Bethell playing at 3 is a massive leap of faith, for a rookie middle order all rounder.
Pope in some ways won't mind dropping down the order to 6, indeed it's a good opportunity for him to bat in an easier position. Stokes at 7 feels very low, surely one of the senior players should be at 3, with Bethell at 6 or 7?
It's that thing they have a hang up about having someone at 7 who is capable of scoring a ton off 30 balls.
I've just had a nasty thought though - assuming that Bethell doesn't bat beyond the call of duty, could we see Smith coming back at 3 in the summer and not keeping with Pope staying at 6 and retaining the gloves? Is that why we didn't include a specialist second keeper in the first place and that Robinson will merely be back up if and when he arrives?
Bethell would be perfectly suited for playing an explosive innings at 7. What he isn't suited to is coming in early on against a seaming new red ball.
I think that they believe that they have enough experience around him at 3 (Crawley or Duckett batting with him followed by Root) and don't want a currently fragile Pope at 6 followed by an inexperienced Bethell at 7 with just bowlers behind them. Stokes has enough experience to know when to stick or twist at 7 whereas Bethell, with all his inexperience, could be in a situation where he doesn't know what to do. Smith has done that job superbly but then he has had 104 FC innings as opposed to Bethell's 30.
Bethell has never batted at 3 and for that reason I'm not sure that they expecting too much of him and that this is to give him experience. They've done that with other players that have played next to zero county cricket (with Bashir being one of them) and is probably a "free hit" to them. Worst case scenario is that he's keeping the seat warm (again in their eyes) for a confidence boosted Pope to return to 3 once Smith is back.
Whether that is muddled thinking time will tell but the fact is that they took Bethell rather than another keeper/batsman such as Robinson as cover for Cox for a reason and that was clearly to give Bethell a chance if the situation gave rise to a batsman dropping out. It's not as if Robinson coming in would have made them, as a batting unit, weaker on paper, than Bethell.
Bethell playing at 3 is a massive leap of faith, for a rookie middle order all rounder.
Pope in some ways won't mind dropping down the order to 6, indeed it's a good opportunity for him to bat in an easier position. Stokes at 7 feels very low, surely one of the senior players should be at 3, with Bethell at 6 or 7?
Bethell playing at 3 is a massive leap of faith, for a rookie middle order all rounder.
Pope in some ways won't mind dropping down the order to 6, indeed it's a good opportunity for him to bat in an easier position. Stokes at 7 feels very low, surely one of the senior players should be at 3, with Bethell at 6 or 7?
All because Joe Root wont bat at 3.
There is substance to that but, there again, everything they are doing isn't about this series. It's about the one against India and ultimately the Ashes in a year's time and if England's greatest ever batsman wants to bat now at 4 because that is where he wants to bat against the best sides in the world then he has enough weight of runs behind him to force that decision. Whether that is best for the team is debatable and it's not as if we've lost out second and third wickets in quick succession but the fact is that the further away you are from a moving new ball you are, the easier it is to bat. Kohli (India), Smith (Australia) and Babar (Pakistan) all prefer to bat at 4 whereas Williamson comes in at first drop.
correct decision to drop pope down the order but I agree with the stokes at 3 comments. However, exposing a young inexperienced all rounder to the new ball is crazy. Hasn’t Crawley got a poor record in New Zealand with an average of around 10?
There's been a real spat in the last 24 hours between Joe Root and Darren Lehmann. Lehmann is wrong in saying that Root can't be considered "an all-time great" until he hits a ton in Australia but, equally, Lehmann was better than just a pundit with an opinion. In fact, if one was to ask any Yorkshire supporter who has contributed more to them as a county and they will, almost certainly, say the Australian.
Lehmann had a Test average of 44.95 (and only didn't play more than 27 Tests because of the strength of the Australian side at the time). In 88 first-class games for the club between 1997 and 2006 (whereas Root has played just 20 in the last decade), Lehmann scored 8,871 runs at an average of 68.76, with 26 hundreds for the county and in 2001 he helped Yorkshire to their first County Championship title since 1968, with 1,416 runs in 13 games at an average of 83.29. He scored 26 centuries with a top score of 339 against Durham in 2006 during his final game for the club, helping Yorkshire to avoid relegation by a single point. Whereas Root was off playing golf when Yorkshire needed him to help them avoid relegation. To Yorkshire supporters Lehmann was a legend whereas Root is an England legend.
Hopefully Root will pin a picture of Lehmann in the England dressing room and that will inspire him to score not just the one hundred in Australia.
Comments
Bethell has never batted at 3 and for that reason I'm not sure that they expecting too much of him and that this is to give him experience. They've done that with other players that have played next to zero county cricket (with Bashir being one of them) and is probably a "free hit" to them. Worst case scenario is that he's keeping the seat warm (again in their eyes) for a confidence boosted Pope to return to 3 once Smith is back.
Whether that is muddled thinking time will tell but the fact is that they took Bethell rather than another keeper/batsman such as Robinson as cover for Cox for a reason and that was clearly to give Bethell a chance if the situation gave rise to a batsman dropping out. It's not as if Robinson coming in would have made them, as a batting unit, weaker on paper, than Bethell.
Lehmann had a Test average of 44.95 (and only didn't play more than 27 Tests because of the strength of the Australian side at the time). In 88 first-class games for the club between 1997 and 2006 (whereas Root has played just 20 in the last decade), Lehmann scored 8,871 runs at an average of 68.76, with 26 hundreds for the county and in 2001 he helped Yorkshire to their first County Championship title since 1968, with 1,416 runs in 13 games at an average of 83.29. He scored 26 centuries with a top score of 339 against Durham in 2006 during his final game for the club, helping Yorkshire to avoid relegation by a single point. Whereas Root was off playing golf when Yorkshire needed him to help them avoid relegation. To Yorkshire supporters Lehmann was a legend whereas Root is an England legend.
Hopefully Root will pin a picture of Lehmann in the England dressing room and that will inspire him to score not just the one hundred in Australia.