It's more that Lawrence has made a seemingly (to me and many other good judges) irresistible case for his inclusion tbh, and Denly really hasn't made big runs at any stage - he's done a serviceable job but nothing remarkable. Foakes has hit a hundred in five Tests and isn't in the side
First class average of 38 doesn’t sound irresistible. I’m a Kent fan but I’m not sold on Denly although he’s played better than his average suggests.
Lawrence is young still and averages don’t mean much at this stagThe season before grant started scoring for us, he scored 1 in 45. The year he left he had 14 in 20 odd
We look like a team in transition which makes selection difficult and puts pressure on batsmen particularly to succeed. The bigger question to me is whether we are prioritising the present or the future.
I think the transition is slightly less than it was last summer, at least the question is “who do we drop” when twelve months ago it was “who do we pick?”. Burns and sibley have nailed down the opening spots for a while now, sibley has to get a lot of credit for his weight loss as well this summer. Crawley is a class act that’s a natural reserve for them, we also have pope who looks like he’s going to be bell’s natural successor at 3 at some point in the future.
The thing is wood looked unbelievable in South Africa, and we all know what archer can do, you can’t drop either of them, we need to get as much out of Anderson and broad as we can, so they pick themselves. We’re looking a lot lot stronger going forward than we did 12 months ago.
Zac Crawley has been regarded a talent throughout age group cricket at Kent and the one that the County always thought would make it as a pro. Although it does help when you are being shamelessly promoted by Rob Key (very good mate with his Dad, Terry) at every opportunity - Nasser and Atherton are constantly ribbing him on TV about it referring to Zac as "your boy". Zac's county average (31.95) does not reflect his talent but he is only 22 at the end of the day.
If there will be a test for him it will be the short stuff - although the likes of Collingwood believe that this is actually a strength of his - as the fact is that, at 6' 5'' it isn't as easy to get out of the way of a 90mph plus delivery as it would be for a Lara, Ponting or Tendulkar. In fact, I am struggling to think of too many current or past opening Test batsmen who are/were that tall and it will be interesting to see how he copes against the best fast bowling attacks in the world.
We look like a team in transition which makes selection difficult and puts pressure on batsmen particularly to succeed. The bigger question to me is whether we are prioritising the present or the future.
I think the transition is slightly less than it was last summer, at least the question is “who do we drop” when twelve months ago it was “who do we pick?”. Burns and sibley have nailed down the opening spots for a while now, sibley has to get a lot of credit for his weight loss as well this summer. Crawley is a class act that’s a natural reserve for them, we also have pope who looks like he’s going to be bell’s natural successor at 3 at some point in the future.
The thing is wood looked unbelievable in South Africa, and we all know what archer can do, you can’t drop either of them, we need to get as much out of Anderson and broad as we can, so they pick themselves. We’re looking a lot lot stronger going forward than we did 12 months ago.
Zac Crawley has been regarded a talent throughout age group cricket at Kent and the one that the County always thought would make it as a pro. Although it does help when you are being shamelessly promoted by Rob Key (very good mate with his Dad, Terry) at every opportunity - Nasser and Atherton are constantly ribbing him on TV about it referring to Zac as "your boy". Zac's county average (31.95) does not reflect his talent but he is only 22 at the end of the day.
If there will be a test for him it will be the short stuff - although the likes of Collingwood believe that this is actually a strength of his - as the fact is that, at 6' 5'' it isn't as easy to get out of the way of a 90mph plus delivery as it would be for a Lara, Ponting or Tendulkar. In fact, I am struggling to think of too many current or past opening Test batsmen who are/were that tall and it will be interesting to see how he copes against the best fast bowling attacks in the world.
Cook at 6'1", 6'2" or something is the only one that springs to mind. As you say, majority of the most successful batsman are under 6ft I think.
We look like a team in transition which makes selection difficult and puts pressure on batsmen particularly to succeed. The bigger question to me is whether we are prioritising the present or the future.
I think the transition is slightly less than it was last summer, at least the question is “who do we drop” when twelve months ago it was “who do we pick?”. Burns and sibley have nailed down the opening spots for a while now, sibley has to get a lot of credit for his weight loss as well this summer. Crawley is a class act that’s a natural reserve for them, we also have pope who looks like he’s going to be bell’s natural successor at 3 at some point in the future.
The thing is wood looked unbelievable in South Africa, and we all know what archer can do, you can’t drop either of them, we need to get as much out of Anderson and broad as we can, so they pick themselves. We’re looking a lot lot stronger going forward than we did 12 months ago.
