Cricket News in Brief – January 22, 2012 – Part 1
Former English opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AJ-Strauss-c964 for giving a distasteful batting performance in the first Test against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the English lost the match on the third day.
Boycott insisted that for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 to really think of themselves as the number-one team in Test cricket, they have to start winning matches in the subcontinent, where their performance has been extremely unimpressive.
“This England team has not won on the subcontinent. They even played badly in the World Cup last year. Until they start playing well on the subcontinent, they cannot call themselves the best team in the world and definitely cannot be judged against some of the other great England sides," said Boycott.
The batsman further added, “If you can't bat, you can't win, and this was a pathetic, unexpected and shocking batting display by England. I never thought I would see a three-day Test match in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033."
According to him the pitches in the UAE are batsmen friendly, where the English should have played better.
English off-spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the first Test.
Swann blamed everyone in his team for the disastrous performance where the side lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets on the third day after failing to cope against Pakistan spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859, who wrecked havoc on the Poms as he grabbed ten wickets in the match.
"I think most of our problems were mental. Maybe we didn't adapt - and not just the batters, the whole team," he said.
Speaking on Ajmal’s controversial action, the English spinner rebuffed the rumours and insisted that his side had faced the Pakistani spinner at home in 2010 and his action is not for them to judge.
He hoped that his side would be prepared for Pakistan in the second Test, scheduled to begin from Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan’s former opening batsman, Amir http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sohail-c90628, has cautioned the team management from making any changes in the squad for the second Test as the team is doing well and should not be disturbed.
He favoured the inclusion of underperforming batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Asad-Shafiq-c46208 in the second Test and insisted on giving the youngster more chances to perform for his country.
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