England's Summer of 2022

[wpdavid]

I think that we’d have taken 6-1 at the start of the summer.

Here are England’s individual performances for the season.


Lees
327 runs @ 25.2


Crawley
276 runs @ 23.0


Pope
456 runs @ 38.0


Root
615 runs & 68.3


Bairstow
681 runs @ 75.7


Brook
12 runs & 12.0


Stokes
368 runs @ 40.9
18 wickets @ 25.7


Foakes
240 runs & 40.0


Billings
36 runs @ 36.0


Broad
29 wickets @ 27.2
138 runs @ 17.3


Potts
20 wickets @ 28.0
30 runs @ 7.5


Anderson
27 wickets @ 17.7
23 runs @ 7.7


Robinson
12 wickets @ 15.0
20 runs @ 10.0


Overton
97 runs @ 97.0
2 wickets @ 73.0


Leach
16 wickets @ 36.3
34 runs @ 6.8


Parkinson
1 wicket @ 89.0
8 runs @ 8.0

 

[GIMH]

Root, Bairstow and Anderson, Broad & Robinson obviously stand out (smaller sample size for Robinson obv) for their individual stats but Ben Stokes pulling those figures out, as captain, is frankly sensational.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Yeah, pretty fantastic summer for England after a disastrous one last year. Other than the first 2 SA Tests, the matches have all been fantastic contests as well.

Robinson coming back seemingly fitter and faster than before is great news, and Potts proved a handy addition to our bowling depth. I think Pope having a modestly successful season at 3 is important too, since we haven't had any success at all in that position recently (except when Root has batted there). Shame we're still two Test batsmen short of an opening partnership.

 

[wpdavid]

Root, Bairstow and Anderson, Broad & Robinson obviously stand out (smaller sample size for Robinson obv) for their individual stats but Ben Stokes pulling those figures out, as captain, is frankly sensational.

Yes, I think so. And it has to be said that Stokes' impact as a captain has been astonishing; to the extent that I can't remember anything like it. Someone wrote a few weeks ago that he could be our most influential captain since Hussain, but I think he was forgetting that it took a year and a half for things to improve under Nasser. And he had actually inherited a more settled side anyway, who had been good enough to beat SA 12 months previously. The only one who comes close is Brearley, on both occasions that he took over as captain. Thinking about it, Strauss in 2009 merits a mention too. But, so far, Stokes' impact has been even greater.

 

[Gremlin]

I know one innings swayed the figures but 240 @ 40 is a good return for the keeper.

 

[wpdavid]

I know one innings swayed the figures but 240 @ 40 is a good return for the keeper.

He also made important runs in the 2nd innings of the 1st test against NZ. That was the run-chase when he and Root added 120 for the 6th wicket with only Potts, Broad, Anderson and Parkinson to come.

 

[Prince EWS]

Root, Bairstow and Anderson, Broad & Robinson obviously stand out (smaller sample size for Robinson obv) for their individual stats but Ben Stokes pulling those figures out, as captain, is frankly sensational.

I actually think Pope's summer is a lot more significant than has been made out, too. It's been a long while since England had someone actually bat well in the top three. He was a bit rocks or diamonds and he still sucks against spin but I think #3 is his spot and it was a bit of a punt so it's really encouraging.

 

[GIMH]

I actually think Pope's summer is a lot more significant than has been made out, too. It's been a long while since England had someone actually bat well in the top three. He was a bit rocks or diamonds and he still sucks against spin but I think #3 is his spot and it was a bit of a punt so it's really encouraging.

Yeah it’s a fair point. And given Root’s form (this series aside) it’s potentially yielded a lot more than just his runs

 

[Victor Ian]

The big think for me is Broad giving it to all those turds who were saying he is finished.

 

[Xuhaib]

Jimmy absolutely sensational

 

[Victor Ian]

Apologies for my language, if you were a turd

 

[Adders]

Remarkable summer of cricket and as wpd said, we'd have ripped your arm off for 6 out of 7 at the start of it.

Eng still very much a flawed side......we all know this, but are finding ways to win test matches. Vast improvement.

 

[honestbharani]

Well done England. Bad luck saffers. They did get the worst of the conditions even though both sides batting sucked. Rabada chose a very bad time to be completely off-color.

 

[greg]

The big think for me is Broad giving it to all those turds who were saying he is finished.

Jimmy can't afford to retire for risk that Broad might catch him.

 

[kevinw]

The core of the side performed as well as always. Bairstow had a great Summer, Pope and Foakes made some strong contributions and Robinson returned impressively. Leach bowled ok given it wasn't a spinner's Summer.

Still concerned about the openers. Crawley will get more rope than he should but Lees is in the last chance saloon really. Highest score of 67 in ten tests and gives no indication he can build a big innings. Longer term I'd have Duckett in his spot.

I'm also worried about the depth of the squad. The bowlers who would normally be in contention aren't fit and I'm not convinced that the Overtons or Sam Curran are anywhere near good enough. Potts looked lively. You'd have to think Sam Cook isn't far off now. In terms of spinners, it's Leach or bust. Parkinson's debut was pretty disappointing.

With the bat, there are fewer spaces in the middle order now as Pope and Bairstow are in for the medium term. Brook may get a chance here and there. But he will have to be patient.

 

[Chubb]

I said McCullum was worth a punt when he was appointed and the gamble has paid off so far.

This said, the long term issues with the openers will not and cannot be resolved as long as "consistency" is not seen as an important quality.

 

[chris.hinton]

What a summer and still a lot of work to do with openers & Spinners.

 

[kevinw]

What a summer and still a lot of work to do with openers & Spinners.

Leach took a ten-fer, didn't he?

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Leach took a ten-fer, didn't he?

Ajaz Patel took 10 in an innings and has played one Test match since, during which he barely got to bowl. Such is the life of a spinner for NZ or, in recent times, England.

 

[SteveNZ]

I think that we’d have taken 6-1 at the start of the summer.

I have to admit, with full respect, this tickled me. Weren't England 1 from their last 17 tests before the summer?

Heaps of positives. Root being the best batsman in the world, Bairstow's rise, Stokes' insane numbers as a captain, runs from a keeper, Pope doing better at 3 than any of us expected...

And the one that was glaringly obvious but apparently not to Chris Silverwood and others, was that Anderson and Broad are still the best two bowlers in the country, comfortably. Whilst those two probably had more than a touch of culpability about why they ended up being left out, it is/was still a failing on management's behalf that it got to the point where England went down the toilet with two of their best on the sidelines.

I'm not a fan of the world revolving around the Ashes, but obviously there's still big issues with opening batsmen, is Leach effective enough to be an automatic pick, can they keep 4 seamers fit for a whole series etc. But hell it'd be a fun time to be an English fan, whereas 6 months ago it certainly wasn't. I feel pretty good for those fans in that regard.