Pace has been very effective for South Africa. Without Archer and Wood we sometimes look a bit toothless.
I would say VERY toothless .. been said many times before, but this series must be the end of the road for Anderson & Broad .. problem is there are a lot of ok English 'fast medium' bowlers about, few though with genuine pace and real hostility
Pace has been very effective for South Africa. Without Archer and Wood we sometimes look a bit toothless.
I would say VERY toothless .. been said many times before, but this series must be the end of the road for Anderson & Broad .. problem is there are a lot of ok English 'fast medium' bowlers about, few though with genuine pace and real hostility
And this series we're combining a bowling attack without pace with a long tail. It's crazy how our bowling resources have been decimated by injury, having Woakes back would make a massive difference to the batting.
Pace has been very effective for South Africa. Without Archer and Wood we sometimes look a bit toothless.
I would say VERY toothless .. been said many times before, but this series must be the end of the road for Anderson & Broad .. problem is there are a lot of ok English 'fast medium' bowlers about, few though with genuine pace and real hostility
And those that are, namely Wood and Archer, are injured. We can probably write Archer off as a Test player because, not only has he not played two of them in the last two years, the lure of franchise cricket around the world plus possibly playing white ball internationals will be too beneficial both financially and in terms of keeping fit. Why bowl 30 overs in a Test match and risk injury bowling long spells when you can play eight T20 games and command top money doing so?
I don't think Archer is a very good Test bowler anyway. Even when fit, he wasn't able to maintain his pace, often reduced to bowling fast medium, but without the seam and swing skills of a decent English style bowler.
He's better suited to white ball cricket, where he can use his pace in short spells, and use slower balls as variation.
Wood is a brilliant Test bowler, but sadly has Chuks/Inniss fragility
Pace has been very effective for South Africa. Without Archer and Wood we sometimes look a bit toothless.
I would say VERY toothless .. been said many times before, but this series must be the end of the road for Anderson & Broad .. problem is there are a lot of ok English 'fast medium' bowlers about, few though with genuine pace and real hostility
And those that are, namely Wood and Archer, are injured. We can probably write Archer off as a Test player because, not only has he not played two of them in the last two years, the lure of franchise cricket around the world plus possibly playing white ball internationals will be too beneficial both financially and in terms of keeping fit. Why bowl 30 overs in a Test match and risk injury bowling long spells when you can play eight T20 games and command top money doing so?
I don't think Archer is a very good Test bowler anyway. Even when fit, he wasn't able to maintain his pace, often reduced to bowling fast medium, but without the seam and swing skills of a decent English style bowler.
He's better suited to white ball cricket, where he can use his pace in short spells, and use slower balls as variation.
Wood is a brilliant Test bowler, but sadly has Chuks/Inniss fragility
for much of his test career he's been carrying the very injury he's been out trying to get sorted. Iirc it was only really the first couple of test vs australia where he was firing on all cylinders and had that incredible battle with smith. His beautiful graceful action makes it look like he could bowl faster and he's not putting the yards in - compared to some one with quite a busy action in s curran who bowls slower.
I would like to think that this next innings will be defining, either way for Crawley, but having read the absolute rubbish spouted by Collingwood I'm really not sure it will be if he fails. Russell's reaction to the Cricketer story is shared by many:
Zak Crawley should not be thought of as a consistent player, but as a match-winner capable of achieving "special things", according to Paul Collingwood.
Crawley fell for nine on the first day of the LV= Insurance series against South Africa at Lord's meaning he has now gone 13 Test innings without a half-century. On nine of those occasions, he has failed to reach double-figures.
But while Collingwood, one of England's assistant coaches, admitted Crawley would be "frustrated" by his lack of runs, he insisted the management's confidence in his ability remained undimmed.
In particular, he provided a reminder that it was only a Test ago that Crawley helped post a century opening stand to help England achieve a testing run-chase at Edgbaston and that his ability as a stroke-maker was able to damage the opposition in a way few other candidates could match.
