what a game to make your test match debut

if you're a spinner

"Spinners in this match are currently 0-436 off 134 overs. The worst figures ever returned by spinners in an complete Test match is 0-378 off 132 overs in the draw between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1991, when Martin Crowe made 299."

 

This game in Abu Dhabi is the kind of thing that turns people off cricket. Fourth day and only 11 wickets have fallen. Pakistan have dropped a load of catches though.

I have one eye on it, just waiting for Cook to get his double hundred. This was the only country in the cricket playing world where he had never scored a century. Looks like he is going to get two in his first innings.

Then the game will meander towards a draw.

 

It's been meandering towards a draw since lunch on day 1.

 

True!

Interesting seeing the Sky cameras cutting to the various games going on outside of the ground though. Serious looking games being played on concrete pitches with scrub land for an outfield.

I used to do that, back in the 70s when I was in Oman serving at RAF Masirah. Our "pitch" was on a bit of a slope and strewn with stones and small rocks. The wicket was matting and, somehow, we managed to play some decent matches on it, occasionally entertaining visiting RAF or Royal Navy units. I remember one wizened little Warrant Officer whose stock shot was a nurdle around the corner. He did it so often and if he was at the right end the ball would race away down the slope to the boundary, every time.

The highlight of my time there though was travelling with the Masirah Cricket Club (MCC ) on a Hercules to a tiny island in the Maldives called Gan. It was a staging post for aircraft travelling to the far east. We played cricket every day for a week, mostly in the rain. It was a paradise of blue lagoons and white sand beaches but, despite this, many of the airman I met there complained what a "dump" it was! You just can't satisfy some people.....

Can't buy experiences like that.

 

there needs to be a balance to allow the game to reach a conclusion and the fans to enjoy the game

lets not forget that this is test cricket though, a draw is a draw and to see 20 wickets fall in a day is just as poor.

 

I agree - T20 principles shouldn't be seen in test matches, unless it is the last session of the match and you are in a hurry.

This is the kind of game to be watched while doing something else. In my case I am getting on with my work with the cricket on my phone, at low volume, propped up next to the computer screen. Not bad this working from home business!

 

True. We haven't helped matters though. I think we don't want to win it and plan to bat until the end of day 5 and the win the toss for the second test and have another bat against a knackered team.