Chin Music
State Vice-Captain
Those of you who posted back on Cricket 247 will remember a certain thread that I started back in the day. This was about the chronic inability of a number of England batters to turn rather elegant 50s into 100s and the big hundreds necessary to win test matches. Chief among underachievers in that time was Joe Root who would, from the back end of 2015 (Pak in UAE and the start of the SA tour), would score 9 tons in 65 games with a not inconsequential 36 scores of 50+ that he failed to convert.
The thread would be routinely updated when an England player crossed 50 and failed to ton up. Therefore Root had plenty of contributions, although enough players would find themselves joining the rogues gallery! It went from a bit of fun to nigh on inevitability when the England tour of Australia in 2017/18 with Root himself crossing 50 on 5 separate occasions but not tonning up. Needless to say, Root got out of that rut up to a point. As since the end of 2020 he has tonned up 13 times in 38 test matches to bring back a sense that he really is a modern great.
However, I shouldn't leave this thread without going to the protagonist whom is named in the title in Ian Bell. I can see that he appears to have a mixed reputation on here and I always found him frustrating as hell. With an elegant half century on debut in 2004, his debacle against Australia in 2005 and so many fits and starts for a good few years before he finally found some consistency in late 2009 against South Africa when he would have played around 50 tests. It wasn't that he was a real under-acheiveing player a la Ramprakash and Hick, it was just that many contributions would be classily crafted scores above 50 that resulted in a careless dismissal. I just remember that tour to Sri Lanka in 2007.
I was actually in Colombo for the 2nd test and also recall him playing really well in the first at Kandy, only to get out when the game was almost in his hands in the first innings. At Colombo, he looked very comfortable on a deadish track with the game meandering to a draw. However, he still found time to get out with a silly shot, when it would have done him a world of good to cross the 3 figure mark. He would of course go an have some spectacular periods of form between late 2009 and the end of 2011 when his conversion issues would be put to bed. He would then somewhat revert to type from the start of 2012 until the end of his career three years later, that spectacular and all time great series at home to Australia aside. He was even worse at not converting in ODIs but I usually found England unwatchable in that format, so they are far less etched on my memory.
I should point out that the recent test at the Oval, for which I was in attendance for three days, appeared to troll me with no fewer that 8 unconverted 50s, with two of them being from non other than Steve Smith, who you normally think he crosses 20 he crosses 100....
Perhaps I should finally sign off by mentioning Travis Head. He's played 40 odd tests for Australia, averages 45, but has only scored 6 tons, which seems a bit of an underachievement for a guy of his talent, who doesn't seem to be a home track bully, unlike say Warner and Labuschagne. Anyway, I'm sure a few of you have some players you would like to share your frustrations over, and update this thread when they fail to kick on and get out carelessly!
The thread would be routinely updated when an England player crossed 50 and failed to ton up. Therefore Root had plenty of contributions, although enough players would find themselves joining the rogues gallery! It went from a bit of fun to nigh on inevitability when the England tour of Australia in 2017/18 with Root himself crossing 50 on 5 separate occasions but not tonning up. Needless to say, Root got out of that rut up to a point. As since the end of 2020 he has tonned up 13 times in 38 test matches to bring back a sense that he really is a modern great.
However, I shouldn't leave this thread without going to the protagonist whom is named in the title in Ian Bell. I can see that he appears to have a mixed reputation on here and I always found him frustrating as hell. With an elegant half century on debut in 2004, his debacle against Australia in 2005 and so many fits and starts for a good few years before he finally found some consistency in late 2009 against South Africa when he would have played around 50 tests. It wasn't that he was a real under-acheiveing player a la Ramprakash and Hick, it was just that many contributions would be classily crafted scores above 50 that resulted in a careless dismissal. I just remember that tour to Sri Lanka in 2007.
I was actually in Colombo for the 2nd test and also recall him playing really well in the first at Kandy, only to get out when the game was almost in his hands in the first innings. At Colombo, he looked very comfortable on a deadish track with the game meandering to a draw. However, he still found time to get out with a silly shot, when it would have done him a world of good to cross the 3 figure mark. He would of course go an have some spectacular periods of form between late 2009 and the end of 2011 when his conversion issues would be put to bed. He would then somewhat revert to type from the start of 2012 until the end of his career three years later, that spectacular and all time great series at home to Australia aside. He was even worse at not converting in ODIs but I usually found England unwatchable in that format, so they are far less etched on my memory.
I should point out that the recent test at the Oval, for which I was in attendance for three days, appeared to troll me with no fewer that 8 unconverted 50s, with two of them being from non other than Steve Smith, who you normally think he crosses 20 he crosses 100....
Perhaps I should finally sign off by mentioning Travis Head. He's played 40 odd tests for Australia, averages 45, but has only scored 6 tons, which seems a bit of an underachievement for a guy of his talent, who doesn't seem to be a home track bully, unlike say Warner and Labuschagne. Anyway, I'm sure a few of you have some players you would like to share your frustrations over, and update this thread when they fail to kick on and get out carelessly!
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That India one in 2012 is a beauty. I know ego can be helpful to a professional sportsperson, but the cricinfo commentator summarises it perfectly. How can you sit there at 69-4 thinking coming down the track the very first ball you go out there is a good idea?
