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[100 not out]

England start as favourites for me. Batting is strong for England, with Pak only slighly ahead in the bowling dept. imo.

Fielding  . .no contest.

[Manormanic]

England start as favourites for me. Batting is strong for England, with Pak only slighly ahead in the bowling dept. imo.

Fielding  . .no contest.

Pakistan AHEAD in the bowling department?  Really? Ajmal will be dangerous but Wahab "No Balls" Riaz, Umar "Okay for One Dayers" Gul and Co?  Not convinced...

[alba caerulea]

Pakistan AHEAD in the bowling department?  Really? Ajmal will be dangerous but Wahab "No Balls" Riaz, Umar "Okay for One Dayers" Gul and Co?  Not convinced...

Its hard to judge really as its been so long since England played in these type of conditions, can anyone remember how Anderson fared the last time they did? And wasn't that against Bangladesh? Riaz is inconsistent but Gul is a wicket-taker in all forms of cricket in my opinion

[Manormanic]

Gul hasn;t taken significant test wickets against significant opposition for a while now, though I guess they've played so little cricket that it is hard to tell what that really means.

[mdl_1979]

England start as favourites for me. Batting is strong for England, with Pak only slighly ahead in the bowling dept. imo.

Fielding  . .no contest.

The world rankings would tend to disagree.  England have 3 of the top 4 bowlers in the world in Test cricket according to the rankings, and though the number 10 bowler has had to go home injured, Finn is a more than capable replacement.  England have a much stronger bowling attack than Pakistan, though Pakistan have some useful spinners to supplement the impressive Ajmal.

[100 not out]

Well Pak slightly ahead in spin bowling dept. the conditions are going to be dusty turning tracks I suspect. The quickies will come into it for the first 25 overs and then over to the spinners. The quickies are already blunted out IMO. I would put Pak ahead in the reverse swing dept. too. Gul is a class act.

[mad_abt_cricket]

I predict it as a draw series with teams winning one match a piece and the third one a tame draw.

[100 not out]

Pak have hardly played any test cricket in recent times a couple against Ban and SL. Hence rankings? I don't  think Bresnan is worthy of being called a top ten bowler in the world just yet. He wouldnt even appear on my list.

[mdl_1979]

Bresnan is a quality bowler and will be a miss, but England have a very well-balanced attack, and I expect them to be able to take wickets.  The pitches won't be dust bowls - they never are in the UAE.  In fact, spinners average slightly worse in the UAE than they do in England.  Wickets will be tough to come by for bowlers of all types and England play the squeeze game better than anybody in world cricket.  They should be able to build enough pressure to take wickets - can Pakistan stay disciplined enough to do the same?

[Buzz]

Well Pak slightly ahead in spin bowling dept. the conditions are going to be dusty turning tracks I suspect. The quickies will come into it for the first 25 overs and then over to the spinners. The quickies are already blunted out IMO. I would put Pak ahead in the reverse swing dept. too. Gul is a class act.

Gul is a fine exponent of reverse swing, but Jimmy Anderson is the best in the world currently as a swing bowler, Swann is the top rated spin bowler in the world currently and Broad, Finn, Tremlett are all serious talents. I think our batting and bowling is stronger than Pakistan's - but I think that Misbah has been an insprational leader and Pak will raise their game.
Eng will win at least two of the tests for me.

[Jord030994]

Pakistan are going to be alot tougher opponents than we all think. Ajmal is quality, Hafeez is more than useful, Umar Gul is always a threat and there batting line up is decent, I predict a drawn series.

[PedalsMcgrew]

Pak have hardly played any test cricket in recent times a couple against Ban and SL. Hence rankings? I don't  think Bresnan is worthy of being called a top ten bowler in the world just yet. He wouldnt even appear on my list.

I would have said the same thing until the last Ashes series. He's a very underrated player is Bresnan and bearing in mind that with a few notable exceptions fast bowling around the world is at a fairly low ebb and has been for a number of years he's got to be up there......maybe if the likes of Akhtar, Lee, McGrath etc were still around he wouldn't figure but only really Steyn and Morkel spring to mind as real, class, fast bowlers (other than the England boys) so top 10 is probably about right.

[langer17]

Vernon Philander looks the real deal, and has looked much better than Morkel in all the games he has played.

[100 not out]

I predict an England series win due to their batting superiority. There isn't much in it as far as the bowling goes. But thats my feeling. England need to justify their number one ranking.
Win or lose I want to see some exciting cricket, a real scrap between the sides. At a time when test cricket crowds are in decline around the sub continent.

[PedalsMcgrew]

Vernon Philander looks the real deal, and has looked much better than Morkel in all the games he has played.

Oops, forgot about him and maybe Southee but that might be pushing it a bit