So just how good is Jonathan Trott?

[Agent Nationaux]

What about Misbah Cevno. Who is the most exciting player to watch in test cricket at the moment? For me it's Umar Akmal.

 

[Cevno]

Misbah's most innings are very boring but sometimes specially of the backfoot he can be entertaining also.
But mostly isn't really fun to watch.
Speaking of that,Chanderpaul can look pretty ugly too sometimes.

As for most entertaining i guess,most would find there own batsman most entertaining and it is pretty subjective.

Akmal would be up there ,but for me on top form Sewhag ,De Villiers are the most entertaining in tests.
Obviously the likes of Ponting and Sachin too when they really get going ,though the younger version of Sachin i found more entertaining to watch and Ponting has looked out of sorts recently.

 

[Jigga988]

There's no questioning his record as of yet, but on the basis of what I've seen so far, I dont think him batting at number three can be considered an ATG or in a world XI... The great teams tend to have a number three that is capable of accelerating and dominating bowlers, to put their team in more winning positions quicker... Not to say, that Trott's graft is to his detriment in any way, it's a good quality, but for him to be considered in the highest of regard, I just think he needs to have a bit more to his game...
It's like if Sri Lanka had just about hung on today, it wouldn't have been Trott's fault - far from it - but the best players are good enough, having got, say a century, to score quicker without being wreckless, something I'm not sure Trott has the ability to do, thus cant be considered in the highest of brackets, but still a very good player...

 

[SamSawnoff]

Imagine that, eh?

If you hit the ball on the ground, you can't get out caught.

Oldest guide for batting there is. I wish the Aussies understood it.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Has placing heaps of men in the leg side inside the circle been tried yet?

I don't think bowling wide of off-stump is really the way to go, he has no trouble out there.

We had a number of blokes between mid-wicket and square leg during certain stages when he was batting in Australia.

Although, like every other plan, we only stuck with it a few overs at a time before our collective ADHD set in.

 

[pskov]

There's no questioning his record as of yet, but on the basis of what I've seen so far, I dont think him batting at number three can be considered an ATG or in a world XI... The great teams tend to have a number three that is capable of accelerating and dominating bowlers, to put their team in more winning positions quicker... Not to say, that Trott's graft is to his detriment in any way, it's a good quality, but for him to be considered in the highest of regard, I just think he needs to have a bit more to his game...
It's like if Sri Lanka had just about hung on today, it wouldn't have been Trott's fault - far from it - but the best players are good enough, having got, say a century, to score quicker without being wreckless, something I'm not sure Trott has the ability to do, thus cant be considered in the highest of brackets, but still a very good player...

Do you need someone of that ilk at three when you have a bevy of aggressive strokeplayers in Pietersen, Bell, Morgan and Prior as your middle order?

 

[Furball]

Do you need someone of that ilk at three when you have a bevy of aggressive strokeplayers in Pietersen, Bell, Morgan and Prior as your middle order?

It certainly can't hurt having a top 3 that can wear down opposition attacks and allow your strokeplayers to really cash in.

 

[akilana]

Lol'ed reading some of the comments here.

 

[Furball]

Lol'ed reading some of the comments here.

Fair enough, you gave us plenty of laughs in the tour thread.

 

[Prince EWS]

Do you need someone of that ilk at three when you have a bevy of aggressive strokeplayers in Pietersen, Bell, Morgan and Prior as your middle order?

How well he fits into the team dynamic and how useful he is given a set balance of other players are quite different things to how good he is overall, though. Unless you're arguing that he plays the way he does because of the balance of the the batsmen below him (of which I'd disagree with strongly) then he shouldn't be judged by whether or not others can do his job as such. Personally I don't care much for analysis of batting pacing and think it's a vastly over-rated measure compared to simple run output but if it's something you care about, I don't think the fact that England don't need something from Trott should preclude it from being counted against him if he's not good at it.

I know I'm all over the place there but I guess my point is that your argument is incongruous to the post you quoted, even though I'm on your side of the debate.

There's no questioning his record as of yet, but on the basis of what I've seen so far, I dont think him batting at number three can be considered an ATG or in a world XI... The great teams tend to have a number three that is capable of accelerating and dominating bowlers, to put their team in more winning positions quicker... Not to say, that Trott's graft is to his detriment in any way, it's a good quality, but for him to be considered in the highest of regard, I just think he needs to have a bit more to his game...
It's like if Sri Lanka had just about hung on today, it wouldn't have been Trott's fault - far from it - but the best players are good enough, having got, say a century, to score quicker without being wreckless, something I'm not sure Trott has the ability to do, thus cant be considered in the highest of brackets, but still a very good player...

