rivera213
U19 Vice-Captain
Ha ha.Where are all the posts about how England's batting is actually useless and the pitch was just ridiculously flat? Did it turn into a minefield when Strauss declared?
Well, that could never be used as an excuse @ Chester-le-Street.
I think Alastair Cook played a classic test innings personally. He saw off the new ball and "sticky" moments at the begin, didn't play at too many unnecessary deliveries and then as he got some runs under his belt, grew in confidence and started moving his feet well and played some beautiful strokes with expert timing.
He even played some nice front-foot drives which I haven't seen from him for a good 2 years!
I liked how Pietersen batted until his dismissal. I'm not going to slam him too much though since if you change the natural game of batsmen like him, they will be ineffective. His aggresive mindset is what makes him, on his day, capable of getting massive runs.
What's the odds that he finds form around the Ashes, gets a few centuries in that series and carries his form through the South Africa test series and repeats the dose?
I wouldn't bet against it.