Cricket

Walken said:
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.
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32/33 is probably what you would like an opener to average nowadays, especially in England.
 
jazzy said:
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.
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Yes you're right, I can't think of a great spinner that I've seen for them. Adams wasn't bad, despite his action, but nothing special. They had one called Symcox who I liked as he was a bit of a character but he was more a defensive bowler who didn't turn it much. That was pre-DRS of course. The rest were ordinary, Boje, Harris etc.

Agree about Tahir - love watching him bowl. He's played a few tests but didn't do much as far as I remember. Harmer's a good, clever bowler but hasn't had many chances at test level and didn't do much in his one test against England.
 
Walken said:
England beat SA, NZ and india in one summer and the vibe is largely critical, after the previous two years that is mental.
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Is it? Most comments I've seen and heard have been positive.

If there is criticism it's when Stokes, for example, plays a daft innings like he did in the 3rd test, as opposed to the way he played at OT where his first 50 took over 100 balls, before he accelerated with his 2nd 50 taking about 60 balls.

I think Stokes and McCullum have been a much needed breath of fresh air for English cricket, but they don't and won't get everything right. Fair enough to criticise them while remembering that overall they've done a great job so far.
 
Walken said:
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.
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For my money Crawley is a no3 .

Able to come in in the first 5 overs if needed but equally capable of upping the run rate when needed.

However , as you've said , Pope is developing nicely in that role and England don't play with openers with a defensive mindset anymore.

So, I think it's ok to have one opener who is a attacking and looking to score quickly but I'm really not sure about having 2. Lees is a strange player. Was pretty defensive but seems to have lost all defensive technique and just flashes at anything.
 
ToffeeTim said:
32/33 is probably what you would like an opener to average nowadays, especially in England.
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That's a fair point. I still think, though, a really quality opener would average 40 plus. Unfortunately, we don't have any! You can put all the known candidates in a hat and draw one out - they are all about the same standard - good county players without necessarily being test class. I put Lees in that group although he looks confused by the demands of 'bazball' .

One young one to look out for - Emilio Gay of Northants. Wonderful stylish century against Surrey yesterday, similar to the innings he played against Lancs at Blackpool in the 50 overs. Early days, only 22 but a few bigger counties were eyeing him up before he signed a new contract. Probably England Lions this winter - I suspect they'll take either Jennings or Sibley to Pakistan, probably Jennings given his reputation for playing spin well.
 
Yes the drops and misfields probably cost about 20 runs - but then there was a great catch from Lavelle and great work from Jones for the Jennings catch. There were quite a few chips that just cleared the fielder or dropped in space - bit unlucky.

Bowled okay overall - Hurt just lost it in his final over but otherwise continues to look a much more confident bowler. Missed the extra bowler - only time they did it in the group stages they lost - against Kent.
 
BigMick said:
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.
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Good shout on Amla but I think you also have to get Proctor in there,
 

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