should have won the series. We deserved to lose the second test as we were outplayed. But, in the third test we had a 100 run lead and to lose from there is heart breaking. And the pitch was flat so not really an excuse for getting bowled out on day 5. We should have drawn that match tbh, if not won. 2-2 was still a good result though

This. We should have won that series. Not a lot of people were giving Pak any chance

 

[Markhor]

Yes. We were fantastic in the series last year and tbh we should have won the series. We deserved to lose the second test as we were outplayed. But, in the third test we had a 100 run lead and to lose from there is heart breaking. And the pitch was flat so not really an excuse for getting bowled out on day 5. We should have drawn that match tbh, if not won. 2-2 was still a good result though

It was a fantastic series as unlike the 2015 Ashes and this ENG-SAF series where the Tests have been so lopsided, 3 out of the 4 matches were seesaw battles and all results were possible for long periods of those matches.

The Edgbaston Test is so haunting though - we were the better side for 3 days and a session. We at least should've drawn that match. Sohail Khan bowled beautifully on the first day whilst Azhar/Aslam batted as well as I've seen any Pakistani top order batsmen do in England in recent years albeit perhaps too slowly.

But Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali brutally exposed our lack of a fifth bowler and that our lead should've been much bigger after being 257-2 on what was a 500+ pitch.

We didn't make the same mistake at The Oval. Great series.

 

[Rana]

Even in 2010, barring the controversy, the tour was their for the taking.

The bowlers on many occasions had England on the rocks, it was the batsmen that were just not upto it and you can only blame the board for not having Yousuf and Younis, maybe Misbah, Fawad Alam and even Hafeez not in the set up to tackle the English conditions.

How do you expect to survive in England with this batting order

Farhat
Butt
Iqbal
Azhar
Amin
Umar
Zulqarnain/Kamran

Whereas you could have had

Butt
Hafeez
Younis
Yousuf
Azhar
Misbah
Kamran

Their is a gulf of difference between the two sides in this matter. Also the untimely retirement of Afridi, a perfect number 8, add Amir, Asif and Gul into that side

 

[SM1989]

Yes. We were fantastic in the series last year and tbh we should have won the series. We deserved to lose the second test as we were outplayed. But, in the third test we had a 100 run lead and to lose from there is heart breaking. And the pitch was flat so not really an excuse for getting bowled out on day 5. We should have drawn that match tbh, if not won. 2-2 was still a good result though

That test at Edgbaston was lost by Azhar Ali who threw his wicket away after scoring a great hundred and derailed Pakistan's momentum completely.

 

[SM1989]

In the South Africa series, whichever team batted first, won the match.

I wonder if South Africa had won all tosses and batted first. Would they have won 4-0?

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

It was a fantastic series as unlike the 2015 Ashes and this ENG-SAF series where the Tests have been so lopsided, 3 out of the 4 matches were seesaw battles and all results were possible for long periods of those matches.

The Edgbaston Test is so haunting though - we were the better side for 3 days and a session. We at least should've drawn that match. Sohail Khan bowled beautifully on the first day whilst Azhar/Aslam batted as well as I've seen any Pakistani top order batsmen do in England in recent years albeit perhaps too slowly.

But Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali brutally exposed our lack of a fifth bowler and that our lead should've been much bigger after being 257-2 on what was a 500+ pitch.

We didn't make the same mistake at The Oval. Great series.

That's probably the only match where I literally lost my cool on Shafiq. Bagged a pair at the worst possible time EVER !! Had he even scored a combined 50 odd from both innings, we would've walked home with at least a draw !!

 

[ads101]

Maybe but always bittersweet for me that series felt it was ours for the taking was disappointed we didnt walk away with a draw third test. but a draw was a good result as a series i guess.

feel like people dont give sl enough credit for 2014 they actually won and no one really expected it. seen both sl and india win in england now would have liked to seen pak do it as well, we havent pulled off a big win against a top side away from asia in some time.

 

[The Googly]

Echoing the sentiments of other posters.

- Great series for the neutral last year

- Pakistan really should have won the series - the Edgbaston debacle cost us dearly. We lost that test rather then England winning it. This is not an excuse because England DESERVED to win. However, poor play from Azhar and brainless cricket cost us. Azhar ran out Sami needlessly on day 1 when Sami looked impregnable. Then he got himslef out on the last ball of day 1 with a poor shot. Those 2 mistakes cost Pakistan the match I feel. England may point to similar turning points in the 2 matches they lost. However, Pakistan were clearly superior at Lords and the Oval and England were even more clearly superior at Old Trafford. In the Edgbaston test, neither team were superior as such - Pakistan's mistakes were the deciding factor.