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Can Pakis make it 2-0
Wil Halla have a cry about the creator of this thread?
yes and yes
Wil Halla have a cry about the creator of this thread?
yes and yes
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3/84 is ok. 25 runs is barely a pass. If you were a youngster making it out in the game. This guy has not fulfilled his talent. Add his petulant attitude and you've got a guy on cruise control in the team.
And at this stage, Cook could easily replace him as test captain. Cook seemed a moe likely test captain than an ODI captain before he was given that
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/england-point-finger-of-suspicion-at-first-test-destroyer-20120123-1qcy6.html
England point finger of suspicion at first Test destroyer..
Derek Pringle in Abu Dhabi
January 23, 2012 - 11:05AM
Controversial ... Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan. Photo: Reuters
Now Matt Prior points finger of suspicion at Saeed Ajmal's action..
The stance taken by England's players over Saeed Ajmal's bowling action appears to have shifted permanently from the appeasement diplomacy of Andrew Strauss to the more gunboat approach taken by Andy Flower, after his pointed refusal to endorse the spinner's action on Friday.
Yesterday (Sunday), Matt Prior, who faced Ajmal for longer than anyone in the first innings of the first Test in Dubai, also steered clear of his captain's conciliatory tones, suggesting a collective stance had been taken by senior players. Jonathan Trott had also been non-committal when asked about the spinner's action 24 hours previously.
But, as with Flower and Trott, -public condemnation of Ajmal was not -forthcoming, Prior preferring to stress the team's need to quash the -controversy lest it infect them in the build-up to Wednesday's second Test in Abu Dhabi.
Matt Prior of England attempts to sweep a delivery bowled by Saeed Ajmal during the first Test. Photo: Reuters
"It won't be an issue in the dressing room because we won't allow it to be," said Prior, when he was asked about Ajmal's action. "I don't think any good can come from looking at it or watching it. I think the guys have said, rightly, over the last couple of days that the ICC have procedures in place that will look after that and that's up to them to take care of the off-field stuff. We have to concentrate on what is coming down at us."
That is a lot easier for Prior to say, having made an unbeaten 70 and coped pretty well against Ajmal, than for someone such as Ian Bell, twice dismissed by him after failing to read the doosra. Bell was England's leading run-scorer in Tests last year but to be rendered a novice by someone you and your team-mates feel stretches the laws to breaking point, and -perhaps beyond, is not so easily -overcome.
"I think we're all honest enough in our dressing room to say whatever's going on there, that it's not up to us and that it's not going to change -anything," said Prior. "We've got two more Test matches and we have to win them if we want to win this series. Us moaning about it is not going to get us anywhere."
As the top-ranked Test team, it is right that England are mindful of the bad PR that would arise from complaining too overtly. But, Strauss apart, and he has to be neutral at least until his next book is out, there still seems to be a concerted effort not to appease Pakistan over this.
"We've got to be very careful because the minute you start accusing people of doing things and playing differently it can be perceived as excuses as well," said Prior. "When you haven't performed, or performed like we have, the last thing you want to be doing is making excuses."
Not whingeing about Ajmal's action may help stiffen resolve behind closed doors but when they face him on the pitch batsmen are alone and there to be picked off. How best to cope with that, even on a pitch as traditionally benign as the one here in the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, is surely more important than playing mind games.
"Everyone will have their own way of playing him, but I think you have to have a clarity of game plan, that is the most important thing about playing spin, especially against someone who can spin it both ways," said Prior. "He's quite tough to pick, which makes it tricky. But if you can't pick him you have to find a way that gives you the best opportunity to survive long enough that you start to see his action, and the ball, better.
"Whether that comes from trying to sit in for a bit or attacking him to put the pressure back on the bowler, is a very individual thing."
Had Prior failed in Dubai, it might have been because his own clarity of mind had been affected by the England and Wales Cricket Board's decision not to award him a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to take part in the Bangladesh Premier League, which begins on Feb 10.
Prior, whose price was pounds 75,000, badly wanted to play but said he accepted the ECB decision, which was based on advice from the Professional Cricketers' Association. The PCA was not happy that proper duty of care was in place over safety and security, which meant that Prior, Chris Tremlett and Graham Onions, from the Test squad here, were refused the NOCs required for their participation.
The Telegraph, London