Zac Crawley has been regarded a talent throughout age group cricket at Kent and the one that the County always thought would make it as a pro. Although it does help when you are being shamelessly promoted by Rob Key (very good mate with his Dad, Terry) at every opportunity - Nasser and Atherton are constantly ribbing him on TV about it referring to Zac as "your boy". Zac's county average (31.95) does not reflect his talent but he is only 22 at the end of the day.
If there will be a test for him it will be the short stuff - although the likes of Collingwood believe that this is actually a strength of his - as the fact is that, at 6' 5'' it isn't as easy to get out of the way of a 90mph plus delivery as it would be for a Lara, Ponting or Tendulkar. In fact, I am struggling to think of too many current or past opening Test batsmen who are/were that tall and it will be interesting to see how he copes against the best fast bowling attacks in the world.
Cook at 6'1", 6'2" or something is the only one that springs to mind. As you say, majority of the most successful batsman are under 6ft I think.
Hayden was 6' 2'' but again an exception and that's not 6' 5''. KP is 6' 4'' but not an opener and was different class (although not off the pitch) anyway. Tony Greig at 6' 6'' is the tallest English batsman I can think of.
I should also add that I'm not saying that Zac can't cope with 90mph plus bouncers. It's just that he doesn't face it in the county game and as much as you can prepare for it against the bowling machine it simply isn't the same.
We look like a team in transition which makes selection difficult and puts pressure on batsmen particularly to succeed. The bigger question to me is whether we are prioritising the present or the future.
I think the transition is slightly less than it was last summer, at least the question is “who do we drop” when twelve months ago it was “who do we pick?”. Burns and sibley have nailed down the opening spots for a while now, sibley has to get a lot of credit for his weight loss as well this summer. Crawley is a class act that’s a natural reserve for them, we also have pope who looks like he’s going to be bell’s natural successor at 3 at some point in the future.
The thing is wood looked unbelievable in South Africa, and we all know what archer can do, you can’t drop either of them, we need to get as much out of Anderson and broad as we can, so they pick themselves. We’re looking a lot lot stronger going forward than we did 12 months ago.
Zac Crawley has been regarded a talent throughout age group cricket at Kent and the one that the County always thought would make it as a pro. Although it does help when you are being shamelessly promoted by Rob Key (very good mate with his Dad, Terry) at every opportunity - Nasser and Atherton are constantly ribbing him on TV about it referring to Zac as "your boy". Zac's county average (31.95) does not reflect his talent but he is only 22 at the end of the day.
If there will be a test for him it will be the short stuff - although the likes of Collingwood believe that this is actually a strength of his - as the fact is that, at 6' 5'' it isn't as easy to get out of the way of a 90mph plus delivery as it would be for a Lara, Ponting or Tendulkar. In fact, I am struggling to think of too many current or past opening Test batsmen who are/were that tall and it will be interesting to see how he copes against the best fast bowling attacks in the world.
Matt Hayden didn’t have much problem opening the batting - granted - they’re very different players. KP had little trouble with the short delivery.
Career first class averages mean very little - many test cricketers career test average exceeds their first class average, it’s only natural as it obviously takes into account their first forays into the pro game.
We look like a team in transition which makes selection difficult and puts pressure on batsmen particularly to succeed. The bigger question to me is whether we are prioritising the present or the future.
I think the transition is slightly less than it was last summer, at least the question is “who do we drop” when twelve months ago it was “who do we pick?”. Burns and sibley have nailed down the opening spots for a while now, sibley has to get a lot of credit for his weight loss as well this summer. Crawley is a class act that’s a natural reserve for them, we also have pope who looks like he’s going to be bell’s natural successor at 3 at some point in the future.
The thing is wood looked unbelievable in South Africa, and we all know what archer can do, you can’t drop either of them, we need to get as much out of Anderson and broad as we can, so they pick themselves. We’re looking a lot lot stronger going forward than we did 12 months ago.
Zac Crawley has been regarded a talent throughout age group cricket at Kent and the one that the County always thought would make it as a pro. Although it does help when you are being shamelessly promoted by Rob Key (very good mate with his Dad, Terry) at every opportunity - Nasser and Atherton are constantly ribbing him on TV about it referring to Zac as "your boy". Zac's county average (31.95) does not reflect his talent but he is only 22 at the end of the day.
If there will be a test for him it will be the short stuff - although the likes of Collingwood believe that this is actually a strength of his - as the fact is that, at 6' 5'' it isn't as easy to get out of the way of a 90mph plus delivery as it would be for a Lara, Ponting or Tendulkar. In fact, I am struggling to think of too many current or past opening Test batsmen who are/were that tall and it will be interesting to see how he copes against the best fast bowling attacks in the world.
Matt Hayden didn’t have much problem opening the batting - granted - they’re very different players. KP had little trouble with the short delivery.
