England vs Pakistan: 3rd test - England marks out of ten

After six straight wins England came crashing back down to earth at The Oval; a ground where they hadn't lost for nine years. They were chasing the game right from the start when they slipped to 94 for seven after winning the toss.

Finally, England were made to pay in this series for one batting collapse too many when they lost their last seven second innings wickets for 28. Given that they lost their last six wickets for 17 at Trent Bridge and their last seven for 46 at Edgbaston this is something of real concern for England.A few weeks ago we looked at Australia's all too frequent batting collapses, but it would seem that England are just as badly afflicted.

So, how do the vanquished England XI rate on the Reverse Sweep report card?

Andrew Strauss - 3: A game to forget for the captain. He won a bad toss, was out cheaply twice and dropped a dolly to reprieve Mohammed Asif and enable Pakistan to add to what proved to be a crucial first innings lead. Finally, his negative field settings at the start of the Pakistan run chase set the wrong tone and failed to stem the runs in any case. Has now gone 12 tests without a hundred and averages just over 30 in 2010. The problems are mounting for the skipper.

Alastair Cook - 8: Must have feared the worst after yet another failure in the first innings, but bounced back admirably in the second to record his 13th test hundred. Rode his luck but deserved it for his positive approach. We won't doubt you again Alastair.

Jonathan Trott - 6: England's batsman of the summer was out to loose shots in both innings, but batted selflessly in his long partnership with Cook in the second innings. Will be angry to have thrown it away, but seems to be perfect for the number three role.

Kevin Pietersen - 4: Edgbaston proved a false dawn in terms of KP getting back amongst the runs, but he was looking in good nick in the second innings before being completely suckered by a brilliant over from Saeed Ajmal. Seems to have lost his swagger and confidence.

Paul Collingwood - 3: Another England batsman experiencing a bad run. Two single figure scores and Cook's hundred may have suddenly put Colly under the spotlight for when Ian Bell returns. The problem for Colly is that when he is in bad nick he looks horrible at the crease.

Eoin Morgan - 4: The Irishman may be finding that this test cricket lark isn't so easy after all. Two failures here and that hundred at Trent Bridge now seems a long time ago now. May well be the man who makes way for Bell on his return.

Matt Prior - 7: We've been critical in the past that Prior hasn't made runs when England really need him to. His brilliant knock in the first innings was the second time in this series that he has stood up to the plate, so we are happy to be proved wrong. Was in good enough form to get a nick to an absolute gem of a delivery from Aamer in the second innings. Kept tidily enough and was his usual chirpy self behind the stumps.

Graeme Swann - 8: Yet again England were indebted to Swann for keeping them in the match and he bowled well in both innings as he went past 100 test wickets in only his 23rd test. Snaring test batsmen is obviously easier than rescuing cats for Swanny. Batting seems to have gone to pot.

Stuart Broad - 5: Poor with the ball at the scene of his triumph against Australia last summer but at least showed he hasn't forgotten which end of the bat to hold during his excellent partnership with Prior in the first innings.

James Anderson - 6: England's main pace threat throughout the game and the confidence that wasn't there earlier in the summer is clearly flowing through his veins now as his 20 wickets in the series demonstrates. Bowled a beauty to get Yousuf in the second innings.

Steve Finn - 4: Was due a bad match and duly delivered - a decent spell on the second morning apart. Also seems to have regained his unfortunate method of occasionally falling over at the end of his follow through. Shouldn't fret because even the best test match bowlers have the odd off day.   

Comments

[Hayley]

Hi

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[karachikhatmal]

are these collapses just because the pakistani attack (under helpful conditions) is that damn good? or is it just the conditions?

there is no objective way of telling, because whether its the english attack or the australian one, the pakistani batting will ALWAYS collapse.

but i find it strange that two relatively solid batting line ups (in recent times) have been so brutalized by one team - so much so that were are considering deep lying structural causes as the reasons.

[The Reverse Sweep]

From what I've seen karachikhatmal it was been a combination of the conditions, inspired bowling and some pretty average batting. But English batsmen should be used to the conditions. Pakistan look much better with Yousuf in the XI. If they had Younis in there too, they could have beaten both England and Australia

[car sale]

its part of game.