King Pietersen
International Captain
Heh, Botham still thinks Smitteh is an all-rounder.
Yep, their side is imbalanced in favor of defensive players. Been that way for a good while. You need players like Cook and Bell, but you don't want five of them batting in a procession. That said, if they replaced Root with a more attacking player (I know he's not rated atm but Morgan could fit that bill) the balance would suddenly be massively improved. I suggest Morgan btw because I can't really think of a young English player with an attacking mindset waiting to get picked. Root and Bairstow both just look terrified of failure whenever they bat. Whether or not they have hidden dimensions to their game is hard to tell.Eng have no chance of reaching 300 tonight unless KP does something as Cook, Root, and Bell are all blockers of the highest order whilst Trott varies between comatose and run a ball
Reckon (I.e. hope) they will be bowled out today trying to play for a draw from ball one
I keep hearing Ballance mentioned, think it's a bit early to be judging Root tbf and Bell is not defensive.Who would be the next young English test batsman with attacking flair?
it might be the other batsmen, but apart from KP hardly any other English batsmen have shown willingness to score at a consistently decent SRWell he used to, has his SR suddenly improved or something?
is there anything he can't do?
The Australian quicks don't average significantly less than the English ones. Harris does, but that's offset by the enormous difference in the Swann vs Agar/Lyon stats.amazing how misleading stats on face value can be. The series score is 3-0 to Eng, yet when you look at the series stats for both teams, 4 of the 5 top run scorers are Aus (and that probably won't change when Eng bat) with 4 of the Aus top order averaging over 40, whilst only 1 for Eng. And the Aus quicks averaging considerably less than their Eng counterparts.
Goes to show how important it is to play well in the right moments, something Eng have been dominating us in or some time now. That, and, Ian Bell has been an annoying **** this series.
He should do on this pitchCook will get runs today.
They try to start carefully and accelerate later when the bowlers are into their third and fourth spells. It's usually a pretty good strategy.it might be the other batsmen, but apart from KP hardly any other English batsmen have shown willingness to score at a consistently decent SR