Career first class averages mean very little - many test cricketers career test average exceeds their first class average, it’s only natural as it obviously takes into account their first forays into the pro game.
These are the exceptions though and it is a challenge. Hayden and KP were both brought up on fast, bouncy tracks. It's like shelling peas to them. Ours are "educated" to play the moving ball at 80mph. Vastly different challenges.
Once again, I repeat, I am not saying that he isn't up to it and I really hope, as a Kent fan, that he is a massive success.
We look like a team in transition which makes selection difficult and puts pressure on batsmen particularly to succeed. The bigger question to me is whether we are prioritising the present or the future.
I think the transition is slightly less than it was last summer, at least the question is “who do we drop” when twelve months ago it was “who do we pick?”. Burns and sibley have nailed down the opening spots for a while now, sibley has to get a lot of credit for his weight loss as well this summer. Crawley is a class act that’s a natural reserve for them, we also have pope who looks like he’s going to be bell’s natural successor at 3 at some point in the future.
The thing is wood looked unbelievable in South Africa, and we all know what archer can do, you can’t drop either of them, we need to get as much out of Anderson and broad as we can, so they pick themselves. We’re looking a lot lot stronger going forward than we did 12 months ago.
Sibley has lost 2 stone during lockdown. Very impressive.
Pope has never batted 3 and shouldn't. 3 is a specialist position and it doesn't suit his game. Let's not make this mistake again and get less out of an immense talent by batting him out of position. He could bat as high as 4.
Bell didnt bat 3 very much for england and his record there was poor. The majority of his runs came at 5 and 6 and all but 2 (I think) of his centuries.
With 6 tests in 7 weeks no fast bowler will be dropped only rotated. If we were to play Archer Wood and dare I say Anderson in all those matches there is no way they wouldn't break down. You have to take the pragmatic approach. I understand getting your strongest lineup out for the first match but you cant risk it for every game. The beauty of having such depth is we could pick 2 sets of fast bowlers with no real quality drop. Its rumoured that the 3 will be Archer Wood and Anderson which to me looks very injury prone. Wouldn't want 2 of them to breakdown mid game.
Agree we look a lot stronger in both batting and bowling that we did 12 months ago. For me we actually look like a test side whereas before we just looked like a bunch of players thrown together with no one knowing their role.
It's more that Lawrence has made a seemingly (to me and many other good judges) irresistible case for his inclusion tbh, and Denly really hasn't made big runs at any stage - he's done a serviceable job but nothing remarkable. Foakes has hit a hundred in five Tests and isn't in the side
First class average of 38 doesn’t sound irresistible. I’m a Kent fan but I’m not sold on Denly although he’s played better than his average suggests.
Lawrence made a technical change a year or so ago and has made stacks of runs since then
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If there will be a test for him it will be the short stuff - although the likes of Collingwood believe that this is actually a strength of his - as the fact is that, at 6' 5'' it isn't as easy to get out of the way of a 90mph plus delivery as it would be for a Lara, Ponting or Tendulkar. In fact, I am struggling to think of too many current or past opening Test batsmen who are/were that tall and it will be interesting to see how he copes against the best fast bowling attacks in the world.
I should also add that I'm not saying that Zac can't cope with 90mph plus bouncers. It's just that he doesn't face it in the county game and as much as you can prepare for it against the bowling machine it simply isn't the same.
Career first class averages mean very little - many test cricketers career test average exceeds their first class average, it’s only natural as it obviously takes into account their first forays into the pro game.
Once again, I repeat, I am not saying that he isn't up to it and I really hope, as a Kent fan, that he is a massive success.
Pope has never batted 3 and shouldn't. 3 is a specialist position and it doesn't suit his game. Let's not make this mistake again and get less out of an immense talent by batting him out of position. He could bat as high as 4.
Bell didnt bat 3 very much for england and his record there was poor. The majority of his runs came at 5 and 6 and all but 2 (I think) of his centuries.
With 6 tests in 7 weeks no fast bowler will be dropped only rotated. If we were to play Archer Wood and dare I say Anderson in all those matches there is no way they wouldn't break down. You have to take the pragmatic approach. I understand getting your strongest lineup out for the first match but you cant risk it for every game. The beauty of having such depth is we could pick 2 sets of fast bowlers with no real quality drop. Its rumoured that the 3 will be Archer Wood and Anderson which to me looks very injury prone. Wouldn't want 2 of them to breakdown mid game.
Agree we look a lot stronger in both batting and bowling that we did 12 months ago. For me we actually look like a test side whereas before we just looked like a bunch of players thrown together with no one knowing their role.
Might mean it goes into the 5th day though.