Not sure this is really fair. Ronchi delivered in the domestic ODI final last year, scored a 99 against South Africa at Bay Oval when the top order collapsed, scored that 170 in Dunedin when the game looked lost & also closed out the one in Nelson with 20 or so off an over. He had a poor World Cup. I'd be more concerned about whether technically he is equipped to he can handle the duke ball swinging around.
Saying finally assumes you're ignoring the century and 6 fifties he's scored in the previous 6 games then - why don't they count?
Yeah, that's precisely why we wouldn't want him in the lineup, not when there's already Anderson, McCullum and a lower order that's playing in T20 mode. Have no problem with him being in the limited over sides. For tests, they really should zero in on another understudy for Watling (de Boorder maybe?) and start picking him for these tours.
Mark Craig is like the bowling equivalent pf Tim McIntosh. For the most part you wonder why he's in the team but he does maintain this track record of one good game/innings per series. Not the soundest cricketing logic for retaining him, but yeah..
It's bizarre, but tbf it's not just viriya. Many on here and further afar have ignored his turnaround in Test form. Perhaps it's because since he first showed signs of turning it around we went a whole heap of time without playing a Test, during which time he sucked in ODIs, or maybe it's because he's been under pressure as skipper. But it's incredible really. He's averaging something like 70 this year I believe.
Since losing to India at Lords: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...4;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting
He reminds me of Jason Krejza. Commentators tended to really like him but the selectors soon concluded that a mediocre defensive spinner tends to balance a test side better than a mediocre attacking one.
Either that or the fact we have nobody else
Wasn't it Dhawan who dropped him? ****.
Because part of his bad form was 'x months without a century' which wasn't rectified against India and his century against the Windies resulted in defeat. This is the first ton Cook's scored that's resulted in a win for **** knows how long.
He was getting considerably less revs than Moeen was though.
That was the first time I've seen him play and I can't think of anything positive to say. Looked like someone you would only pick if you hated winning. But presumably he's not that bad all of the time.
Maybe his Test form was never as bad as we made it? Form can be such a hard to describe thing. When Cook came back form the 10/11 Ashes, and continued his fine form against Sri Lanka in the summer, he started the series vs India with 4 absolute failure innings, to follow up with nearly a 300....
It's a thin line. Personally, I dislike the idea that form is linked to stripped down statistics like "long time since defining ton in a win".
He was out of form like in the summer of 2010 he was getting out prodding outside off stump and being caught by keeper or slips on too many occasions. Yes he will still get out that way but at least he has basically taken that shot out of his game for now and is reaping the rewards.