I don't always agree with Geoffrey Boycott but...

[chickenfeet]

Boycott's piece in today's Torygraph is timely. I've been worried for a long time that England's Test players don't play enough first class cricket and hardly ever have a chance to play a big innings. Too often, test selections are being made on how players perform in 50 over games and it's just not the same thing. Boycs is right that a decent test batsman would have been able to bat all day on a featherbed like Lahore but England were bowled out twice in 171 overs, which is pathetic. (Has anybody else noticed that this series has been averaging 75 overs/day). Frankly, it's hard to think of anyone in the current England set up with the grit of a Boycott, a Gooch or an Atherton and those are the type of players who provide the backbone of a test side.

Comments

[daweaver.livejournal.com]

There was a piece somewhere (and I can't find it right now) from the Pakistan board, suggesting that future winter tests could be played over six days.

It's worth noting that none of the 13 completed days of this series went beyond 75 overs, effectively making them four-day matches.

Aggers suggested after the first test that England needed an extra match to prepare. He has a point.