He proved himself to be a good Test batsman over the last 12-18 months. Sadly people only remember what happened at the World Cup. Whoever made the decision to throw him into that ODI team needs to consider their position...
I like Ballance . (that'll be the kiss of death then)
I have to say I don't and think he is an extremely limited player. Glad to be proved wrong though.
his avergae says otherwise - 57 from 10 matches including India. I understand what you say about limited, but sometimes think that batting 3 for England with a limited technique is not always a bad thing. Bell now out - run out - silly .
About time Cook gave it up. He has been sussed out by everyone. Anyone else would have been dropped a long time ago so why are we sticking with this dead dog?
Watching Ballance is like watching a snail on Valium. Test Cricket has changed but we haven't.
Blimey , we've all given up on Cook, lets now have the Ballance-bash. A man with an average approaching 60 in Test matches, and we still have to have a pop at him. Jeez. At least he's still 'in' - unlike Cook,Trott and Bell.!
Let's not go overboard on the criticism. There are issues, and we'll probably lose the Ashes again in the summer but our best younger players need encouragement.
I like Ballance . (that'll be the kiss of death then)
I have to say I don't and think he is an extremely limited player. Glad to be proved wrong though.
his avergae says otherwise - 57 from 10 matches including India. I understand what you say about limited, but sometimes think that batting 3 for England with a limited technique is not always a bad thing. Bell now out - run out - silly .
He averages 60.75 in test matches with three hundreds and three half centuries in thirteen innings.
By contrast, he averages 21.21 in 15 ODI innings.
I am a stats person but question the nature of his runs - mostly at home to a poor Sri Lankan attack and India who, after the 2nd Test, typically played as if they couldn't wait to go home.
Time will tell but the one thing you can be certain of is that every Test playing nation will have sussed out his strengths and weaknesses. And I just fear that, rather like Cook, once you limit his scoring options he will eventually get himself out.
I think balance has the right temperament for test match cricket, and is a good no. 3. He can come in when both openers fall cheaply and stay in and anchor the innings (like Trott used to do) and knock it about of necessary. We've got some good players but are a couple of bowlers short of being real contenders
I like Ballance . (that'll be the kiss of death then)
I have to say I don't and think he is an extremely limited player. Glad to be proved wrong though.
his avergae says otherwise - 57 from 10 matches including India. I understand what you say about limited, but sometimes think that batting 3 for England with a limited technique is not always a bad thing. Bell now out - run out - silly .
He averages 60.75 in test matches with three hundreds and three half centuries in thirteen innings.
By contrast, he averages 21.21 in 15 ODI innings.
I am a stats person but question the nature of his runs - mostly at home to a poor Sri Lankan attack and India who, after the 2nd Test, typically played as if they couldn't wait to go home.
Time will tell but the one thing you can be certain of is that every Test playing nation will have sussed out his strengths and weaknesses. And I just fear that, rather like Cook, once you limit his scoring options he will eventually get himself out.
Will see AA. I'm not convinced he's as limited as you believe.As Nasser Hussain just said on air "Ballance is a very good player"
I like Ballance . (that'll be the kiss of death then)
I have to say I don't and think he is an extremely limited player. Glad to be proved wrong though.
his avergae says otherwise - 57 from 10 matches including India. I understand what you say about limited, but sometimes think that batting 3 for England with a limited technique is not always a bad thing. Bell now out - run out - silly .
He averages 60.75 in test matches with three hundreds and three half centuries in thirteen innings.
By contrast, he averages 21.21 in 15 ODI innings.
I am a stats person but question the nature of his runs - mostly at home to a poor Sri Lankan attack and India who, after the 2nd Test, typically played as if they couldn't wait to go home.
Time will tell but the one thing you can be certain of is that every Test playing nation will have sussed out his strengths and weaknesses. And I just fear that, rather like Cook, once you limit his scoring options he will eventually get himself out.
Will see AA. I'm not convinced he's as limited as you believe.As Nasser Hussain just said on air "Ballance is a very good player"
As I say happy to be wrong. Ballance is in a no win situation here anyway because if he doesn't get a score or two in this series then his place is under scrutiny and if he does against this West Indies attack on these pitches proves little.
Two things are, however, certain about Cook, Trott and Ballance being at the head of market. Firstly, pressure to score runs will build. And by that I mean builds on their respective partners as much as themselves.
