The value of your wicket

[Amir]

Last summer, when we earned a commendable 2-2 draw in England, we still heard a lot about our "slow" approach to batting and were heavily criticized by our own fans. Failing to recognize the limitations of our batting but ultimately, set us up for a competitive test series.

I hope people are now watching the recent England-South Africa series and see the value Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam provided last summer. Seeing off the new ball and making it easier for our middle order to score runs; whether it was at a quick or slow rate.

Watching the likes of Kuhn and Jennings open the innings has been horrible. Kuhn especially looks like he could be bowled on any ball. Openers should not get bowled that often but he is doing it with careless abandon. He should be nowhere near the test team with his technique.

It is great to bat fast when you have the batsmen to do it. But taking your time in tests, to give your bowlers the best chance is more valuable.

 

[Markhor]

The approach depends on the conditions. With overcast weather throughout this Oval Test you needed to be more circumspect. Even Ben Stokes started slowly and got set first before playing his shots. But when the ball gets older and the sun is out you need to make hay.

At Edgbaston last year I thought we were a little too cautious and ended up with 400 instead of a 500+ score that left England facing an insurmountable deficit out. I still regret that Test. At The Oval we were more positive and we batted England out of the match.

What this series also shows is that Azhar and Aslam have to be our opening pair for England next May. They are our best batsmen against lateral movement.

Technical limitations get found out in England - look at what happened to Hafeez and Masood last summer. Look at Jennings and Kuhn now.

 

[Amir]

The approach depends on the conditions.

Agreed. I was alluding more to the fact that people were criticizing our openers for batting slow. I agree, batting slow for the whole innings is a terrible approach but people actually criticized Sami for doing his job.

Kuhn may be the worst opener I have seen of recent times. at least Masood tries to hold it together.

 

[Leo23]

great post. it was criminal to drop sami. i have never seen a pak opener have such excellent judgement of his off stump.