Sharjah Binks – Day Three in Sharjah

Scrap yesterday’s report. Today didn’t follow the script. Perhaps we should have known. Pakistan played brilliantly today and probably have their noses in front at the end of day three. What a shame.

I really thought a lead of 120ish was possible. Taylor and Bairstow had looked so good on Monday. But all our optimism was wiped away by a flurry of wickets this morning. It was like watching Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace all over again. Painful.

Normally I’m the first person to criticise England when they perform like clowns at the worst circus in town, but I’m not sure we did much wrong today. Samit Patel played a lovely little innings, which suggests he has the batting talent to prosper at test level, but Shah, Babar and Malik were just too good. The ball ragged and Pakistan’s spinners balanced attack with control quite beautifully.

In the end a lead of 72 was handy but not decisive. We really needed Anderson and Broad to make early breakthroughs. They bowled well but the wickets never quite materialised. Sometimes it’s just not your day.

I’m sure a lot of you are frustrated (yet again) by the performance of England’s spinners. I can understand why. However, I don’t feel it’s right to judge them too harshly. Moeen, Samit and Adil are doing their very best; it’s just unfortunate that their best isn’t quite good enough.

Having said that, it’s easy to look like the poor relation when onlookers are comparing you to Yasir Shah. Today Shah became the quickest spinner to 70 test wickets in history. That’s some effort.

With a lead of 74 runs and seven wickets in the hutch, Pakistan are probably slight favourites for this game now. But all is not lost. As we saw today, a few wickets in the first session can, like love, change everything. So put on your Climie Fisher CDs and hope for the best.*

The problem is, I don’t fancy England to chase down many more than 150 runs. If the lead gets over 200 I’ll be putting the mortgage on Pakistan. Remember what happened when we tried to chase down small totals the last time we were in the UAE? It wasn’t pretty.

James Morgan

* If you actually own a Climie Fisher CD, I suggest you burn it and seek professional help.

3 comments

  • Found you on Twitter this time James. Saved me going all through my email junk!

    A very good report. I saw the day’s play in the same way. Our spin bowlers are the best we have got and doing their best is all that we can ask of them.

    We do need a break through tomorrow! Without that we will have a mammoth struggle on our hands. Can’t be chasing 200 or more.

    Great to see you up and running. You are doing well.

  • Thought Cook might have brought Rashid on sooner, as he seemed slightly more likely to take a wicket, but that’s a quibble – as you say, things didn’t really go our way today.

  • I agree with what you say about the spinners James, I guess the loss of Stokes is rather pivotal too because he was bowling well in the first innings before he got injured. Too much of it is on Anderson and Broad tomorrow. They simply have to start and with that is the only hope of England restricting Pakistan to a very chaseable total.

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