"The messaging is very clear with Zak," Collingwood said. "We don't necessarily look for consistency with Zak.
Zak Crawley: Test batting stats since January 2021
Innings: 35
Runs: 657
Average: 18.77
Top-score: 121
Strike rate: 52.06
"It's about match-winning performances and being able to do special things.
"One innings ago he had a hundred partnership against India to [help us] chase down over 350. We don't forget about those contributions in our dressing-room and they are huge contributions to winning games of cricket. He's got a lot of talent, we know that.
"I'm sure he's frustrated he's not getting more runs but certainly in the dressing room ourselves we're confident he can turn things around and have those match-winning contributions."
Collingwood also sought to justify England's aggressive approach. While accepting the batters were "not always going to get it 100 per cent right," he insisted they were right to try to hit the bowlers off their length in challenging conditions. And he had particular praise for Ollie Pope who held England together with a half-century.
"Everyone's clear about how we're going to go about our batting," Collingwood said. "That's not going to change.
"The one thing when you're on wickets with lots of assistance is, you don't want the bowler to think he can put it in the same area and get results. You're going to have to try and find ways to get them to change lengths, knowing that if they do miss their lines and lengths they're going to be punished.
"We're not always going to get it 100% right. But I thought at times today we soaked up pressure and at times we put it back on the bowlers. To lose a wicket before lunch the ball before lunch hurt us quite badly.
"But we've been in this position before. And I thought Ollie Pope was fantastic today. Our mantra is about trying to put the opposition under pressure and he did that brilliantly today.
"I thought he was composed, he looked busy at the crease and on a wicket that was giving them quite a lot of assistance he got us into a position at the end of the day's play where we're not necessarily out of the game. He's batted exceptionally well and shown a lot of skill."
I would like to think that this next innings will be defining, either way for Crawley, but having read the absolute rubbish spouted by Collingwood I'm really not sure it will be if he fails. Russell's reaction to the Cricketer story is shared by many:
Zak Crawley should not be thought of as a consistent player, but as a match-winner capable of achieving "special things", according to Paul Collingwood.
Crawley fell for nine on the first day of the LV= Insurance series against South Africa at Lord's meaning he has now gone 13 Test innings without a half-century. On nine of those occasions, he has failed to reach double-figures.
But while Collingwood, one of England's assistant coaches, admitted Crawley would be "frustrated" by his lack of runs, he insisted the management's confidence in his ability remained undimmed.
In particular, he provided a reminder that it was only a Test ago that Crawley helped post a century opening stand to help England achieve a testing run-chase at Edgbaston and that his ability as a stroke-maker was able to damage the opposition in a way few other candidates could match.
"The messaging is very clear with Zak," Collingwood said. "We don't necessarily look for consistency with Zak.
Zak Crawley: Test batting stats since January 2021
Innings: 35
Runs: 657
Average: 18.77
Top-score: 121
Strike rate: 52.06
"It's about match-winning performances and being able to do special things.
"One innings ago he had a hundred partnership against India to [help us] chase down over 350. We don't forget about those contributions in our dressing-room and they are huge contributions to winning games of cricket. He's got a lot of talent, we know that.
"I'm sure he's frustrated he's not getting more runs but certainly in the dressing room ourselves we're confident he can turn things around and have those match-winning contributions."
Collingwood also sought to justify England's aggressive approach. While accepting the batters were "not always going to get it 100 per cent right," he insisted they were right to try to hit the bowlers off their length in challenging conditions. And he had particular praise for Ollie Pope who held England together with a half-century.
"Everyone's clear about how we're going to go about our batting," Collingwood said. "That's not going to change.
"The one thing when you're on wickets with lots of assistance is, you don't want the bowler to think he can put it in the same area and get results. You're going to have to try and find ways to get them to change lengths, knowing that if they do miss their lines and lengths they're going to be punished.
