So looks like we agree that Australia are pretty rank this time but we ve got to put England achievements in some kind of perspective ....Root shd have been out 2nd innings on 12 ,Trott ,Cook and Pietersen havent contributed,Bairstow looks shaky and Swann has bowled better than this ...I know I am going to get shouted down for being negative but are we seeing a general deterioration in Test Match standards?
Dont get me wrong I am absolutely overjoyed that we are winning !
So looks like we agree that Australia are pretty rank this time but we ve got to put England achievements in some kind of perspective ....Root shd have been out 2nd innings on 12 ,Trott ,Cook and Pietersen havent contributed,Bairstow looks shaky and Swann has bowled better than this ...I know I am going to get shouted down for being negative but are we seeing a general deterioration in Test Match standards?
Dont get me wrong I am absolutely overjoyed that we are winning !
Don't agree at all. Root could have been caught on 12, but wasn't and went on to make a big score. When Lara, Bradman etc made record runs you didn't get people coming out and saying 'well yes but he could have caught earlier on'. It's completely beside the point, you take advantage of your chances and go on to punish them.
Trott, Cook and Pieterson not performing, so far, does not indicate a drop in test standards at all. These 3 boys have scored serious runs over the last few years, and are just going through a barren spell, as every single batsman in the wold will do at some point. I bet their barren spells dont even last long.
Root would have got his 200, probably 250 if he'd been a bit more clinical with some very poor bowling. A lot of bad balls were not "put away" by him and that is probably because his bat is too heavy for the poor young lad. Have you seen the size of it??? It's almost as thick as it's wide.
Root would have got his 200, probably 250 if he'd been a bit more clinical with some very poor bowling. A lot of bad balls were not "put away" by him and that is probably because his bat is too heavy for the poor young lad. Have you seen the size of it??? It's almost as thick as it's wide.
I dunno.....modern cricket!
"almost as thick as wide"....you ve descibed me perfectly ...agree re Modern bats !
On the ashes 2nd test review they had an interesting stat. It was the average number of balls faced by top 4 batsmen over the last 9 tests. For Aus it was 52 balls, England were second in the world on 85. Which tells us (despite failings in the first two test) that our top order batsmen are doing their job. The Aussies are also averaging 24 runs per top 4 batsman. They didn't show the figure, but seeing as the Aussies are averaging 52 balls and 24 runs, we can use that as a rough guide and that works out to 39 runs.
That is Australia's biggest problem, current averages put then 60 runs behind after the top 4 have fallen, which is a massive gap to try and then make up with a wag of the tail.
Warner is available again for the Aussies and should come back to open. He might be a prat but he is a tough and dogged prat. Watson must surely drop down the order. Lyon and Starc could come in for the Aussies. Be interesting to see who comes in for England if Pietersen is unfit. Probably be (Sweet Baby) James Taylor though I would go for Carberry at 6 with Bairstow at 5 and Bell 4. Otherwise England will be unchanged. Australia is in big trouble, the bowling is flaky and the batting so far has been rubbish. Mind you, England, Anderson and Swann in particular have bowled superbly so far and Joe Root ?? .. batsman turned bowler
Warner was scheduled to bat at 5 or 6 before the bar room brawl - but that might change now. In English seaming and swinging conditions it would be a risk playing him the new ball.
As for KP - if he's injured I'd go James Taylor, he's averaging 58 for the season and has scored 850 odd runs. The other option is Gary Ballance who is averaging a fraction less. Both have around 15 FC hundreds to their name. I'd be tempted to play both and rest Bairstow. He needs a season or two of day in/day out County Championship cricket behind him and he's not scoring enough runs while Taylor/Ballance are.
The danger when it comes to replacing KP is that you are losing a natural run scorer who can add quick runs. Replacing him with someone like Carberry will slow the scoring rate down and risks having a batting line up of accumulators - England need a stroke maker in the top six.
Is Varuna Chopra off the radar? He's an opener. Gooch, Flower and Cook will know all about him from Essex but he's been doing much better since he left.
Ballance would maintain errrr balance in the team. He was born in Zimbabwe and there must surely be a need for Flower to replace a southern African with another one. What is wrong with picking a batsman who was actually born in England ? Having said that, Ballance has scored a lot of runs and has a good average. Will he turn out to be a Hick or a Pietersen ?
David Warner reaches his century as Australia A make a solid start in their first unofficial Test with South Africa A in Pretoria. The 26-year-old batsman was suspended and fined after he punched England's Joe Root at a bar in Birmingham in early June.
Warner is unbeaten on 111 at tea with the tourists 226-4 on day one of the four-day match.
Ballance would maintain errrr balance in the team. He was born in Zimbabwe and there must surely be a need for Flower to replace a southern African with another one. What is wrong with picking a batsman who was actually born in England ? Having said that, Ballance has scored a lot of runs and has a good average. Will he turn out to be a Hick or a Pietersen ?