Each to their own but all I want from my number three is the ability to score loads of runs in all conditions, and Trott's done that so far. I don't care how he moves through the gears or even if he has any; there's more than one way to skin a cat and at the end of the day I'll judge my cat-skinners based on the effectiveness of their cat-skinning rather than their method.

Despite not having any issue whatsoever with his acceleration or lack thereof, however, I do still have some reservations with Trott. His Test career is still in its infancy and I think it's too early to judge him as such, particularly given his domestic First Class career which was littered with inconsistency and profound periods of exaggerated form one way or the other. When he was selected originally I was unsure of his medium-term future of a Test cricketer as he was picked in what seemed like one of his typical high points of form. Now it's very possible that he's legitimately and markedly improved as a player and this is no doubt his most extended period of high performance - in fact, I'm willing to say that's likely now - but I'm not willing to let go of the possibility of an extended period of excellent, but cyclical, form. There's no doubt he's a long-term Test class player now but whether or not he's better than just a good Test player is just a case of wait and see IMO. Could go either way.

 

[Top_Cat]

Anyone made a 'Kallis disregard for the stated of the match' gag in relation to Trott yet?

 

[Furball]

So obvious now that you've said it!

 

[Burgey]

he's a great example of how a decent batsman can become world class just by doing few simple things to perfection.He's a great judge off his off stump makes sure he is not an LBW candidate early in his innings and has 2-3 bread and butter strokes where he keeps peppering them, also feel he's one of those modern day batsman who have benefited from modern day bowlers inabilty in setting up a batsman much like how Mcgrath did in a reverse situation.

Shoaib showed on a couple of occasions that he might be susceptible to a fast indipper but don't see many current fastbowlers having that ability maybe Steyn and Roach.

Johnson once a year.

Just got to be unlucky to be batting that day.

 

[pskov]

I know I'm all over the place there but I guess my point is that your argument is incongruous to the post you quoted, even though I'm on your side of the debate.

Not really. He said that the great teams have a player at three who is capable of accelerating and dominating bowlers ergo Trott cannot be called a great batsman. But an adventurous number three is not needed though if the rest of your line-up are attacking batsman who can play around him. Dravid has occupied the number three spot for India for years whilst they've had an all-time great batting line-up and no one denies the great role he's played for his team, allowing the Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman et al the freedom to play with him at the other end. And Trott scores around 5 runs per 100 balls quicker than Dravid to boot.

e: Just to clarify, I'm not saying Trott is better than Dravid, or that Trott is an ATG. But if Trott carried on at a similar pace to his current form (big if of course) and finished his career with 60 tests played and an average of 58, to say wouldn't be a great player purely because his strikerate was 'only' 48 runs per 100 balls is bizarre.

 

[abmk]

Worked for a certain batsman named Donald.

it's a bit much comparing him to donald, who was a far better bowler than he was a batsman. in fact, i don't recall him being much of a bat at all....quite a mug with the bat in fact. liked dropping it all over the place.

trott is surely better even though he might not be everyone's cup of tea aesthetically.

 

[Spark]

Johnson once a year.

Just got to be unlucky to be batting that day.

He looked completely lost in that Test tbh. Even in the second knock where it wasn't really swinging.

 

[Xuhaib]

I hope Umer Akmal makes it big at test leval, he's exciting batsman to watch in a similar way as Lara was. Sehwag and Gilchrist are more brutal power batsman who I usually don't enjoy very much.

 

[vcs]

I hope Umer Akmal makes it big at test leval, he's exciting batsman to watch in a similar way as Lara was. Sehwag and Gilchrist are more brutal power batsman who I usually don't enjoy very much.

I resisted the Umar Akmal hype for a long time when he was getting out brainlessly again and again and again in England last year, but he's really impressed me recently. ATG potential there IMO. Fantastic against spin, and his fearlessness reminds me of an early Tendulkar.

 

[Xuhaib]

needs good senior batsman around him for the next 2-3 years (Younis,Yusuf,Misbah) mentally like many Pakistani players is not very smart.A lot of his struggles in England were due to being left complatley on his own in alien conditions against a good attack.

 

[Smudge]

Anyone made a 'Kallis disregard for the stated of the match' gag in relation to Trott yet?

You'll send Trott into depression:

"I'm never gonna bat again, guilty feet have got no rhythm...."







That's veeeeeeery obscure, but if you think about it a little bit...