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**Official** Pakistan and England in the UAE 2015/16

wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
harsh.ag said:
Finally the perils of playing with 3 batsmen show forth
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You've spotted one more than I have, unless you were convinced by Bairstow this morning.

I'm struggling to remember a test side that was so dependent on two batsmen if they wanted to be competitive.
I suppose Australia might come close in the aftermath of their recent retirements.
But previously, no-one that I can remember. Even sides who relied strongly on one or two class acts also had others who could dig in and make a contribution.


EDIT
Long term, the real worry is how so many guys who look like champions in the CC are so completely out of their depth at test match level.
I do fear for Root's sanity when Cook calls it a day.
 
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Cabinet96

Cabinet96

Hall of Fame Member
Actually I think that might hit the ground. Looking at the angle it hit him on the foot and the way it bounced up.
 
Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
wpdavid said:
You've spotted one more than I have, unless you were convinced by Bairstow this morning.

I'm struggling to remember a test side that was so dependent on two batsmen if they wanted to be competitive.
I suppose Australia might come close in the aftermath of their recent retirements.
But previously, no-one that I can remember. Even sides who relied strongly on one or two class acts also had a batch of other who could dig in and make a contribution.
Click to expand...
Nobody remembers this sort of thing though because it's never sustained. People said similar things in India in 2012 when it was supposed to be Cook and Prior, then Compton and KP made runs as well and things turned out okay.

Last year at Southampton we made 500 with Ballance 130, Bell 150 and Buttler 80. It looks like Root and Cook are our only runs now but it's such a short term thing.
 
Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
5 past? Should have been off for lunch when that wicket was taken. If we lose this test it's clearly because of blatant opposition cheating. Should be struck from the record.

 
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Black_Warrior

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
wpdavid said:
You've spotted one more than I have, unless you were convinced by Bairstow this morning.
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He might never convince everyone, and he is not spectacular, he was willing to occupy the crease, he struggled a lot yesterday, but managed to fight it out..Had Root not given his wicket away, might have contributed a lot more.

The problem for me now seems to be that the tail starts right after him. I am not sure if his keeping up to it but the way Buttler is batting, it might be worth a it to have him keep and play Taylor.
 
wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Howe_zat said:
Nobody remembers this sort of thing though because it's never sustained. People said similar things in India in 2012 when it was supposed to be Cook and Prior, then Compton and KP made runs as well and things turned out okay.

Last year at Southampton we made 500 with Ballance 130, Bell 150 and Buttler 80. It looks like Root and Cook are our only runs now but it's such a short term thing.
Click to expand...
For the sake of discussion, I suppose the difference in 2012 was we always knew that KP could come good at any time, and we probably thought that Trott would be OK, so there wasn't the over-riding sense that we were massively depending on two guys most of the time. This year, I'm looking at all five ashes tests plus these two. Which isn't an age, admittedly, but it does provide a clue of how we perform with the bat when the going isn't easy.
 
Black_Warrior

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
wpdavid said:
For the sake of discussion, I suppose the difference in 2012 was we always knew that KP could come good at any time, and we probably thought that Trott would be OK, so there wasn't the over-riding sense that we were massively depending on two guys most of the time. This year, I'm looking at all five ashes tests plus these two. Which isn't an age, admittedly, but it does provide a clue of how we perform with the bat when the going isn't easy.
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Fair enough, but just a couple of points on that,
Firstly, Cook is not retiring for some time.
Secondly, you never know when someone bursts onto the scene. Did anyone see Root coming along? or Trott? Nobody knew Trott before he was picked for the deciding Ashes test and scored a match winning ton.

Yeah the batting resources might look a bit slim now, but you never know when someone comes along. I know this from experience..everyone used to say what would happen to Pakistan after Inzy and Moyo, YK and Misbah emerged, then they said what will happen after YK and Misbah leave, and Azhar and Shafiq have come along.
 
P

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Howe is right but I don't think anyone would pretend our batting is not a problem, it has been for years. When Stokes is your 3rd best batsman you have issues. There is talent around and we should make runs this summer but there is so many areas that need improvement.
 
wpdavid

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Black_Warrior said:
He might never convince everyone, and he is not spectacular, he was willing to occupy the crease, he struggled a lot yesterday, but managed to fight it out..Had Root not given his wicket away, might have contributed a lot more.

The problem for me now seems to be that the tail starts right after him. I am not sure if his keeping up to it but the way Buttler is batting, it might be worth a it to have him keep and play Taylor.
Click to expand...
He batted better yesterday than he did today, tbf. And I'd certainly stick with him, even if he does currently look more like a number 7 than a number 5.

And problem isn't just the tail starting right after him, but half of the guys above him aren't anything close to being convincing either. But you already know that, so apologies for stating the obvious.
No idea where we go with it. I could make a case for giving Hales a match and putting Moeen at 7 instead of Buttler, with Bairstow taking over the gloves. Not that we're very likely to win out here, but I don't know anyone who thinks Moeen should open in SA so Hales may as well have a go now.

Still at least it won't be 3-0 this time.
 
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