Shouting from the Hop

The first test versus Pakistan is going to be a lot tougher to win now than many people thought at the end of day two. Although skipper Banger (left) carried on batting well, eventually falling for a tired 193, the rest of the team got themselves out to a variety of poor shots, and the team totalled 418. This gave England a first innings lead of 144, but positive Pakistani batting had significantly reduced this by end of play on day three.

Pakistan will start tomorrow on 125-2, a deficit of just 19. Should they bat well, they can look forward to a sizeable lead going into the final day, and on this pitch, a lead of anything over 200 may be enough to win the game. Alternatively, a good bowling display may leave England needing just a 100 or so to take the lead in the series.

By the time I rise from my bed tomorrow morning and turn on the TV, I'll have a clearer idea of what is going to happen.

One thing I did learn today was two new nicknames within the England camp, courtesy of David Lloyd: Tinker is the new name for, not Ian Bell but Steve Harmison, after the character in Lovejoy (he has brought the whole series with him on DVD to watch while on tour...); and Twiggy, which is Freddie Flintoff's new monicker for some reason (possibly because he is so much skinnier now than he was on his last tour of the sub-continent three years ago!). Young boys and their name calling...

My predictions are seriously flawed it seems whenever published on this site, so I'll predict that Pakistan will get well clear and cause a major upset in this test. Hopefully, that will be enough to see Twiggy, Tinker, Hoggy, Ash and Shaunny take the remaining eight wickets and an England win.