Root looks like he could develop into a decent second spinner. What England need to do is nurture that. They have a terrible record on this though. Trott, KP, Bell, all joined the international scene as not bad bowlers. There's a long line before them of England batsmen who bowled a bit, but stopped bowling as regularly, if not completely, after playing for England. Bopara has fantastic bowling figures at England Lions/A level, surely something the England bowling coaches could work with. He looks a proper bowler when he does bowl and is deceptively quick.
Root looks like he could develop into a decent second spinner. What England need to do is nurture that. They have a terrible record on this though. Trott, KP, Bell, all joined the international scene as not bad bowlers. There's a long line before them of England batsmen who bowled a bit, but stopped bowling as regularly, if not completely, after playing for England. Bopara has fantastic bowling figures at England Lions/A level, surely something the England bowling coaches could work with. He looks a proper bowler when he does bowl and is deceptively quick.
Agree, that's why I am surprised Bopara didn't get another crack at number 6, his bowling is certainly better than Collingwood, who himself was a decent change bowler.
I think that Bopara has burned a few bridges with his off the field stuff, my friends in the UK press tell me he has a 'lively' personal life....
England have needed a genuine all-rounder as the final piece in since Freddie's decline and retirement. Some hoped Bresnan could be it but I think he's some way off Flintoff in both aspects of the game. Not really anyone on the horizon either except perhaps Ben Stokes.
to quote McEnroe The Brat .. you CANNOT be serious
The problem with Bopara is that his batting isn't good enough to justify his place on batting alone, thus his bowling isn't a bonus but rather a justification for playing him. Having said that, he'd probably get as many runs as Bairstow...
A few people have been tried in that role, of a batsman and '4 1/2th' bowler, Samit Patel being one of many who failed.
The Trent Bridge pitch was rather slow, Monty would probably have been better than Swann on it as he bowls a bit faster.
...this is terrible news for the Aussies, it brings the Clarke-Watson hatred right out into plain sight and we are going to hear plenty more of this stuff from Arthur's lawyers before the end of the series.
Root looks potentially to be a very good bowler but I suspect that the management don't like to bowl him too much as it may 'impinge on his batting'. If that is the case, I would profoundly disagree with it. Let the young man bowl and find out how good he is. Swann has not looked fully fit and firing for a while and I suspect that he is more likely to break down than any of the pace bowlers. Root at the very least could be needed to cover for Swann. I think that Root could be a genuine number 2 test spinner. Finn, Bresnan or Onions ?. It's going to be hot this week, Onions will not be needed under the cloud cover. I'd go for Finn at his home ground. His greater pace than Bresnan will keep the oppo on their collective toes. The squad has been chosen for Lords. The die is cast, but Bairstow worries me at 6. Nice lad, shame about his dad and all that but he does not strike me yet as a test quality batsman. He should go back to Yorks and attempt to play a few long innings for a season at least. BUT as I have written before on here, when it comes to batsman, the England cupboard is alarmingly bare, there again, so is that of the Aussies. I'd open with Compton or my wild card Carberry (two very different animals) and put Root down to 6 Roll on Thursday !!!!
People moaning about swann - he's one of if not the best spinner in the world right now. Anderson is also a world class bowler.
Find it quite chuckle worthy that CL cynicism goes over to cricket. Player to player, except maybe siddle, our bowlers are far better than the Aussies with a lot more experience. Same goes with batting.
As for batting, relying on all of your batsmen to get "starts" (30-odd) is very risky business. That's why over the past ten years England have made a big point about getting big hundreds and to take responsibility. In the modern game you need one of your batsmen scoring a decent sized century every game. Apart from Clarke I don't see those kind of runs coming from anyone, and Clarke has his captaincy to think about. Gone are the days where Steve Waugh type player will not only be an exceptional captain but will also pile on the runs.
People moaning about swann - he's one of if not the best spinner in the world right now. Anderson is also a world class bowler.
Find it quite chuckle worthy that CL cynicism goes over to cricket. Player to player, except maybe siddle, our bowlers are far better than the Aussies with a lot more experience. Same goes with batting.
