Strikes at 75 tbf. Even that's not ideal, but Clarke's striking at 68.Shaun Marsh? Bats in a pretty similar manner during the same period of the game.
Knew you'd come back with a number.Strikes at 75 tbf. Even that's not ideal, but Clarke's striking at 68.
You can only do the job you're given though. I'm not a massive fan of Marsh's batting during the middle overs either, but his overall contribution is generally okay, whereas Clarke's isn't.Knew you'd come back with a number.
Marsh is also always batting in a powerplay for basically the first 15 overs when the field is up, thus boundaries are made much easier. During the middle overs, there's very little difference between how Clarke bats and Marsh bats.
Hmm, I think you're spot on about that. Either way, I think being a test specialist is the way forward for him as a player.The thing is that his technique has changed a lot. He squares himself up a lot more and uses a bit more bottom hand than what he used to. Hence why he can't really hit the ball straight in the air as he used to, and has to go leg-side of the ball to try and spray it over the off-side.
I think its a side-effect of a general tightening of his game to ensure at his best for Test cricket, and thus I don't really think he should change it. But there's definitely a technical change in his game which I think has limited his strokeplay, and means that it's not just down to tactics for his strike rate to drop that much.
Wow, that talks a lot.
A career going backwards?
That's ridiculous!You can only do the job you're given though. I'm not a massive fan of Marsh's batting during the middle overs either, but his overall contribution is generally okay, whereas Clarke's isn't.
Whether or not Clarke is currently droppable from ODIs is a fair question; the contention that he's one of the best ODI batsmen around currently is plain silly and smacks (not surprisingly coming from social I must say) of allowing Test match considerations too much weight in judging ODI ones.
Disagree.No, whether one's team wins makes precisely zero impact on how good a batsman is. Even in the ODI game no batsman (less still bowler) can make a strong impact on the result by himself - thus what matters is the individual's contribution in itself, not the team's result.
The purpose of playing cricket is for the team to win, all the batsman has to do is achieve that, it matters not what his score or strike rate is. Cricket is about the team winning, not players trying to achieve batting averages or strike rates.No, whether one's team wins makes precisely zero impact on how good a batsman is. Even in the ODI game no batsman (less still bowler) can make a strong impact on the result by himself - thus what matters is the individual's contribution in itself, not the team's result.
You think Afridi's innings would've won that game but for Shoaib Malik's? I don't.
A team winning as the term suggests depends on team members, not any one player. No player in himself makes a team, so thus to judge how good a player is - and yes that's every bit as much what watching cricket is about as seeing who wins games - you must assess him on his own merits independent of those of his team-mates. Cricket isn't of course about any batsman attempting to achieve any set specified average or strike-rate, but the better a batsman's average and strike-rate the better his contribution to his team and thus the better batsman he is.The purpose of playing cricket is for the team to win, all the batsman has to do is achieve that, it matters not what his score or strike rate is. Cricket is about the team winning, not players trying to achieve batting averages or strike rates.
That's as maybe, I don't claim to be an expert there - as I say I've not taken intimiate account of all of Australia's recent ODIs. I have however taken enough note to realise that there's at least 2-3 batsmen better than Clarke in his own team, and plenty better in other sides.Clarke over his last 25 odd games has dominated as a batsman.