"We're not always going to get it 100% right. But I thought at times today we soaked up pressure and at times we put it back on the bowlers. To lose a wicket before lunch the ball before lunch hurt us quite badly.
"But we've been in this position before. And I thought Ollie Pope was fantastic today. Our mantra is about trying to put the opposition under pressure and he did that brilliantly today.
"I thought he was composed, he looked busy at the crease and on a wicket that was giving them quite a lot of assistance he got us into a position at the end of the day's play where we're not necessarily out of the game. He's batted exceptionally well and shown a lot of skill."
As I say it should be defining - a big score and he has earned the right to carry on. Another failure and he has to go. But given all that Collingwood has said he appears to be the one exception because I can't recall anyone with his County record being given this run let alone one as long as almost 50 Test innings.
Yes it was a decent opening partnership, but some massively OTT praise by the England management for Crawley's 46. England won that India game because Root and Bairstow put on an unbeaten 269!
Lees gets a life. He's lucky that Crawley is getting all the media attention as his England record is uninspiring also.
That was really muddled thinking from Crawley. You put pressure on the spinner by being aggressive in order to get him out of the attack. The sweep is, in itself, a risk/reward shot, but even if he had been successful in forcing Maharaj off, what would happen next? The seamers would be back with a relatively new ball too.
Comments
Without Archer and Wood we sometimes look a bit toothless.
He's better suited to white ball cricket, where he can use his pace in short spells, and use slower balls as variation.
Wood is a brilliant Test bowler, but sadly has Chuks/Inniss fragility
Broad has been pretty ineffective this summer - with Robinson back fit I cant see how he doesnt come in for the next test.
Zak Crawley should not be thought of as a consistent player, but as a match-winner capable of achieving "special things", according to Paul Collingwood.
Crawley fell for nine on the first day of the LV= Insurance series against South Africa at Lord's meaning he has now gone 13 Test innings without a half-century. On nine of those occasions, he has failed to reach double-figures.
But while Collingwood, one of England's assistant coaches, admitted Crawley would be "frustrated" by his lack of runs, he insisted the management's confidence in his ability remained undimmed.
In particular, he provided a reminder that it was only a Test ago that Crawley helped post a century opening stand to help England achieve a testing run-chase at Edgbaston and that his ability as a stroke-maker was able to damage the opposition in a way few other candidates could match.
"The messaging is very clear with Zak," Collingwood said. "We don't necessarily look for consistency with Zak.
"It's about match-winning performances and being able to do special things.
"One innings ago he had a hundred partnership against India to [help us] chase down over 350. We don't forget about those contributions in our dressing-room and they are huge contributions to winning games of cricket. He's got a lot of talent, we know that.
"I'm sure he's frustrated he's not getting more runs but certainly in the dressing room ourselves we're confident he can turn things around and have those match-winning contributions."
Collingwood also sought to justify England's aggressive approach. While accepting the batters were "not always going to get it 100 per cent right," he insisted they were right to try to hit the bowlers off their length in challenging conditions. And he had particular praise for Ollie Pope who held England together with a half-century.
"Everyone's clear about how we're going to go about our batting," Collingwood said. "That's not going to change.
"The one thing when you're on wickets with lots of assistance is, you don't want the bowler to think he can put it in the same area and get results. You're going to have to try and find ways to get them to change lengths, knowing that if they do miss their lines and lengths they're going to be punished.
"We're not always going to get it 100% right. But I thought at times today we soaked up pressure and at times we put it back on the bowlers. To lose a wicket before lunch the ball before lunch hurt us quite badly.
"But we've been in this position before. And I thought Ollie Pope was fantastic today. Our mantra is about trying to put the opposition under pressure and he did that brilliantly today.
"I thought he was composed, he looked busy at the crease and on a wicket that was giving them quite a lot of assistance he got us into a position at the end of the day's play where we're not necessarily out of the game. He's batted exceptionally well and shown a lot of skill."
Lees gets a life. He's lucky that Crawley is getting all the media attention as his England record is uninspiring also.