First warm up game today vs Somerset.

Reasonable batting from Pakistan today with half centuries for Shan Massod (62 from 135 balls), Asad Shafiq (80 from 120 balls) and an unbeaten 99 for Younis Khan (161 balls).

Slow 20s for Hafeez and Ali and a duck for the captain.

I hope they bat on tomorrow until Sarfraz is out or at least has a decent knock.

Pak declared on 359-8 after Younis only added 5 to his overnight score and Sarfraz made 17 not out.

Somerset are 62-4 with Amir taking 3-16 off 6.5 overs

Pak bat on which is a bit strange on the last day. Asad and Azhar have both scored half centuries this match so they've got into some sort of nick. If they wanted to continue batting, why not let the bowlers face 10-15 overs so they get some experience of batting in English conditions? No doubt they'll need it after the odd collapse or two from the top order.

Then the bowlers need to show in the 2nd innings that the first innings display can be repeated.

Really was no point in batting on until Ali got his ton. Tresco having some fun with the bat for Somerset.

Exclusive? So exclusive you're the only one commenting on it...

Yes, exclusive. I'm getting rid of all wums like you cornflakes.

Pak vs Somerset started today. Hafeez and Masood fail again. Century for Azhar Ali, 50s for Younis and Misbah.

Can't see either opener being dropped.

When Pak were 80-3, they could have been all out for 150. Misbah has played a decent knock and the current 184-4 looks healthy enough. RR is a shade over 3 so even stevens for me so far.

Pakistan's day until those late wickets.

A real stumble from Pak as they really ought to have got 400 at 280-4 yesterday. The fast bowlers have been too generous, as have the fielders. Without Yasir Shah's 5fer they would have been staring down the barrel. I think they'll need a lead of at least 70-80 as I'm sure they can't get more than 200-250 in their 2nd innings.

Game us well poised. I have England slightly ahead after those two late wickets yesterday. That poor play from Pakistan to lose wickets late in the day again and lwt their winning peter out. I don't expect more than 10 runs from the last two wickets. Then it's up to yasir.

Pakistan bowlers will keep them in this series it would seem but their fielding and tailend batting seems as bad as ever. A reasonable wagging of the tail would probably have seen them with a winning score. You can't keep subsiding and lose your last 4-5 wickets for hardly anything and expect to win games.

If I was in the Pakistan management team, I'd want to know why the tail just get out.

Going at 4 an over is only acceptable if you are regularly taking wickets. I can see days n this series when England will score 400 runs in a day.

I can't see how the England selectors have got this team so drastically wrong

Hales not good enough.
Vince not good enough.
Ali not good enough.

5 changes are needed for the next test:

Cook
Robson
Root
Bell
Ballance
Bairstow
Stokes
Woakes
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

Anderson and stokes for Ali and Finn. Winning team with those two changes.

England were feeble with their batting and that's cost them against a fighting Pak side. But I think England will learn from this and improve by Friday.

If I was in the Pakistan management team, I'd want to know why the tail just get out.
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Eng has been just as bad and they supposedly have long tail at least we know our batters 8-11 are pretty garbage, eng act as if all their 11 are competent batsmen yet here and in the uae a few years ago they were just as bad as us

Even if England's tail hasn't been great, I'd wnt the Pakistan tail to improve buckets for the next test. With Anderson and stokes back, it should be a much stiffer test.

Pakistan have no stomach for the fight. Maybe they'll do better in the 2nd innings, but Hafeez, especially, isn't bringing anything to the team.

this thread

Oh dear, another loser who has nothing decent to say.

A bit like the Pakistani's over the last few days. Real losing mentality.

This really is a shameful performance by so many. Some lackluster bowling lacking effort followed by some shocking batting. How on earth did Pak win the 1st test match???

England bowlers applied pressure with the main strike bowlers going at a miserly RR. Going at 4rpo is asking for trouble.

comment by U2 (U20610)
posted 1 week, 3 days ago
Going at 4 an over is only acceptable if you are regularly taking wickets. I can see days n this series when England will score 400 runs in a day.
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This

Still on my hols (it's a hard life sometimes) and didn't even realise this match had even started. Good first day for Pakistan. They just have to fight hard to get a decent enough lead. If they bat two days, they win this game.