Went to school with Ballance and am certain he will prove to be a huge success for England. Was such a down to earth lad but then as soon as he got on the field was a fierce competitor and scored so many runs for us! Really hope he gets a chance soon.
Ballance would maintain errrr balance in the team. He was born in Zimbabwe and there must surely be a need for Flower to replace a southern African with another one. What is wrong with picking a batsman who was actually born in England ? Having said that, Ballance has scored a lot of runs and has a good average. Will he turn out to be a Hick or a Pietersen ?
Went to school with Ballance and am certain he will prove to be a huge success for England. Was such a down to earth lad but then as soon as he got on the field was a fierce competitor and scored so many runs for us! Really hope he gets a chance soon.
Ballance would maintain errrr balance in the team. He was born in Zimbabwe and there must surely be a need for Flower to replace a southern African with another one. What is wrong with picking a batsman who was actually born in England ? Having said that, Ballance has scored a lot of runs and has a good average. Will he turn out to be a Hick or a Pietersen ?
Went to school with Ballance and am certain he will prove to be a huge success for England. Was such a down to earth lad but then as soon as he got on the field was a fierce competitor and scored so many runs for us! Really hope he gets a chance soon.
Warner is unbeaten on 111 at tea with the tourists 226-4 on day one of the four-day match.
This is strange, the next Test will be at Old Trafford, why send him to play another practice match in SA on a different sort of wicket to the one he's likely to be playing on if he returns, especially when they have a match v Sussex that he could play in?
Simple. They've got him playing cricket and away from the public eye. He's trying to find form and 193 suggests he has stumbled across a bit. Pitch conditions are irrelevant. Runs are runs as is time in the middle. Better out there than turning up a sun baked, packed Hove. Full of fat, red faced Sussex farm hands; fuelled up on Harvey's giving him ten tons of abuse.
England have Warner worked out, and have the skills to deal with him. South Africa A... Frrrrp. 5-0 (as I'm English I'll spend every waking moment expecting failure)
Warner is a very good, clean hitter of a ball - on a flat deck.
When the ball swings/seams he nicks off to keeper/slip a lot because he doesn't move his feet and plays away from his body with an angled bat.
He was woeful in India against spin, he plays with very heavy hands and looks to hit the ball hard rather than work it into gaps like the better players of spin do - he averaged only 24 in the series.
Comments
Dont get me wrong I am absolutely overjoyed that we are winning !
Thoroughly enjoying the convicts squirm though...
Don't agree at all. Root could have been caught on 12, but wasn't and went on to make a big score. When Lara, Bradman etc made record runs you didn't get people coming out and saying 'well yes but he could have caught earlier on'. It's completely beside the point, you take advantage of your chances and go on to punish them.
Trott, Cook and Pieterson not performing, so far, does not indicate a drop in test standards at all. These 3 boys have scored serious runs over the last few years, and are just going through a barren spell, as every single batsman in the wold will do at some point. I bet their barren spells dont even last long.
I dunno.....modern cricket!
That is Australia's biggest problem, current averages put then 60 runs behind after the top 4 have fallen, which is a massive gap to try and then make up with a wag of the tail.
Be interesting to see who comes in for England if Pietersen is unfit. Probably be (Sweet Baby) James Taylor though I would go for Carberry at 6 with Bairstow at 5 and Bell 4. Otherwise England will be unchanged. Australia is in big trouble, the bowling is flaky and the batting so far has been rubbish. Mind you, England, Anderson and Swann in particular have bowled superbly so far and Joe Root ?? .. batsman turned bowler
As for KP - if he's injured I'd go James Taylor, he's averaging 58 for the season and has scored 850 odd runs. The other option is Gary Ballance who is averaging a fraction less. Both have around 15 FC hundreds to their name. I'd be tempted to play both and rest Bairstow. He needs a season or two of day in/day out County Championship cricket behind him and he's not scoring enough runs while Taylor/Ballance are.
The danger when it comes to replacing KP is that you are losing a natural run scorer who can add quick runs. Replacing him with someone like Carberry will slow the scoring rate down and risks having a batting line up of accumulators - England need a stroke maker in the top six.
Warner is unbeaten on 111 at tea with the tourists 226-4 on day one of the four-day match.
Better out there than turning up a sun baked, packed Hove. Full of fat, red faced Sussex farm hands; fuelled up on Harvey's giving him ten tons of abuse.
When the ball swings/seams he nicks off to keeper/slip a lot because he doesn't move his feet and plays away from his body with an angled bat.
He was woeful in India against spin, he plays with very heavy hands and looks to hit the ball hard rather than work it into gaps like the better players of spin do - he averaged only 24 in the series.