this is news to me. I wouldn't be encouraging **** like scoops, reverse sweeps, focusing on aerial game etc. for anyone under the age of 16. If coaches are really telling children to start doing that I would definitely be questioning it
I reckon you're saying this because for some reason he always does well against India. I would laugh at the suggestion because I've mostly just seen him in the Ashes and he's been completely useless against Aus
He is in as a keeper and not as a pure batsman. From what I have seen, he is a better keeper than Bairstow. And there is no one else pushing the door. An average of 34 is decent enough for a keeper.
Yeah, what you are saying is right. I just went by what I have seen, which is mostly India tests. And he always has done well in that.
Pope is injured
Pope played in Surrey's last couple of one-day matches over the last week or so. Not very well, but he's fit enough to be playing in those games.
Foakes should eventually be fit again. Better keeper, and not much in it as a test batsman.
Yeah should have specified "was injured". He was deemed not fit enough to play the second test so got released to play for surrey for a bit to get game time. Looked shot to pieces.
Yeah, that's not a bad call. It was one of the matches that contributed to my mid-2010s disillusionment with the team. Everything there should have been in their favour, but they lost the match and the series because they just couldn't take advantage of them, with several big names especially culpable with the ball. If I had to rank these days, I'd argue that the presence of Matthews is a slightly mitigating factor, but that's not how I felt at the time.
That was my observation too. My initial thought was that his confidence was shattered by the series in India, but that doesn't totally follow as he scored a couple of big hundreds in the county championship earlier in the season.
Definitely happening and state associations should be aware of it as it’s their coaches
England gave the world T20 and the Hundred so I'm not sure why you'd think this.
I was there at Headingley for that day of the Sri Lanka match. Not our finest hour for sure. Our bowling being shredded by Matthews at his peak wasn't nearly as embarrassing as getting smashed by Shami and Bumrah, though I guess that's balanced by our batting collapsing to Prasad rather than the currently Indian quartet. Captaincy was awful in both games, though I think Cook's mistake of making no effort to try and dismiss Matthews once he got set wasn't as bad as England yesterday trying to hit the tailender in the head rather than hit his wicket.
That was the start of a seriously good patch for Prasad tbf. He tore through India a couple of times a few months later. Bit of a shame him body fell apart, his average was plummeting rapidly.
tbf it could very well be once the series is over.
Certainly for the batting, and especially because we went into the series ranked number 1 in the world. The final day of the second test probably the standout, being bowled out for 72 chasing 145. Classic English performance of pre-series hubris swiftly becoming a white flag job. See also the 1992/93 tour of India and SL.
