The Cricket Thread 2013

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Crikey what a test. It started badly with Cook putting them in, got worse and worse and worse!

People say we underestimated them, but they're a village side. It’s a lack of application and preparation that has put us down in two out of three tests. The lifeless flat pitches haven’t helped either, but you they’ve been ideal for batting and we have largely failed to apply ourselves and take charge of the game.

It’s been a dog of a series, but then at least we have escaped with a draw. The Aussies took a right mauling from a mediocre India.

[PaulWinch again]

Matt Prior take a bow, brilliant again and credit to all those who contributed to the survival on the final day. However we've been desperately poor in this series with bat and ball other than some isolated good individual performances. We need to have a very hard look at our intensity and performance.

[paul_e]

Crikey what a test. It started badly with Cook putting them in, got worse and worse and worse!

People say we underestimated them, but they're a village side. It’s a lack of application and preparation that has put us down in two out of three tests. The lifeless flat pitches haven’t helped either, but you they’ve been ideal for batting and we have largely failed to apply ourselves and take charge of the game.

It’s been a dog of a series, but then at least we have escaped with a draw. The Aussies took a right mauling from a mediocre India.

From this test their were 3 major problems:

The pitch on the first day was as lifeless a wicket as I've ever seen, I actually think we did ok to restrict how many they scored, 350+ wouldn't have been beyond a better side on day 1, not scoring bigger when the going was good cost NZ the test in my opinion. - I'm not overly worried about this, I doubt we'll have a pitch like that for the ashes, other than maybe at Lords.

Monty got absolutely nothing out of the pitch in the first 2 days meaning we had effectively a 3 man attack. - This is only an issue if Swann isn't fit for the summer, if he isn't I'd be tempted to give Tredwell a chance, Monty is great in sub-continent conditions but we can't pick a 7/4 side if 1 of the bowlers is struggling to contribute.

3 of our top 6 were very inexperienced and that showed when we needed a bit of maturity with the bat. - Not a lot we can do to help with this, 6 has been a problem for a while and Strauss was always going to be missed but of the 3 only Bairstow has looked out of his depth, Root and Compton have both shown enough to be worth persevering with.  If we do need another option I'd like to see Woakes have a go at 6 as is gives us an extra bowler to address the previous point and he is more than handy with the bat.  I think putting him in for an ashes tour with no previous experience would be very brave though.

[PaulWinch again]

In Bairstow's defence he had no match preparation at all. I'd rather have had Morgan on the tour to be honest.

[PaulWinch again]

Finn's pace was also down this series that needs to get up again. Also we didn't bat with enough tempo, I have real concerns with Cook, Compton and Trott as the top three. One of those has to take the initiative and drive our run rate up to put pressure on the opposition.

[Dave Summers]

Excellent points paul_e.  I too believe that NZ not scoring more runs on the first day helped us out.  The pitch was a road, the straight boundaries were short and our bowling attack was poor.  They missed a trick there.

I also have my doubts about Compton as well if I am honest.  Not to deride his two hundreds here, as you can never under-estimate them.   However England, as David Lloyd said, have got to number one in the world by playing aggressive cricket and taking the game to the opposition.   

Compton will never be a box office player, but I do feel he can rotate the strike a little more and keep the board ticking over.  At the moment he is putting tremendous pressure on Cook and Trott at the top of the order to keep the runs going and with both of them, it's not their natural game.

This in turn manifestes itself lower down the order where KP, Bell and Prior then need to get the run rate up as well.    I can't recall the last time England scored as few a runs in a days play as they have over in NZ.  It maybe something to do with the pitches, we will see when it comes back to England.

In terms of our bowling it will be good to get some competition back when they get back to England.  Tremlett, Onions, Meaker, Bresnan, Woakes possibly Chris Wright too, can all push for places and will also allow us to rest Jimmy as and when necessary.

I do worry, if Swann isn't there, what is in the spin cupboard as it looks a little bare to me.  As lovable as Monty is, and I can't see why to be honest, he is hopeless outside of the sub continent.  The "run out" this morning was apparently funny?.  I don't see it, he is a professional cricketer and he should be able to dive in at the correct time.  If he had been run out, it would have been ridiculous.   He just hasn't really improved his batting or fielding in the 7 years or so he has been playing test cricket.   Compare and contrast to someone like Giles who got every ounce out of his limited amount of natural talent?

So we have had a wake up call and we need to make sure we are prepared properly for the Aussies.  Despite India they will still be tough to beat and we need to be on our game from the get go

[Dave Summers]

Finn's pace was also down this series that needs to get up again. Also we didn't bat with enough tempo, I have real concerns with Cook, Compton and Trott as the top three. One of those has to take the initiative and drive our run rate up to put pressure on the opposition.

Ha ha, just written exactly the same Paul :-)

[PaulWinch again]

Yes agreed Dave. Our top 3 is very slow paced and it needs to be addressed because we should be dominating NZ and we didn't. Our slow run rate has a knock on effect on all areas of the team.

[paul_e]

I think Cook and Trott are both comfy with a 60-70% strike rate when they're playing their natural game, if Compton can get to the same then we're fine as that is what Strauss gave as well.

If he stays around 50% then maybe we'll have to give Root a go up there.

[andyaston]

The top three are maybe more crabbish than we've had for a while but, none of them hold a candle to Chris Tavare that is for sure. There have been times when we have collasped with attacking players not hanging around so, Compton is an asset in my eyes and deserves his chance. I think we need a balance in our top six. Prior is ideal at number 7 but our tail basically starts at 8 because Broad is normally a walking wicket with Finn, Anderson and Monty being the modern version of Caddick, Tuffers and Devon Malcolm.

Work needs to be done.

[paul_e]

The top three are maybe more crabbish than we've had for a while but, none of them hold a candle to Chris Tavare that is for sure. There have been times when we have collasped with attacking players not hanging around so, Compton is an asset in my eyes and deserves his chance. I think we need a balance in our top six. Prior is ideal at number 7 but our tail basically starts at 8 because Broad is normally a walking wicket with Finn, Anderson and Monty being the modern version of Caddick, Tuffers and Devon Malcolm.

Work needs to be done.

Bit Harsh on Broad, he has a perfectly acceptable average for a batsman who comes in at 9 (25 in test matches).  8 is normally Swann who is fine (average of 23.5) and even Finn and Jimmy are acceptable tailenders.  This is another issue with Monty coming in, he's awful with the bat and really throws our batting order out.

[Villan For Life]

The top three are maybe more crabbish than we've had for a while but, none of them hold a candle to Chris Tavare that is for sure. There have been times when we have collasped with attacking players not hanging around so, Compton is an asset in my eyes and deserves his chance. I think we need a balance in our top six. Prior is ideal at number 7 but our tail basically starts at 8 because Broad is normally a walking wicket with Finn, Anderson and Monty being the modern version of Caddick, Tuffers and Devon Malcolm.

Work needs to be done.

Bit Harsh on Broad, he has a perfectly acceptable average for a batsman who comes in at 9 (25 in test matches).  8 is normally Swann who is fine (average of 23.5) and even Finn and Jimmy are acceptable tailenders.  This is another issue with Monty coming in, he's awful with the bat and really throws our batting order out.

Plus as a bowler he's pretty ineffective outside of the sub-continent.

[PaulWinch again]

That's not true his record in England is pretty decent.

[Villan For Life]

That's not true his record in England is pretty decent.

He's not played a home test since the Ashes opener at Cardiff in 2009. His selection weakens the side as a whole.

[PaulWinch again]

Maybe so, but his record in England in matches he's played is still good.