He has one of the best inswingers in the worldBen Stokes is the perfect fifth bowler.
Is this off the top of your head ?England Batting 2 years PRE bazball:
View attachment 40973
England batting during the 2 years of Bazball:
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Bowling 2 years before Bazball:
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During Bazball:
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Thought i'de compile these after the earlier discussion. Batting stands out straight away. Root and stokes are pretty much the same, but everyone else is way better. England went from having one, maybe two batsmen when stokes was fit to having a top 6 that are all making runs. It looks like the bowlers are averaging slightly more, but you'd need to do way more in depth analysis to draw any reasonable conclusions around that vs the increased batting averages.
For all the talk about tangible benefits, I think under McCullum and stokes england have clearly assembled a much better batting lineup. Bowling is a bit more worrying, with Anderson and broad retiring, robinson seemingly being thrown to the wayside and leach struggling. I mentioned the scoreline against AUS at home and in India in a previous post, but after running through it in my head a bit more I think that may just be a symptom of those sides improving as much as England have, and not England stagnating. Can't be bothered pulling up the stats, but the 2023 Australian batting lineup was much better in 2023, while we fielded basically the same bowling lineup in 2019 and 2023. India are also just better in 2024 despite pant missing out. Rohit-Jaiswal-Gill is the best top 3 they've fielded in ages, sarfaraz is doing way better at 5 than rahane was, jurel covered for pant and jadeja makes that side much more balanced. Also having bumrah helps a ton.
TLDR; England have put together a much better batting lineup since McCullum took over. Bowling hasn't improved, but that's majorly an injury/retirement thing. Think similar score lines for India and Australia test's are down to those teams improving as much as ENG, can't be bothered checking the numbers to confirm that.
@grecian be interested to hear your thought on this.
He is a good batsman, his test average should be higher.Haha one innings has turned Hodge's shocking average of 23.83 into a much more respectable 40.83, now the 2nd highest average in the side behind Sinclair
Why should it, he's 31 (so not learning his game) and his first class average is only 29.44 after 64 matches?He is a good batsman, his test average should be higher.
Stokes thriving with both bat and ball under his own captaincy. Seems Root was holding him back.England Batting 2 years PRE bazball:
View attachment 40973
England batting during the 2 years of Bazball:
View attachment 40974
Bowling 2 years before Bazball:
View attachment 40975
During Bazball:
View attachment 40976
Thought i'de compile these after the earlier discussion. Batting stands out straight away. Root and stokes are pretty much the same, but everyone else is way better. England went from having one, maybe two batsmen when stokes was fit to having a top 6 that are all making runs. It looks like the bowlers are averaging slightly more, but you'd need to do way more in depth analysis to draw any reasonable conclusions around that vs the increased batting averages.
For all the talk about tangible benefits, I think under McCullum and stokes england have clearly assembled a much better batting lineup. Bowling is a bit more worrying, with Anderson and broad retiring, robinson seemingly being thrown to the wayside and leach struggling. I mentioned the scoreline against AUS at home and in India in a previous post, but after running through it in my head a bit more I think that may just be a symptom of those sides improving as much as England have, and not England stagnating. Can't be bothered pulling up the stats, but the 2023 Australian batting lineup was much better in 2023, while we fielded basically the same bowling lineup in 2019 and 2023. India are also just better in 2024 despite pant missing out. Rohit-Jaiswal-Gill is the best top 3 they've fielded in ages, sarfaraz is doing way better at 5 than rahane was, jurel covered for pant and jadeja makes that side much more balanced. Also having bumrah helps a ton.
TLDR; England have put together a much better batting lineup since McCullum took over. Bowling hasn't improved, but that's majorly an injury/retirement thing. Think similar score lines for India and Australia test's are down to those teams improving as much as ENG, can't be bothered checking the numbers to confirm that.
@grecian be interested to hear your thought on this.
WICB should really invest in a psychologist!He is a good batsman, his test average should be higher.
Give the WI two 4-5 Test series every 18-24 months against the top 3 teams and watch them become more consistent. Hard to keep up the pretense at lower levels when you're unsure if your national team is even wanted at the table with the big boys.WICB should really invest in a psychologist!
Its so crazy how so many of their players just pull out clutch performances out of nowhere but have such modest records ..
Hodge has a FC batting average of 29 at 31 years old , does this look like an innings of someone that averages 29 ?
Shai Hope averages 25 in Test cricket, he's the only man in history with two hundreds in a Headingley test or fc match even Sir Boycott never did that, Kyle Mayers pulled out a 4th innings double hundred on debut now can't even get in the team ...
Something is fundamentally wrong in the Caribbean and it's got nothing to do with talent.
Woakes was one of England's best bowlers in last year's Ashes series, he has some credits in the bank.if Woakes is going to bowl 77 MPH then why don't they just pick Robinson? an actually threatening bowler at that pace
EDITif Woakes is going to bowl 77 MPH then why don't they just pick Robinson? an actually threatening bowler at that pace