As for batting, relying on all of your batsmen to get "starts" (30-odd) is very risky business. That's why over the past ten years England have made a big point about getting big hundreds and to take responsibility. In the modern game you need one of your batsmen scoring a decent sized century every game. Apart from Clarke I don't see those kind of runs coming from anyone, and Clarke has his captaincy to think about. Gone are the days where Steve Waugh type player will not only be an exceptional captain but will also pile on the runs.
5-0 win for us if the weather holds up all summer
Swan is second only to Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan as a spinner, and not by that much either - remembering that Ajmal has never played a Home Test match!
Anderson second only to Dale Steyn, and then only because Steyn can bowl swing AND 90mph knock your head off stuff.
As for 5-0, I am not saying it will happen but I can't see many draws in this series as their batting is too weak, so its not out of the question.
...this is terrible news for the Aussies, it brings the Clarke-Watson hatred right out into plain sight and we are going to hear plenty more of this stuff from Arthur's lawyers before the end of the series.
Bloody shame, eh?
That's the most distressing news since Glen McGrath getting injured in the warm-up at Edgbaston in 2005.
...this is terrible news for the Aussies, it brings the Clarke-Watson hatred right out into plain sight and we are going to hear plenty more of this stuff from Arthur's lawyers before the end of the series.
Bloody shame, eh?
That's the most distressing news since Glen McGrath getting injured in the warm-up at Edgbaston in 2005.
Indeed, the only thing I would have wanted to have seen more than that would have been Warnie limping off with severe hooker-related Gonnorhea!
Agar and Pattinson are never test no 11s. Both of them should be much higher in the order. Their real problem, as you say, is that their frontline batsmen are, in the main, horribly poor. Cowan, Hughes and Rogers are piss poor players, definitely not test standard, whilst Watson and Smith are inconsistent to say the least.
Haddin always worries me as he's got a bit of mongrel about him (as the convicts would say) and Clarke is just absolute class as a batsman.
I don't think I've ever seen a test side without a proper tail before though - Siddle and Starc can both bat as well.
Agree completely - dangerous that they have such a long tail, but luckily their top order is poor enough to even that out!! /
the Aussies team are in a greater shambles than England were in 2006-2007, what with pedalo-gate et al. That ended 5-0 (though to be fair, they've got Starc, Siddle and Agar. We had Plunkett, Mahmood and Giles)
A shame the ECB, Warwickshire etc seem to have gone for sanction over support - would have been better to see how they could help him make his action free from doubt.
Yep, that's about what I expected from the ECB and the 'system' they have in place.
I remember back in about 1988 playing with a really good Pakistani batsman in junior Cricket at Bromley and whenever he tried to get into ''Kent Colts" etc they did not want to know about him because he did not play the ''right way".
I played for London Boys Clubs with him at The Oval against Surrey Young Cricketers and most of us (including me) were way out of our depth, but this bloke batted brilliantly but he still never got picked up.
There was nothing racial in it, it was simply that this kid trusted his eye and played his shots rather than having the MCC manual stuck up his arse.
Yep, that's about what I expected from the ECB and the 'system' they have in place.
I remember back in about 1988 playing with a really good Pakistani batsman in junior Cricket at Bromley and whenever he tried to get into ''Kent Colts" etc they did not want to know about him because he did not play the ''right way".
I played for London Boys Clubs with him at The Oval against Surrey Young Cricketers and most of us (including me) were way out of our depth, but this bloke batted brilliantly but he still never got picked up.
There was nothing racial in it, it was simply that this kid trusted his eye and played his shots rather than having the MCC manual stuck up his arse.
I got turned away because i didn't "mix with the group well enough", how a 12/13 year old with a history of getting bullied can come out of his shell enough and the social skills to become popular in a group of lads most of which he's never met in 3 days is beyond me. Then again, my bowling wasn't as good as it had been all season.
That was for Area, rather than County level, mind. But they still expect you to act in the manner of a sportsman when you're 12 years old when you've only ever played the game for fun.
Yep, that's about what I expected from the ECB and the 'system' they have in place.
I remember back in about 1988 playing with a really good Pakistani batsman in junior Cricket at Bromley and whenever he tried to get into ''Kent Colts" etc they did not want to know about him because he did not play the ''right way".
I played for London Boys Clubs with him at The Oval against Surrey Young Cricketers and most of us (including me) were way out of our depth, but this bloke batted brilliantly but he still never got picked up.
