Barbelith Underground > Games & Gameplay > International Cricket

Judging by strike rate that may not look composed but Afridi tends swing wildly at every third ball and sometimes at all six balls in an over. But I was shocked at his excellent defensive strokes while playing Flintoff. He did go a bit crazy sometimes but for Afridi it was surprisingly intelligent. That's just judging him by his previous batting. Afridi also scruffed the pitch between the break when the gas cylinder exploded for which he received a three match (1 test, 2 one day) ban. It's a big blow for Pakistan and it was just daft on Afridi's part.

The replays of the bell catch they showed very late yesterday did show that the ball was grounded. The Afridi catch was a low one and perfectly clean which everyone agreed on.

Inzi's innings were ultimately the most responsible and patient I've seen any captain play in the longest time and included some beautiful pulls and hooks. That runout was appalling and the umpiring has been surprisingly poor from Hair/Taufell.

There should be something abou this hostile throwing the ball back at the stumps when the batsmen isn't running. Pakistanis were retaliating but not aiming for the batsmen after they came onto field. Inzi was still very upset you could tell and later in the day exchanged a few words with Darrell Hair about something and Hair wrote something in his notebook then looked at his watch and possibly entered the time. Inzi did indeed lose it after an indian supporter said something to him. I'm not sure whether it was a comment about his weight or if it was his about his mum. It was something like that and Inzi's a very emotional lummox. You expect a captain to be less of a baby but I doubt anything can be done since he's always been that way. I wish he'd show more restraint because the last thing he needs is a ban being the captain and best batsmen in the side.

England's chances don't look very good and they should concentrate on saving the match at this point and give up hope of taking the series.

There was a time when Australia had enough players to fill up two sides and if given a chance both sides would have ended up contesting for the top spot in the world and probably end up in the finals of the world cup.

Sky sports's production leaves a lot to be desired. I dont expect any Pakistanis to be insightful and articulate to be part of the studio analysis team except maybe Imran Khan who probably doesnt have the time but England has people like Michael Atherton and Geoff Boycott and instead we get Dominic Cork and Bob Willis. They ought to hire Channel 4's team considering they do have the money.

If any of you don't have access to the games where you are and aren't completely anti-piracy PM me, I'll give you a link to the site that streams the games and costs only six and a half quid for sixty days of live sport (cricket, football etc). In the US I'd have to trade in my cable and get a satellite dish then pay nearly a hundred dollars extra per series which is out of question for me. In Pakistan you can watch every sport live in your cable subscription for something like five dollars a month.

International Cricket - Winter 2005-6