Team of the 2010s

[stephen]

Warner is not. Cook is better than him in varied conditions. Warner tanked in India, SL, and Windies and didn't do so well in England. Cook has been better everywhere bar SA.

Yeah that's fair. Warner is well suited to bouncy conditions which means he's excelled in Australia and South Africa but outside those two places he's been pretty mediocre.

 

[Flem274*]

You can laugh, but last time Bird bowled against your mob he took 7 wickets.

Bird would absolutely play ahead of Southee were he born a New Zealander.

good for him. he's still not better than southee and i'm a known bare minimum southee skeptic. maybe the 2016 mohammad samithee version, but he's not capable of achieving what 2012-2014 southee did.

also when nz need a green top trundler they throw the ball to colin

 

[Bolo]

No. He literally said ab wouldn't "bother" downhill skiing. As though it was a conscious choice of his. I hate posts like that and will point them out for the rubbish that they are.

What is wrong with people in this thread? People inventing statements or opinions and attributinv them to me so they can disagree with them. nobody willing to spend 5 seconds reading what I have written. Once he has won the game. He comes in at whatever position, focuses and scores until his team is in a winning position. Then he stops concentrating and often gets out. Hence his string of 60s, but has only managed a 100 when his team have been really behind.

 

[Flem274*]

What is wrong with people in this thread? People inventing statements or opinions and attributinv them to me so they can disagree with them. nobody willing to spend 5 seconds reading what I have written.

i see you are new to the internet

 

[morgieb]

What is wrong with people in this thread? People inventing statements or opinions and attributinv them to me so they can disagree with them. nobody willing to spend 5 seconds reading what I have written. Once he has won the game. He comes in at whatever position, focuses and scores until his team is in a winning position. Then he stops concentrating and often gets out. Hence his string of 60s, but has only managed a 100 when his team have been really behind.

This point may be valid if you only consider matches from about 2014 onwards. Before that....he loved a downhill ski. Lots of people were calling him a downhill skier back then.

 

[cnerd123]

I think the assertion that ABDV doesn't score wanker runs is a fair one, but I haven't looked at the stats.

 

[stephen]

Amla doesn't open you moron, so you're making a false comparison.

Amla bats 3 but has opened a couple of times. Even if you knock 5 runs off Amla's decade average to account for him moving up to opener, he still has a higher average than Cook, and as we discussed, he's playing in home conditions which are more difficult for batsmen 1-3.

So it's fair to pick him to open. Who he opens with is a toss up between Cook and Warner. As Harsh pointed out, Cook has been better away than Warner, so I've changed my mind and Cook should open with Warner.

Leaving Amla out of the team of the 2010s would be a far worse crime than leaving out Cook.

 

[jimmy101]

I'll have a pop at this.

Cook
Root
Smith
Kohli*
Williamson
AB de Villiers
Sarfraz+
Ashwin
Philander
Steyn
Anderson

 

[trundler]

Let's all get along…x

 

[OverratedSanity]

What is wrong with people in this thread? People inventing statements or opinions and attributinv them to me so they can disagree with them. nobody willing to spend 5 seconds reading what I have written. Once he has won the game. He comes in at whatever position, focuses and scores until his team is in a winning position. Then he stops concentrating and often gets out. Hence his string of 60s, but has only managed a 100 when his team have been really behind.

If you were only talking about the last few series then sure. Not the impression I got from your post. It seemed you were describing his post 2010 career (which is the topic) with that pattern. That's why I pointed out it wasn't true and gave you numerous instances where he did the opposite of what you said.

I also massively disagree that the game was "won" in any of those games after his 60s. They were excellent innings but him "losing interest" after getting to 60 is just not true since SA weren't in a dominant position after most of those 60s at all. They could have used some more runs from him. Why would he feel as though his job was done?

 

[morgieb]

He's not even merely good. He's been pretty amazing away from home.

Yeah, I suppose. Though it's worth noting his average in a lot of countries tend to be "merely" early-40's, and belting New Zealand and the West Indies drags it to genuine top-class level. Does dominate in India though.

What helps is that he's only struggled in three away series in his career - his first, the Bangladesh series and the tampering series.

 

[trundler]

I'll have a pop at this.

Cook
Root
Smith
Kohli*
Williamson
AB de Villiers
Sarfraz+
Ashwin
Philander
Steyn
Anderson

Yeah, open with the bloke that can't handle batting 3.

Also, Sarfraz is neither a test class batsman, nor a good enough keeper'.

 

[Groundking]

Amla bats 3 but has opened a couple of times. Even if you knock 5 runs off Amla's decade average to account for him moving up to opener, he still has a higher average than Cook, and as we discussed, he's playing in home conditions which are more difficult for batsmen 1-3.

So it's fair to pick him to open. Who he opens with is a toss up between Cook and Warner. As Harsh pointed out, Cook has been better away than Warner, so I've changed my mind and Cook should open with Warner.

Leaving Amla out of the team of the 2010s would be a far worse crime than leaving out Cook.

You can say that batting at 3 is the same as opening all you want, but psychologically it's completely different, just look at all the batsmen that are a shadow of themselves in different batting positions. If you're picking Amla you have to pick him at 3, not open.

 

[Flem274*]

What helps is that he's only struggled in three away series in his career - his first, the Bangladesh series and the tampering series.

bangladesh being kryptonite to australia would be so much funnier if they didn't have the worst fans and mushfiqur rahim

 

[Flem274*]

what year did michael clarke retire and did he score many runs this decade? i feel like he did

 

[morgieb]

Yeah, open with the bloke that can't handle batting 3.

Also, Sarfraz is neither a test class batsman, nor a good enough keeper'.

Well tbf he's at least opened this decade. The big problem is that the opening options who are actually worthy are 1. a combination of being a HTB, an FTB and a downhill skier and 2. someone who three great years but was not quite the same batsman afterwards. Otherwise you're looking at players who barely played in the 2010's and guys who hit great form but was never all that consistent. Against that you've got around 8-10 worthy middle order options.

 

[morgieb]

what year did michael clarke retire and did he score many runs this decade? i feel like he did

Was 2015. Though his 2011-14 form was absolutely crazy. On peaks he makes my side, but he just didn't last long enough to crack the side.

 

[trundler]

Amla bats 3 but has opened a couple of times. Even if you knock 5 runs off Amla's decade average to account for him moving up to opener, he still has a higher average than Cook, and as we discussed, he's playing in home conditions which are more difficult for batsmen 1-3.

So it's fair to pick him to open. Who he opens with is a toss up between Cook and Warner. As Harsh pointed out, Cook has been better away than Warner, so I've changed my mind and Cook should open with Warner.

Leaving Amla out of the team of the 2010s would be a far worse crime than leaving out Cook.

This kind of pointless conjecture doesn't work as cricket doesn't get played on a spreadsheet. Alec Stewart would be an example of the other extreme. Only makes sense to judge cricketers on what they have done or Carl Hooper is an ATG.

 

[jimmy101]

Yeah, open with the bloke that can't handle batting 3.

Also, Sarfraz is neither a test class batsman, nor a good enough keeper'.

I probably should have snuck Mohammad Shahzad in there then. Could open & 'keep. Problem solved.

 

[cnerd123]

Let's all get along…x

This is why we need a Miyagi or Blocky. A shared target for all our anger and vitriol.