I knew that grass was illegal in Dubai – a poor Brit was once jailed for having a microscopic grain of cannabis on the tread of his shoe – but this is getting ridiculous now. This pitch was supposed to have a bit more life. Did you see any evidence of that? Pakistan finished the first day of the first test on 286-4. This time they’re 282-4. Arrrggghhh. Excuse my grumpy tone. I was really hoping for a better cricket wicket this time around. Of course this surface might deteriorate a little...
It’s Oil About Dubai – The 2nd Test
The Abu Dhabi test might have been tediously boring for four and a half days, but it’s set the series up rather nicely. Although we’re frustrated England couldn’t quite force a win, deep down the team will be delighted with a draw. It’s the first time we’ve avoided defeat in the UAE, and one of the rare occasions we’ve avoided defeat in the first test of an overseas tours anywhere (in recent times). I think Pakistan will also be somewhat pleased. They lost their best bowler, and trump...
Bad Light Stops Fun – Day five in Abu Dhabi
Now that’s better. A lot better. The fifth day finally provided some kind of entertainment. The pitch finally, finally starting to offer the spinners a bit of help. And finally, finally, finally the spectators had something meaningful and exciting to watch. I thought that yesterday’s play was one of the most promising days of test cricket England have had for a long time. The Ashes were great, don’t get me wrong, but they were a bit of stitch up. The games we won were on pitches tailor made for...
Something Interesting Happened – Day four in Abu Dhabi
This has been one of the worst test matches I’ve seen. Runs have been ridiculously easy to come by. Of the specialist batsmen on display, only Misbah, Masoon and Bairstow have missed out. Only sixteen wickets have fallen in four whole days. And some of those came when the slog was on at the end of Pakistan’s first innings. I cannot bear it when there’s no contest between bat and ball. I feel exactly the same way when the bowlers are on top. Those one-day finals in September, in which Jon Lewis...
How To Kill Test Cricket – Day 3 at Abu Dhabi
Pretend you’re an evil genius for a second. If you wanted to kill off test cricket, and doom a sport that so many people love dearly, you ‘d probably do the following three things … (a) Create a morally dubious board to run the sport and let them squabble over income distribution. Make sure they cut funding to smaller boards who really need it in the process. (b) Take all live test cricket off free-to-air television, make it inaccessible to the majority of people, and then let other sports...
Toil and Trouble: Day 2 from Abu Dhabi
Two days into this series and I’m already losing the will to live. The pitch is flat. It’s very flat. Pakistan’s bowlers didn’t get much out of it either. What’s worse, no footmarks seem to be appearing. It’s like concrete – but a very slow, insipid concrete (if you get my meaning). Once again England’s bowlers toiled without reward. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid were completely innocuous – the latter recorded the worst bowling figures by a test debutant in history. Shoaib Malik scored a serene...
