I just do not know what they, the ECB, expect with the Buttler thing?
Correct me if I am wrong but is there an example of a specialist batsman (i.e., no gloves, nothing more than part-time bowling) excelling at number seven? Averaging somewhere in the 40s?
Can't give you any specific examples but I'm sure it's happened many, many times before. Even not taking into account nightwatchmen.I just do not know what they, the ECB, expect with the Buttler thing?
Correct me if I am wrong but is there an example of a specialist batsman (i.e., no gloves, nothing more than part-time bowling) excelling at number seven? Averaging somewhere in the 40s?
Yeah they've got a decent batting line-up on paper but just didn't perform. Not sure why they really expect much more from this Bess guy as a spinner than they got from Moeen, plus Moeen is a decent bat and performed really, really well last summer IIRC. I would have kept Moeen despite his struggles over the winter, just seems to offer a lot more than this random county spinner.That's pretty pathetic from England.
Yeah it is a bit ambitious to expect presumably the 7th best batsman in a country to excel, unless it is the Australian Gilchrist era. Regardless of taking the gloves or not.edit: excelling? not sure tbh, I thought you were just asking if a specialist batsman had played at no. 7
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Mid 140s for the most part. It was not extreme pace that troubled England; they bowled a very good length; they were consistent; and they were well backed up in the field.How fast were the Pakistani seamers bowling?
I honestly think you're over complicating it and trying to make the available talent fit a prescribed team formula, when the best available talent should determine the team structure.Sorry, I still do not get it. Just pulled a list of all the best averages at seven and they're all either keepers or allrounders.
If you are going Buttler, and I do not think for a second you should, I just think you should go the traditional 1-5 (specialist bats), 6 (allrounder) 7 (wicketkeeper) route, i.e., Buttler, Stokes, Bairstow - switch the two gingers around if you prefer? If you are playing Buttler as a specialist batsman you give him all the opportunities to still be around when there is batting to be had, and not just chucking him on the end as a spare part and hoping Bairstow or Stokes are still hanging around when Buttler's turn arrives. A lot of the time Buttler may find himself partnering The Burnley Lara!
Edit,
Another way to look at it is, Australia kept a wicketkeeper-batsman of Gilchrist's high (batting) quality back at seven. Now I know what you're going to say, Buttler is not a Ponting, Waugh, Martyn - or later a Clarke. But then you are only going to be as good as the players you have available, who presumably have been made available because of good ehh IPL performances/stats (I'd have normally said ''domestic''!!). Once you have those players you have to have the faith in them. The Aussies (and oppositions) saw Gilchrist's late arrival as a glass half full. ''Look, our wicketkeeper bats basically as good as our top order''.
At least they won't resort to using sandpaperPlayers wishes matter though. Stokes and Bairstow are more valuable, and they probably don't want to move down the order. Forcing your golden geese (so to speak) down the order and making them bat behind someone that they view as inferior might just piss them off enough to send them off the rails late one night assaulting ****s at nightclubs and headbutting randoms they just met
Quite good. The best of the lot by a distance. Was driving very early in his innings, going forward and leaving well.Well done Pakistan. Now just bat and bat. How did Cook look?
80-84 for Abbas and FaheemHow fast were the Pakistani seamers bowling?
They ain't that dumb.At least they won't resort to using sandpaper
And getting drunk and punching an opposition player in the bar over a fake beard gets you even lessThey ain't that dumb.
Rubbing some sandpaper on a ball gets you a 1 year ban, bashing someone outside a club just gets you a month or 2 paid holiday
Can't punish Warner too harshly for that, punching people when drunk is Australian cultureAnd getting drunk and punching an opposition player in the bar over a fake beard gets you even less
*alleged fake beardAnd getting drunk and punching an opposition player in the bar over a fake beard gets you even less
Root looks like the captaincy is taking its toll.Such a feeble cricket team. Somehow our batting just gets worse and worse.