The Cricket Thread 2013

[PaulWinch again]

Australia's seam attack has been a better unit than ours this series if you look at the stats. That's why I think Onions should certainly come in and possibly Tremlett as well. Our seam unit needs to be getting wickets at a much lower average.

[paul_e]

Australia's seam attack has been a better unit than ours this series if you look at the stats. That's why I think Onions should certainly come in and possibly Tremlett as well. Our seam unit needs to be getting wickets at a much lower average.

You can't view it in isolation like that, our 2 front line bowlers are Anderson and Swann, Theirs are Siddle and Harris so their seamers will have better stats, but when Swann has taken 19 wickets out of the 54 that have fallen comparing seam to seam is misleading.  I could counter it by saying our spin attack has completely wiped the floor with theirs (22 wickets with Root's added).  A lot of our bowling plans are based around building pressure with the seamers so they try to slog Swann at the other end so you have to look at the attack as a whole.  When you do that we've skittled them cheaply 4 times (2 of those requiring massive 10th wicket stands to scrap respectability) and failed once, with the 2nd innings at old trafford largely impossible to judge as they were trying to score quick runs.

The bowlers, as a unit, have therefore succeeded 4/5 times out of 6, that hardly requires major changes.  Finn had a couple of appalling sessions which were largely responsible for the 10th wicket stands mentioned above so he was dropped out of the squad but no one else has bowled particularly poorly.  Broads stats don't loom great but I don't think they're a fair reflection of how he's bowled, he's personally been on the wrong end of 3 poor calls from the umpires, on top of that he's scored a lot of important runs so it would be harsh to drop him.  Bresnan's figures are very good for a 4th bowler.

[PaulWinch again]

I think Starc has better figures than Bresnan as well. I'm not specifically slating our bowling unit, but I think we need to look at the lengths we bowl. On the whole at Old Trafford we were too short and the Aussies had their lengths right. That's why I think Onions in particular could be a good pick.

[peter w]

I wouldn't drop Prior because of his batting. This is the first series where he has had a poor run with the bat unlike any of the other top order so he deserves some leeway. Where I am concerned is his work with the gloves which has been very very poor.

[paul_e]

I wouldn't drop Prior because of his batting. This is the first series where he has had a poor run with the bat unlike any of the other top order so he deserves some leeway. Where I am concerned is his work with the gloves which has been very very poor.

I think he's been poor in both aspects, which is why I think he's the closest to being rested.

[PaulWinch again]

There's not a chance they'll drop Prior.

[paul_e]

There's not a chance they'll drop Prior.

certainly not in this series but if he matches this form down under I think his place will be under huge threat.  he's averaging 17 for the series with the bat, that's a far bigger concern than almost anything else raised on this thread.  Aside from that it's the way he's got out that's the most disappointing, his shot selection has been woeful, with a least a couple of his wickets coming from lashing at one well outside off when the situation was that he needed to hang around and build an innings.

[Chris Smith]

There's not a chance they'll drop Prior.

certainly not in this series but if he matches this form down under I think his place will be under huge threat.  he's averaging 17 for the series with the bat, that's a far bigger concern than almost anything else raised on this thread.  Aside from that it's the way he's got out that's the most disappointing, his shot selection has been woeful, with a least a couple of his wickets coming from lashing at one well outside off when the situation was that he needed to hang around and build an innings.

That's not his game and I don't think it ever will be. Unless he's aggressive he just becomes an easy target so I don't see him being left out for the reasons you suggest. The selectors know what they'll get with him and have enough steady Eddie types elsewhere in the line up to cover.

[PaulWinch again]

England unchanged, not overly happy with the bowling. The seamers need to turn up in this game, no more talk of bowling well but not taking wickets. If you're bowling well you need to take wickets.

Come on England win well please, batting first. It's time our batsmen turned up and put on a good first innings score.

[taylorsworkrate]

Not too sure about batting to be honest. Cook, Trott, Prior all in woeful form and conditions will be tricky with overcast skies. Our batsmen have played averagely in ideal batting conditions, so theyll need to be much better today.

[UK Redsox]

Did Simon Mann just say that Cook averages only 24 in home tests ?

[paul_e]

Did Simon Mann just say that Cook averages only 24 in home tests ?

At home vs Australia that is correct.

Looking on the BBC feed there are some people who don't let reality get in the way of a good rant.  One suggesting Broad should be dropped with:

"Should pick Onions for Broard, no runs, few wickets, blows far too hot & cold to be a fixture in the England team!"

Now the inconsistency I can agree with but complaining about the batting of a number 9 who's average 37 is just silly.

I also quite like:

"Finn was dropped from a winning side for match figures of 2-117, yet Broad and Bresnan keep their places for match figures of 2-138 and 3-139 respectively. Onions and Tremlett must be scratching their heads."

This is a more common one but it's fairly simple, he wasn't dropped because of his figures, he was dropped because he looked out of his depth.  He's had to do a lot of work on his action because of his knee clipping the wickets and overstepping the crease, this work isn't fully embedded yet so his pace was down, his length was poor and he was drifting onto the pads with an offside field.  All of those suggest he needed more time working on his action, which is best to give him away from an ashes series.

[PGW]

If he did he was wrong the only ground in this country where his average is below 40 is at Trent Bridge where he only averages 21.5 in 7 tests.
At every other ground he averages over 40 and this game is his 53rd test at home. Incidentally his highest average of 61.33 is at Durham but only consists of 3 test including this one which includes this current innings.
His highest average of completed matches is at Edgbaston where he averages 57.62 in 6 test matches

[PaulWinch again]

Did Simon Mann just say that Cook averages only 24 in home tests ?

At home vs Australia that is correct.

Looking on the BBC feed there are some people who don't let reality get in the way of a good rant.  One suggesting Broad should be dropped with:

"Should pick Onions for Broard, no runs, few wickets, blows far too hot & cold to be a fixture in the England team!"

Now the inconsistency I can agree with but complaining about the batting of a number 9 who's average 37 is just silly.

I also quite like:

"Finn was dropped from a winning side for match figures of 2-117, yet Broad and Bresnan keep their places for match figures of 2-138 and 3-139 respectively. Onions and Tremlett must be scratching their heads."

This is a more common one but it's fairly simple, he wasn't dropped because of his figures, he was dropped because he looked out of his depth.  He's had to do a lot of work on his action because of his knee clipping the wickets and overstepping the crease, this work isn't fully embedded yet so his pace was down, his length was poor and he was drifting onto the pads with an offside field.  All of those suggest he needed more time working on his action, which is best to give him away from an ashes series.

Whilst that's true, Bresnan's and Broad's figures are not good enough and unless they improve in this match someone else deserves an opportunity. Broad is average of 56 a wicket this series, and whether he's been unlucky or not that is poor. In a 3 man seam attack I still don't think Bresnan offers enough penetration.

[TheTimVilla]

I see we're batting out time, for the draw... 17/0 off 10 overs.