*Official* Pakistan in England 2010

[PhoenixFire]

Coming from someone who quite likes Lyth and has watched him play loads of times live and on TV, I can honestly say that he is nowhere near test class. Nowhere near at all. Lovely bloke and a pretty decent CC bat, but nothing more.

 

[Furball]

Think I'm right in saying two things about Lythe:

1. He's not done much in FC cricket before this season.
2. His record this season is largely down to being in some **** hot form in April-May, and he's tailed off quite poorly since.

 

[Furball]

As for the Cook problem: drop him and send him back to Essex to find some runs, and more importantly, confidence. Take him out of the spotlight and put him in an environment where he can work on his technique out of the spotlight of international cricket. Bring in Carberry for 2 Tests, and see if he looks up to being able to handle the step up.

There's 3 First Class tour games before the 1st Test for Cook and Carberry to find some form in Australia. If Cook is persisted with, does poorly and doesn't start the tour in Australia particularly well, then I wouldn't be confident with suddenly throwing Carberry in at the deep end in Brisbane with only 1 Test worth of experience behind him.

 

[tooextracool]

Got to love the people calling for Cook's place now that hes actually put the hard yards into correcting his technique. Look Im no Cook fan, but the fact of the matter is that he should have been dropped over a year ago and gone back to CC to fix his technique, score plenty of runs and then come back to international cricket. Dropping him now, especially for a player with absolutely no future or talent like Carberry is about the stupidest idea I've ever heard at this point not to mention right before an Ashes tour. I'm open to the idea of having a 3rd opener on tour with the team, but not taking Cook to Australia is disastrous not only for England but also for Cook.

Im not saying his technique is 100% correct, there are still flaws, though for the large part I think its him trying to adjust to his new technique as well as his own issues with playing/leaving the right deliveries.

 

[NasserFan207]

Unless Cook seriously flops in the last two tests, I find it impossible to believe he'll be dropped.

 

[Jacknife]

Got to love the people calling for Cook's place now that hes actually put the hard yards into correcting his technique. Look Im no Cook fan, but the fact of the matter is that he should have been dropped over a year ago and gone back to CC to fix his technique, score plenty of runs and then come back to international cricket. Dropping him now, especially for a player with absolutely no future or talent like Carberry is about the stupidest idea I've ever heard at this point not to mention right before an Ashes tour. I'm open to the idea of having a 3rd opener on tour with the team, but not taking Cook to Australia is disastrous not only for England but also for Cook.

Im not saying his technique is 100% correct, there are still flaws, though for the large part I think its him trying to adjust to his new technique as well as his own issues with playing/leaving the right deliveries.

I'm interested to know why you think Carberry has 'absolutely no future or talent'.

 

[Furball]

Got to love the people calling for Cook's place now that hes actually put the hard yards into correcting his technique. Look Im no Cook fan, but the fact of the matter is that he should have been dropped over a year ago and gone back to CC to fix his technique, score plenty of runs and then come back to international cricket. Dropping him now, especially for a player with absolutely no future or talent like Carberry is about the stupidest idea I've ever heard at this point not to mention right before an Ashes tour. I'm open to the idea of having a 3rd opener on tour with the team, but not taking Cook to Australia is disastrous not only for England but also for Cook.

Im not saying his technique is 100% correct, there are still flaws, though for the large part I think its him trying to adjust to his new technique as well as his own issues with playing/leaving the right deliveries.

I'm certainly not advocating leaving Cook in England while the team heads off to retain the Ashes, my concern is about Cook getting out of the trough he's in, while still having a contingency plan beyond throwing in a guy who's played one solitary Test against Bangladesh.

 

[Stapel]

Collingwood batting 4 is barely a problem IMO. The fact it involves KP at 3 and Trott opening are the bigger worries.

TBH, I don't think Cook should be dropped.

But why can't Trott open? If he is good enough to bat at 3, he ocasionally has the same job as an opener.... I'm not saying a #3 is a decent opener, but you can't say it's ridiculous either.