There was nothing racial in it, it was simply that this kid trusted his eye and played his shots rather than having the MCC manual stuck up his arse.
I got turned away because i didn't "mix with the group well enough", how a 12/13 year old with a history of getting bullied can come out of his shell enough and the social skills to become popular in a group of lads most of which he's never met in 3 days is beyond me. Then again, my bowling wasn't as good as it had been all season.
That was for Area, rather than County level, mind. But they still expect you to act in the manner of a sportsman when you're 12 years old when you've only ever played the game for fun.
You should have taken along a crate of beer to break the ice!
Comments
I think that Bopara has burned a few bridges with his off the field stuff, my friends in the UK press tell me he has a 'lively' personal life....
A few people have been tried in that role, of a batsman and '4 1/2th' bowler, Samit Patel being one of many who failed.
The Trent Bridge pitch was rather slow, Monty would probably have been better than Swann on it as he bowls a bit faster.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/michael-clarke-called-shane-watson-a-cancer-on-the-team-says-former-coach-mickey-arthur-20130716-2q26s.html
...this is terrible news for the Aussies, it brings the Clarke-Watson hatred right out into plain sight and we are going to hear plenty more of this stuff from Arthur's lawyers before the end of the series.
Bloody shame, eh?
Swann has not looked fully fit and firing for a while and I suspect that he is more likely to break down than any of the pace bowlers. Root at the very least could be needed to cover for Swann. I think that Root could be a genuine number 2 test spinner.
Finn, Bresnan or Onions ?. It's going to be hot this week, Onions will not be needed under the cloud cover. I'd go for Finn at his home ground. His greater pace than Bresnan will keep the oppo on their collective toes.
The squad has been chosen for Lords. The die is cast, but Bairstow worries me at 6. Nice lad, shame about his dad and all that but he does not strike me yet as a test quality batsman. He should go back to Yorks and attempt to play a few long innings for a season at least. BUT as I have written before on here, when it comes to batsman, the England cupboard is alarmingly bare, there again, so is that of the Aussies. I'd open with Compton or my wild card Carberry (two very different animals) and put Root down to 6
Roll on Thursday !!!!
Find it quite chuckle worthy that CL cynicism goes over to cricket. Player to player, except maybe siddle, our bowlers are far better than the Aussies with a lot more experience. Same goes with batting.
As for batting, relying on all of your batsmen to get "starts" (30-odd) is very risky business. That's why over the past ten years England have made a big point about getting big hundreds and to take responsibility. In the modern game you need one of your batsmen scoring a decent sized century every game. Apart from Clarke I don't see those kind of runs coming from anyone, and Clarke has his captaincy to think about. Gone are the days where Steve Waugh type player will not only be an exceptional captain but will also pile on the runs.
5-0 win for us if the weather holds up all summer
Anderson second only to Dale Steyn, and then only because Steyn can bowl swing AND 90mph knock your head off stuff.
As for 5-0, I am not saying it will happen but I can't see many draws in this series as their batting is too weak, so its not out of the question.
/
He had (hopefully still has if someone takes him in hand) the talent and potential to be that "Flintoff like" all rounder.
Indeed, the only thing I would have wanted to have seen more than that would have been Warnie limping off with severe hooker-related Gonnorhea!
Mind you, it was funny the way he turned into a waxwork after he retired :-)
True, but yet again Warnie has the last laugh, even as a waxwork he still gets to shag England's finest....La Hurley.
He could use that as a motivational tool....I took wickets and look what I got boys!
http://m.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/nov/06/maurice-holmes-english-murali-spin
I remember back in about 1988 playing with a really good Pakistani batsman in junior Cricket at Bromley and whenever he tried to get into ''Kent Colts" etc they did not want to know about him because he did not play the ''right way".
I played for London Boys Clubs with him at The Oval against Surrey Young Cricketers and most of us (including me) were way out of our depth, but this bloke batted brilliantly but he still never got picked up.
There was nothing racial in it, it was simply that this kid trusted his eye and played his shots rather than having the MCC manual stuck up his arse.
That was for Area, rather than County level, mind. But they still expect you to act in the manner of a sportsman when you're 12 years old when you've only ever played the game for fun.
Can anyone offer a good reason on why England are not worth backing at 10/11 ?