***Official** West Indies in Pakistan

Not too impressed by Pakistan's batsmen so far. The top four get off to good starts and all fail to convert to a century. Good to see Farhat amongst the runs. Probably one of the better opening partnerships we have tried. One of the pair usually get a half century. West Indies will have their work cut out for them tommorow.

Their bowling attack is rubbish. You could take the 32 ****e players that have been selected in the 'battle of the ****e' thread and all of them would probably come up trumps against it. Mohammad Rafique shouldnt even bother turning up when his side plays away from home, probably do everyone a favor given how woeful he usually is.

Click to expand...

I personally think Butt and Taufeeq Umar was the best batting parternship Pakistan has had since the retirement of Saeed Anwar.

Tadpole to take 6/31 tomorrow. You heard it here first, folks.

Jono said:

Sarwan dropped, what a massive wake up call for him. I agree with TEC, great call by the selectors. Gutsy, bold and the right move.

Good for WI cricket IMO. Hopefully Sarwan can break back into the side in the future and actually fulfill some of that potential, but until then he doesn't deserve an automatic test selection.

Click to expand...

I find it quite surprising actually, seeing as Sarwan looked set but got an absolute shocker of a decision in the second innings of last test.

For a long time Ramnaresh Sarwan has underperformed, he has all the talent to be the next big batsman but has never really produced the goods at test level. In ODI's he is a very fine player, right up there with the best at the moment but in test's its a very different story. I remember when the West Indies toured Australia he got a start in every innings except for one I think, consistently scorting between 15 and 30 but never made a half century. Kinda sums him up really.

Good to see the top 4 for Pakistan all amongst the runs, but Yousuf will be hoping that they get another chance to bat if he is going to break Sir Viv Richards record of runs in a calender year. Corey Collymore proving very economical and Jerome Taylor continues to impress. Dave Mohammad being underbowled, I expect him to bowl a fair bit seeing as how he got Inzamam out for a duck in the last game. Good to see Runako Morton getting some test exposure though, he looked set for a century against New Zealand before the rain intervened.

steds said:

Tadpole to take 6/31 tomorrow. You heard it here first, folks.

Click to expand...

Well actually John Howard said last night on TV that Tadpole will take 6/31 so sorry you're 2nd best dude, as always

Man Bravo took an AWSOME catch to dismiss Shoaib. That's gotta be a candidate for catch of the year! And this after he dropped a sitter earlier!

Jono said:

Whoops its highlights of the 1st test.

Click to expand...

Yeah annoyed at that. Pretty rubbish treatment. I got Foxtel just for the cricket, this is pretty dire.

Beleg said:

I personally think Butt and Taufeeq Umar was the best batting parternship Pakistan has had since the retirement of Saeed Anwar.

Click to expand...

ive always thought hafeez has the making of a decent opener. they need to stick with him IMO. im not quite sure about any of the others though.

Taylor takes his 5th wicket. Pakistan 357/9.

Jerome

I also think Mohammad Hafeez has the goods to be quite a solid opener at test level. Great to see Jerome Taylor bowling well, is he the new hope for the West Indies? Collymore also bowled well but had a few catches dropped off him which is a bit unfortunate.

The word "unlucky" or "unfortunate" always seems to attach itself to Collymore's bowling performance, almost everytime. Is he genuinely unlucky that the ball is not taking the edges or could he perhaps bring his length up a bit more towards the batsman?

West Indies are off to a pretty good start after 15 overs, currently 42/0 with Chris Gayle on 26* and Darren Ganga 16*. Shahid Nazir has conceded most of the runs while Umar Gul is keeping it reasonably tight at the other end, a few chances have been made and Gayle has been a bit edgy on occasion. On a side note to the West Indian supporters where has Devon Smith gone? I remember watching him a little while ago and he seemed like he might have the goods but Ganga has been given the last couple of series against New Zealand and India and has proven pretty good, is Smith still in the hunt to be selected or not really?

pasag said:

Yeah annoyed at that. Pretty rubbish treatment. I got Foxtel just for the cricket, this is pretty dire.

Click to expand...

I know the feeling mate, we never seem to have any sub continent matches

Top class bowling from Windies. Taylor what a gun he is rite about now..

Gayle and Ganga playing well too..

Really hope Ganga can make a big score here. He is one of my favourite batsman. Love him to cement a spot and build a career.

Razzaq should be dropped on the basis of his batting performance today, it seemed he was batting to protect his average

Excellent day for Windies, they are well on top of thing right about now.. Hopefully they both continue on to make a big score.

Windies in a great position to win this test match. Wonderful platform set by Galye and Ganga with Lara to come this good be a massive total by the Windies. But we've seen them ruin these kinds of advantages before...