Secondly I can see both Australia and New Zealand still having four slips and a gully in the 20th over whether we've lost a wicket or not. And that really does give them the initiative.
All batsmen go through bad periods of form, but for some it's the end. Going back a few years, I remember the likes of Tim Robinson, Chris Broad and Robin Smith all scoring heavily, but then having back runs of form, never to come back. In those days, players were perhaps discarded too quickly, but with Cook, who's had a few months off but is showing no sign of correcting his problems, you wonder if he'll ever be the player who was the run machine at the top of the order.
1) Limited 2) Like a snail on valium 3) Out of form 4) Under pressure
Indeed he is under a lot of pressure and I hope he kicks on now and becomes the immovable object come the Ashes. And as long as both Cook and Trott aren't there too for the reasons stated previously.
Watching Ballance is like watching a snail on Valium. Test Cricket has changed but we haven't.
Blimey , we've all given up on Cook, lets now have the Ballance-bash. A man with an average approaching 60 in Test matches, and we still have to have a pop at him. Jeez. At least he's still 'in' - unlike Cook,Trott and Bell.!
I just find the brand of cricket played by Ballance, Trott and Cook boring. Yes he has a good Test average, so did Geoffrey Boycott and I didn't like the way he played either.
He proved himself to be a good Test batsman over the last 12-18 months. Sadly people only remember what happened at the World Cup. Whoever made the decision to throw him into that ODI team needs to consider their position...
The International aspect of English cricket is a complete mess. We were wrong to go back to Moores, we were wrong to go back to Trott. Personally I thought Cook having had the winter off would come back all guns blazing in Test cricket but the guy is totally burnt out. We would also be wrong to go back to Pieterson; what would be the point? He won't be around for the next Ashes tour. We need to take this summer on the chin as the Aussies did in 2013. How ridiculed players like Smith and Warner? And many in this country laguhed at Mitchell Johnson's omission from that tour. Sure we retained the Ashes but anyone with just a smidge of understanding of the game saw through that result. I was not surprised at all at what followed that winter. We need to blood some youngsters, give the captaincy to Teachers Pet and say goodbye to Cook, Broad, Trott, KP and Co. Keep Bell as senior pro and build for the future just as Australia always do.
I totally agree with what you say Riviera, which is a first. This Test series was a good chance to blood players like Rashid, Lyth, Wood etc. But what do we do, we put Trott back in. I was happy that Tredwell got four wickets but is he going to bowl out New Zealand or Australia? The attitude of England is conservative, which is holding us back. Cook and Moores are not the right people to take England forward. Cook as a batsman is a walking wicket and his captaincy is lacking in drive and innovation. Moores failed the first time and is failing the second time. A big shake up is required starting with a new Coach and Captain. Jason Gillespie would be the coach for me and Joe Root to be groomed to be the new Captain.
The International aspect of English cricket is a complete mess. We were wrong to go back to Moores, we were wrong to go back to Trott. Personally I thought Cook having had the winter off would come back all guns blazing in Test cricket but the guy is totally burnt out. We would also be wrong to go back to Pieterson; what would be the point? He won't be around for the next Ashes tour. We need to take this summer on the chin as the Aussies did in 2013. How ridiculed players like Smith and Warner? And many in this country laguhed at Mitchell Johnson's omission from that tour. Sure we retained the Ashes but anyone with just a smidge of understanding of the game saw through that result. I was not surprised at all at what followed that winter. We need to blood some youngsters, give the captaincy to Teachers Pet and say goodbye to Cook, Broad, Trott, KP and Co. Keep Bell as senior pro and build for the future just as Australia always do.
Cant see how blooding youngsters against the likes of Johnson coming in at 95mph is going to do much good, could put them back years. Need to use this year as consolidation,get shot of Cook, bring KP in skipper, let him take on Aussies, if he fails then we've got a real, good reason for getting shot of him permanently, if he succeeds then rejoice in him being the saviour. We need some nuggety players up front, so maybe one exception in bring one 'young' player (think he's 27 ?) would be Lyth instead of Cook, maybe an aggressor at 2, and Balance 3, Bell 4 , Root 5 As someone else said, bowling is where we have a real problem - very little coming through . Don't have much faith in Jordan tbh - bit of a dobber. Plunkett doesn't have 'it' nor does Finn.
