'Run them out'
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Mike Atherton tries hard to find the problem area of Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
To get an insider's view on the weaknesses of Inzamam and Yousuf I asked Ramiz Raja, the former Pakistan opening batsman and now commentator, how best to dismiss these two batsmen. He thought for a while and then said 'run them out'. The problem for England is that I'm sure he was being serious.
As England's bowlers toiled against a resilient Pakistan, Mike Brearley, in the Observer, blames climate change.
John Stern, writing in the Sunday Times, believes that Geraint Jones holds advantage over rival Chris Read.
Simon Wilde feels that in the absence of Andrew Flintoff, it is vital for Harmison to stand up and deliver.
Harmison hasn’t always been big on responsibility. At school, he was inclined to go missing from class and in his early days as an England cricketer didn’t always do the management’s bidding. It’s no coincidence that he really doesn’t like bowling at Lord’s. He says it’s not just the slope that makes him feel uncomfortable, it’s the whole place. And why should he feel at home at a place so redolent of authority? The great feature of his annus mirabilis of 2004 was that he did lead from the front on a regular basis, from his astonishing demolition job in Jamaica to his surgical excision of the same West Indies side at The Oval. Unfortunately, he found the view from the top of the world rankings vertigo-inducing and he has been slipping towards earth ever since.
Andrew Strauss asserts the England team are far from a spent force.
Sriram Veera is a former staff writer at ESPNcricinfo