 

[tooextracool]

TBH, I don't think Cook should be dropped.

But why can't Trott open? If he is good enough to bat at 3, he ocasionally has the same job as an opener.... I'm not saying a #3 is a decent opener, but you can't say it's ridiculous either.

Something that I've noticed for quite a while now with Trott is where are his cross bat shots? I cant recall him playing the pull or the cut shot before and whilst it is somewhat admirable that he plays with such a straight bat, I think he will have real problems on the bouncier tracks in Australia where he wont get well pitched up deliveries to drive at.

Closest similarity I can find is Steve Waugh who rarely attempted the pull shot, but Steve was an excellent player of the cut shot and truth be told its an important run scoring shot in Australia.

 

[tooextracool]

I'm interested to know why you think Carberry has 'absolutely no future or talent'.

Carberry is 30 years old, and he was average for a very long time in his career. If you ask me he's just someone who managed to hit a purple patch in his career, and I expect him to regress within the next couple of years.

Granted 1 test against Bangladesh isnt much to go by, but I didnt see anything special in said game.

 

[Prince EWS]

Something that I've noticed for quite a while now with Trott is where are his cross bat shots? I cant recall him playing the pull or the cut shot before and whilst it is somewhat admirable that he plays with such a straight bat, I think he will have real problems on the bouncier tracks in Australia where he wont get well pitched up deliveries to drive at.

Closest similarity I can find is Steve Waugh who rarely attempted the pull shot, but Steve was an excellent player of the cut shot and truth be told its an important run scoring shot in Australia.

Trott reminds me a lot of Neil McKenzie. I think he'll fair similarly to how McKenzie did in Australia too, especially if he's forced to open as people are suggesting.

 

[Spark]

One of Trott's main scoring shots seems to be that incredibly well timed flick off the hips to midwicket, but I can see that not working so well at the 'Gabba.

 

[Stapel]

Something that I've noticed for quite a while now with Trott is where are his cross bat shots? I cant recall him playing the pull or the cut shot before and whilst it is somewhat admirable that he plays with such a straight bat, I think he will have real problems on the bouncier tracks in Australia where he wont get well pitched up deliveries to drive at.

Closest similarity I can find is Steve Waugh who rarely attempted the pull shot, but Steve was an excellent player of the cut shot and truth be told its an important run scoring shot in Australia.

Are you saying tat pull- and cutshots are more important for an opener than for a #3?

I'd say keeping your bat straight is more important to an opener......

You got me puzzled here!

 

[Spark]

Are you saying tat pull- and cutshots are more important for an opener than for a #3?

I'd say keeping your bat straight is more important to an opener......

You got me puzzled here!

You do need to be able to play the cross-batted shot though otherwise you're gonna have a few bruises and a killer headache, whilst you sit in the sheds 30 minutes after going in.

 

[Furball]

If the cut shot is so important then Trott not playing it won't be such a big deal, Strauss should score about 8,000 runs per innings.

 

[Spark]

If the cut shot is so important then Trott not playing it won't be such a big deal, Strauss should score about 8,000 runs per innings.

Indeed he should and it is imperative that we get him driving. Not that that'll happen though as we don't know how to bowl to left-handers.

 

[Faisal1985]

Anyone know if Mo Yo played a practice game last weekend?

 

[Black_Warrior]

^ Dont think so buddy.. Pakistan were playing the second test match, dont think there will be a practice match for one player.


Making Trott an opener now would be a huge mistake. He is doing fine at 3. If there are other talented openers with good first class records, then replace Cook but do not tamper with the current batting order.

 

[Sir Alex]

"I've got no confidence whatsoever that he'll come back and play very well in the near future"

-
England's captain Andrew Strauss makes a Freudian slip while discussing Alastair Cook's Test merits

 

[Black_Warrior]

LOL I was shocked when I read that at cricinfo today...Regardless of what he actually meant, that will severely severely dent Cook's confidence.