The International aspect of English cricket is a complete mess. We were wrong to go back to Moores, we were wrong to go back to Trott. Personally I thought Cook having had the winter off would come back all guns blazing in Test cricket but the guy is totally burnt out. We would also be wrong to go back to Pieterson; what would be the point? He won't be around for the next Ashes tour. We need to take this summer on the chin as the Aussies did in 2013. How ridiculed players like Smith and Warner? And many in this country laguhed at Mitchell Johnson's omission from that tour. Sure we retained the Ashes but anyone with just a smidge of understanding of the game saw through that result. I was not surprised at all at what followed that winter. We need to blood some youngsters, give the captaincy to Teachers Pet and say goodbye to Cook, Broad, Trott, KP and Co. Keep Bell as senior pro and build for the future just as Australia always do.
Cant see how blooding youngsters against the likes of Johnson coming in at 95mph is going to do much good, could put them back years. Need to use this year as consolidation,get shot of Cook, bring KP in skipper, let him take on Aussies, if he fails then we've got a real, good reason for getting shot of him permanently, if he succeeds then rejoice in him being the saviour. We need some nuggety players up front, so maybe one exception in bring one 'young' player (think he's 27 ?) would be Lyth instead of Cook, maybe an aggressor at 2, and Balance 3, Bell 4 , Root 5 As someone else said, bowling is where we have a real problem - very little coming through . Don't have much faith in Jordan tbh - bit of a dobber. Plunkett doesn't have 'it' nor does Finn.
Pietersen will be lucky to make a squad, let alone be Skipper!
Christ almighty, the bloke is 35 and has barely played 1st Class cricket in 18 months so let's see him make a few runs first before we start appointing him as God's step-son!
The International aspect of English cricket is a complete mess. We were wrong to go back to Moores, we were wrong to go back to Trott. Personally I thought Cook having had the winter off would come back all guns blazing in Test cricket but the guy is totally burnt out. We would also be wrong to go back to Pieterson; what would be the point? He won't be around for the next Ashes tour. We need to take this summer on the chin as the Aussies did in 2013. How ridiculed players like Smith and Warner? And many in this country laguhed at Mitchell Johnson's omission from that tour. Sure we retained the Ashes but anyone with just a smidge of understanding of the game saw through that result. I was not surprised at all at what followed that winter. We need to blood some youngsters, give the captaincy to Teachers Pet and say goodbye to Cook, Broad, Trott, KP and Co. Keep Bell as senior pro and build for the future just as Australia always do.
Cant see how blooding youngsters against the likes of Johnson coming in at 95mph is going to do much good, could put them back years. Need to use this year as consolidation,get shot of Cook, bring KP in skipper, let him take on Aussies, if he fails then we've got a real, good reason for getting shot of him permanently, if he succeeds then rejoice in him being the saviour. We need some nuggety players up front, so maybe one exception in bring one 'young' player (think he's 27 ?) would be Lyth instead of Cook, maybe an aggressor at 2, and Balance 3, Bell 4 , Root 5 As someone else said, bowling is where we have a real problem - very little coming through . Don't have much faith in Jordan tbh - bit of a dobber. Plunkett doesn't have 'it' nor does Finn.
Pietersen will be lucky to make a squad, let alone be Skipper!
Christ almighty, the bloke is 35 and has barely played 1st Class cricket in 18 months so let's see him make a few runs first before we start appointing him as God's step-son!
Age isn't the problem, look at the Aussies, in their squad they have Rogers 37,Haddin 37,Voges 35,Harris 35. However, lack of cricket might be - but I don't think anyone can deny that KP is the best batsman we have around at the moment - ok, he might be a bit of an arse - but, he's likely to be the best person to take on the Aussies (given that he needs to score tons of runs beforehand) - but as I've mentioned before, if Cook continues to score eff all in the run-up to Ashes, and KP does score runs (even if it is against insignificant teams (a la Riviera) like Kent and Lancashire), then there are going to some serious questions asked, and pressure from media is going to increase greatly - and also, if Alec Stewart or Vaughan becomes the new Englnad supremo, then i'll think you'll find they will have a slightly more pro-KP stance than the previous wankers incumbents.
Watching Ballance is like watching a snail on Valium. Test Cricket has changed but we haven't.
