You can see why they persist with Crawley when he plays like that. The guy is probably the most enjoyable batsman in the whole team to watch when he's on form. He's just so inconsistent.
Cricket
- Thread starter summerisle
- Start date
Ben Stokes exists
Oh for sure, he's pure box office. Crawley though reminds me a bit of Graeme Smith in that when he's in the flow he looks impossible to contain. Those times happen incredibly rarely though.
BornBlue76
Player Valuation: £35m
That SA team was dead man walking as it was announced. Wiaan Mulder is not international std.. Rickleton can’t be expected to step up in the type of test..
it all started to go wrong by selecting to bat first and dropping Jansen in the 2nd test… then decision making just got worse!
it all started to go wrong by selecting to bat first and dropping Jansen in the 2nd test… then decision making just got worse!
Very comfortable win
Nice for Crawley to get the winning runs and a nice score after a very mediocre summer
Nice for Crawley to get the winning runs and a nice score after a very mediocre summer
6 of 7
That's BazBall baby
That's BazBall baby
Better for him to play his natural shot game - than hang around poking & prodding at the ball then eventually getting out - plus not an actual opener -
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
Watching the lamentable SA batting yesterday my mind began wandering to the great players they've had over the years, so I selected this as my favourite team, not necessarily the best and I didn't give it too much thought so there will be plenty I've forgotten. (I had to have seen them play either in the flesh or on tv}.
1. Barry Richards - genius
2 Jimmy Cook - run machine, just pips Graeme Smith.
3 Gary Kirsten - solid defence, had all the shots, perfect no. 3
4 A B De Villiers - genius
5 Jaques Kallis - great bat, fine bowler
6 Clive Rice - another genuine world class all-rounder, with reputation for being one of the hardest players ever - Captain
7 Mark Boucher - best w/k I've seen for them, never saw Ray Jennings (Keaton's dad) or Dennis Lindsay who people say were better.
8 Keshav Maharaj - best spinner I could think of
9 Vincent Van Der Bijl - 6' 8" fast medium - widely regarded as the best bowler never to play test cricket - like Joel Garner but quicker
10 Dale Steyn - best bowler in the world for 2 or 3 years
11 Allan Donald - tall and quick
Well done England for beating the current team, but if Dean Elgar is your best batsman by a distance you know your going to struggle.
Don't think Bazball would go too well against an opening attack of Donald and Van Der Bijl, with Steyn and Rice to come and Kallis in support!
1. Barry Richards - genius
2 Jimmy Cook - run machine, just pips Graeme Smith.
3 Gary Kirsten - solid defence, had all the shots, perfect no. 3
4 A B De Villiers - genius
5 Jaques Kallis - great bat, fine bowler
6 Clive Rice - another genuine world class all-rounder, with reputation for being one of the hardest players ever - Captain
7 Mark Boucher - best w/k I've seen for them, never saw Ray Jennings (Keaton's dad) or Dennis Lindsay who people say were better.
8 Keshav Maharaj - best spinner I could think of
9 Vincent Van Der Bijl - 6' 8" fast medium - widely regarded as the best bowler never to play test cricket - like Joel Garner but quicker
10 Dale Steyn - best bowler in the world for 2 or 3 years
11 Allan Donald - tall and quick
Well done England for beating the current team, but if Dean Elgar is your best batsman by a distance you know your going to struggle.
Don't think Bazball would go too well against an opening attack of Donald and Van Der Bijl, with Steyn and Rice to come and Kallis in support!
Cracking team , although I must admit I've never heard of your no.9.
He must be some player to get in ahead of Shaun Pollock or even Rabada.
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
Yes he was - Pollock, Rabada and Philander and Mike Proctor could easily be in the team but Van Der Bijl played one season for Middlesex, when he was a veteran and semi-retired. When I saw him he hardly bowled a bad ball, got the ball to bounce chest high from a length and nipped it away. Just checked his figures : 85 wickets at an average of 14.72. To put that in context the terrifying Wayne Daniel opened with him and took 67 at 21.70.
I forgot one of my favourites, Hashim Amla. He has to goes straight in the team at 3. Just watching him bat for Surrey now, still giving his all.
The way Crawley strikes the ball when he does get in, there has to be a player in there
England beat SA, NZ and india in one summer and the vibe is largely critical, after the previous two years that is mental.
Only one weak link in your team and that's the spinner.
Interestingly I can't really think of any great SA spinners . Tayfield is the one I suppose but only based on stats - never saw him bowl.
Paul Adams or does he just stick in my mind because of his weird action ?
If it was ODI's then Tahir would be a shoe in.
There is undoubtedly a player there as evidenced by his double century v Pakistan.
But he is ridiculously inconsistent. Is he really an opener with that thechnique?
I liked him in Australia also, he stood up to a brilliant attack in a losing team and played some great shots.
The problem outside of picking him as an opener is that Pope is improving, Bairstow is the form batsman in the world and then you have root and stokes. The competition outside the squad is decent for the middle order but pretty low on openers. I do think we should lower our expectations regards the average of an opening batsman, if they can get the team to 50/0 five times out of ten then they are doing their job.