England v Pakistan 2010 / News
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England v Pakistan, 1st Test, Trent Bridge
Collingwood confident of combating Pakistan attack
Cricinfo staff
July 27, 2010
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Paul Collingwood has attempted to play down the hype surrounding Pakistan's bowling attack ahead of the four-match series which begins at Trent Bridge on Thursday. The performances of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer in particular against Australia suggest England will be in for a tough challenge over the next four weeks in what is their last Test action before the Ashes.
Salman Butt, the Pakistan captain, has said his new-ball pair are the best in the world and when they are supplemented by Umar Gul and Danish Kaniera they are certainly a potent combination. But Collingwood, who was rested from the series against Bangladesh earlier in the season, doesn't buy into those sorts of judgments although he is well aware that England's batsmen can't afford to be off their game.
Since completing the Test series against South Africa in January - where the express pace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel was too much handle at the Wanderers as the hosts leveled the series - England have played four Tests against Bangladesh who, despite making them toil at times for victory, didn't pose anything like the threat of what they are about to face.
"I don't want to go overboard on 'these guys are the best thing since sliced bread' - or Wasim Akram, or this, that and the other," Collingwood told reporters at Loughborough. "If we can get through those periods where it can be really tricky, I think we can get on top of them.
"I think they have got a lot of talent. But to say they're the number one bowling attack in the world I would say was over the mark. They have come up in conditions recently where it's done a fair bit.
"They're a good outfit. Certainly, the bowling looks very strong," he added. "They have had conditions where it has swung around quite a bit - and obviously, they come at different angles. There is a lot for us to think about there. But at the same time, we've got a lot of strengths like that ourselves with the way we swing the ball."
The performance that made everyone really sit up and take notice was when Pakistan skittled Australia for 88 on the opening day at Headingley to set up their series-leveling three-wicket victory. Ricky Ponting had the chance to give his attack first use of the conditions yet gambled on batting first, but Collingwood believes Australia's attack would have caused similar damage.
"I guess if they [Australia] got those same conditions on the first day they would have caused a lot of problems," he said. "Pakistan have got skill, and we're going to have to be very careful. But I still think we can handle what they're going to throw at us."
How England cope against Pakistan's bowling will provide a good gauge of where they stand in preparation for the Ashes at the end of November. They have made steady progression over the last 12 months - winning the Ashes last summer and drawing in South Africa - but they will want to board the plane to Australia on the back of a strong performance in this series.
"Everybody in the team is very confident that we can do it this time round," Collingwood said. "That's genuine confidence. We've had a good 18 months. We've had the building blocks, continued to grow and get things right.
"I think we're ready. It really has come at a time when we can say we'll be as ready as we can ever be. We've just got to make sure in these next two months we continue in that same manner."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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I respect Salaman Butt, I wish he had not boasted about Asif, Amir being the best in the world, they certainly arent, not just yet. One single win in the past 3 years and we are croaking, please please focus on your performance for the games ahead rather beating the drum of victory prematurely. England will be much much tougher than Australia. Have you forgotten Australians were beaten by England in the last two ashes?
Posted by Kiteflier on (July 28 2010, 11:31 AM GMT)Paul Collingwood is as balanced a captain and individual as one can get in the days of laughable mind game statements that players make all the time. He has said nothing which suggests overconfidence. He is just stating the obvious. For instance he did say that Pakistan bowled out Australia for 88 at Headingly in the first innings because of the prevalent weather conditions. In fact one can only speculate as to how the Pakistanis would have played in similar conditions. While it is true that Aamer and Asif are wonderful bowlers, I am not sure they can be spoken of yet as being the best in the world. It is these kind of hyperbole that causes unrealistic expectations. Mohsin Khan said the other day that this is a new beginning. While I really hope it is indeed so, I think the media should react in a more subdued fashion. They look foolish when the contrary rings true.England has a fairly good batting line up, a potent pace attack and one match winning spinner.I think they will do well.
Posted by Fast-Bowler on (July 28 2010, 11:07 AM GMT)@ Rakesh sharma..... ur concern shd be indian loly pop fast bowling..... getting hammerd by sri lanka.....
Posted by Fast-Bowler on (July 28 2010, 11:03 AM GMT)colly is over confident...... this pakistani bowling attack is definatly the best of the world.... no doubt pak batters are not world class but i think they can put bat to englsh bowlers, (which is not threatoning at all)....
Posted by@trickstar wow i would love to see english bowlers do that , but i have two questions for you 1 . how many times in last 20 years have english bowlers playing on there home ground got any team out below 100 2. how many times english bowling attack have got austrailia out below 100 in last 50 years as far as comparing matt priors average with salman butt is concern lets see priors average against top teams vs india 23.00 vs austrailia 32.62 vs south africa 22.57 and against weak teams vs westindies 67.18 vs bangladesh 44.50 so i hope this analysis is sufficient for you.if you would have mentioned the name of strauss or peterson for the purpose of comparison i would have agreed to you as they are proven performers and much better than salman butt . but comparison should be realistic and must be deeply researched.
Posted byHe is just deliberately underestimating the Pakistani bowling attack, trying to get a psychological edge over Pakistan's bowlers.
Posted by ummy on (July 28 2010, 09:58 AM GMT)I think Pakistan do have the best bowling attack in the world. Think about it. We're only talking about their bowling attack. Australia, for example, have excellent fielders who will take very difficult catches and help their bowlers take some extra wickets but Pakistan don't have that. When they toured Australia I thought Pakistan bowled well in the test matches but their fielders let them down and dropped too many catches and that enabled Australia to make a large total. This made Pakistan's bowlers look mediocre but in reality the fielding let them down. So remember its about their ability to create chances rather than shooting teams out for low totals because getting teams out for low totals does not provide the full picture about Pakistans bowling.
Posted bySo much hype is about....nPower r working their minds out at making atleast the first match a sell out....:p To me Collingwood has gone a bit too over-confident, thats what you expect when you haven't faced Aamer or for that matter Asif, Gul and Kaneria for over 4 years! Lets see if Collingwood can handle the pressure cox surely @on_the_level when at 20-3 every nerve in his body will b writhing and his mind will be going back and back again on these statement...;)
Posted by Tigg on (July 28 2010, 08:28 AM GMT)The thing about English batsmen is (at least when the ECB let them play for their counties) they get a lot of experience playing good swing bowlers in good swinging conditions. There's a reason the typical English swing bowling med-fast exists. That in itself should lesson the impact of the Pakistani attack whereas the Pakistani lineup struggles against any kind of class from a bowling attack.
Posted byWhat Collingwood and many readers are forgetting is that the Pakistani are renowned for reverse-swing that's always been their main strength in bowling. It's just this time around they been able to swing the ball in so called "helpful conditions". Either way if it's sunny, they going to have to deal with the reverse-swing and if it's overcast they have to deal with swinging deliveries, the English batsmen along with Collingwood will have their work cut out! Everyone is on about Pakistani batmen's will be able to cope, well it might be the case however it's all about the mind-set of a batmen's, against the Aussies they exert so much pressure that you are made to look not so good, whereas with England I think they will show flare and confidence. Whichever way it goes it sure is to be a great summer of English cricket, can't wait!