Blimey , we've all given up on Cook, lets now have the Ballance-bash. A man with an average approaching 60 in Test matches, and we still have to have a pop at him. Jeez. At least he's still 'in' - unlike Cook,Trott and Bell.!
I just find the brand of cricket played by Ballance, Trott and Cook boring. Yes he has a good Test average, so did Geoffrey Boycott and I didn't like the way he played either.
The problem is, is that they are too similar. None of them are likely to impose themselves on an attack, to throw an opening bowler of his line, so the opposition attack can settle into a nice rhythm
Watching Ballance is like watching a snail on Valium. Test Cricket has changed but we haven't.
Blimey , we've all given up on Cook, lets now have the Ballance-bash. A man with an average approaching 60 in Test matches, and we still have to have a pop at him. Jeez. At least he's still 'in' - unlike Cook,Trott and Bell.!
I just find the brand of cricket played by Ballance, Trott and Cook boring. Yes he has a good Test average, so did Geoffrey Boycott and I didn't like the way he played either.
yes it is very boring ...any youngster getting interested in the game will immediately turn on the next channel and watch IPL and that will tell you a lot about our prospects of producing good test match cricketers .we really dont want to have pinch hitters as test opening batsmen.Warner and Gayle for example are aggressive opening batsmen we must fins at least one ,where from i dont know
Comments
Bell now out - run out - silly .
By contrast, he averages 21.21 in 15 ODI innings.
Lead by 156.
A man with an average approaching 60 in Test matches, and we still have to have a pop at him. Jeez. At least he's still 'in' - unlike Cook,Trott and Bell.!
Ballance cuts away for four runs.
Time will tell but the one thing you can be certain of is that every Test playing nation will have sussed out his strengths and weaknesses. And I just fear that, rather like Cook, once you limit his scoring options he will eventually get himself out.
Ballance often begins slowly but once he's in he tends to score quite quickly
Two things are, however, certain about Cook, Trott and Ballance being at the head of market. Firstly, pressure to score runs will build. And by that I mean builds on their respective partners as much as themselves.
Secondly I can see both Australia and New Zealand still having four slips and a gully in the 20th over whether we've lost a wicket or not. And that really does give them the initiative.
ENG 116-3
Ballance 44*
Root 32*
Lead by 220.
1) Limited
2) Like a snail on valium
3) Out of form
4) Under pressure
We need to take this summer on the chin as the Aussies did in 2013. How ridiculed players like Smith and Warner? And many in this country laguhed at Mitchell Johnson's omission from that tour. Sure we retained the Ashes but anyone with just a smidge of understanding of the game saw through that result. I was not surprised at all at what followed that winter.
We need to blood some youngsters, give the captaincy to Teachers Pet and say goodbye to Cook, Broad, Trott, KP and Co. Keep Bell as senior pro and build for the future just as Australia always do.
Need to use this year as consolidation,get shot of Cook, bring KP in skipper, let him take on Aussies, if he fails then we've got a real, good reason for getting shot of him permanently, if he succeeds then rejoice in him being the saviour.
We need some nuggety players up front, so maybe one exception in bring one 'young' player (think he's 27 ?) would be Lyth instead of Cook, maybe an aggressor at 2, and Balance 3, Bell 4 , Root 5
As someone else said, bowling is where we have a real problem - very little coming through . Don't have much faith in Jordan tbh - bit of a dobber. Plunkett doesn't have 'it' nor does Finn.
Christ almighty, the bloke is 35 and has barely played 1st Class cricket in 18 months so let's see him make a few runs first before we start appointing him as God's step-son!
Wonder if Pietersen could play on loan or as a guest player in those games? It would certainly spark interest and put one up the Aussies.
However, lack of cricket might be - but I don't think anyone can deny that KP is the best batsman we have around at the moment - ok, he might be a bit of an arse - but, he's likely to be the best person to take on the Aussies (given that he needs to score tons of runs beforehand) - but as I've mentioned before, if Cook continues to score eff all in the run-up to Ashes, and KP does score runs (even if it is against insignificant teams (a la Riviera) like Kent and Lancashire), then there are going to some serious questions asked, and pressure from media is going to increase greatly - and also, if Alec Stewart or Vaughan becomes the new Englnad supremo, then i'll think you'll find they will have a slightly more pro-KP stance than the previous
wankersincumbents.