England test match player ratings 2024 home season (West Indies & Sri Lanka at home)

[Chin Music]

ENGLAND TEST SUMMER PLAYER RATINGS: Gus Atkinson showed he belonged at this level, but which star must do better? And who has done his selection chances more harm than good? | Daily Mail Online
Lawrence Booth has posted this article. Some of you may have obviously different opinions to his and my views.

I'm only going to highlight those that differ (in my opinion) from the linked article so here goes. Shoaib Bashir was a little overrated at 7. Sure he got some cheap wickets v West Indies, but found the going pretty tough after the first innings of the first Sri Lanka test. Not saying he was terrible, I thought he bowled alright in the Saturday afternoon session, when I was there at the Oval but I would be giving him a 6. He is obviously a work in progress and I'm happy that he will get the chance to continue as he has clear attributes for a decent test match off spinner.

Brook for me would be at least one less than the 6.5. I thought he was rather erratic in the Sri Lanka series, and his first innings at the Oval alone was putrid. Good innings v West Indies for his ton, mind.

Duckett, I don't get how he isn't being selfless, I agree with Booth's assessment that he should convert more of his 70s and 80s for sure, but game management surely must come into it and not just playing to the so called modus operandi of this Stokes/McCullum team.

Feel free to put in your tuppence worth.

 

[Molehill]

In defence of Bashir, Sri Lanka didn't even pick a spinner for The Oval Test. Frankly, he shouldn't have been bowling then, they should've been in the dressing room. But I'm still not entirely convinced as to how he's become the number 1 in the spin ranks, especially as he can't bat.

I would also rank Brook lower. Averaging 36 against two attacks that aren't the strongest in Cricket is not great. His ceiling should be up there with Root, but he's not making the most of starts.

Duckett's such a tough one to weigh up. On one side he's generally getting us off to half decent starts and we don't have Root turning up at 10-2, but the other is his mode of dismissal. He's rarely actually got out. I wouldn't mind him being a bit more selfish when he gets to 80 and try and take his time getting to a ton, it would be more beneficial to the team at that point.

I'd rank Pope lower, just needs to be more consistent, and his captaincy (especially at The Oval) was dumb. 430 runs of which 160 odd came at his home ground where we know he's a completely different player. Needs to improve elsewhere.

I'd probably put Smith up there with Root and Atkinson, not sure what more he could really have done for his first 6 Tests. Absolutely owns that spot now and resolved an issue.

 

[govinda indian fan]

Duckett-6 for failling to convert starts
Lawarance-2 not an oppener
Pope-5 need to be more consistent
Root-9 atg
Brook-6 need to be more patient
Strokes-4 mercurial
Jamie smith -9 found a gem world class in making
Wokes-7 decent
Atickinson-8 good prospect
Potts-7 will be useful in aus/sa
Stone-7 good comeback down in pace but was only bowler to look theartning in scond ings at oval
Wood-8 have to be used sparingly
Bashir-7 turning out to be good for future
My rating

 

[govinda indian fan]

In defence of Bashir, Sri Lanka didn't even pick a spinner for The Oval Test. Frankly, he shouldn't have been bowling then, they should've been in the dressing room. But I'm still not entirely convinced as to how he's become the number 1 in the spin ranks, especially as he can't bat.

I would also rank Brook lower. Averaging 36 against two attacks that aren't the strongest in Cricket is not great. His ceiling should be up there with Root, but he's not making the most of starts.

Duckett's such a tough one to weigh up. On one side he's generally getting us off to half decent starts and we don't have Root turning up at 10-2, but the other is his mode of dismissal. He's rarely actually got out. I wouldn't mind him being a bit more selfish when he gets to 80 and try and take his time getting to a ton, it would be more beneficial to the team at that point.

I'd rank Pope lower, just needs to be more consistent, and his captaincy (especially at The Oval) was dumb. 430 runs of which 160 odd came at his home ground where we know he's a completely different player. Needs to improve elsewhere.

I'd probably put Smith up there with Root and Atkinson, not sure what more he could really have done for his first 6 Tests. Absolutely owns that spot now and resolved an issue.

Bashir is good might not be at lyon level but decent spinner brook has weekness outside off stump and lacks Patience to grind it out in the middle while duckett is limited player pope should be more consistent and is not a captaincy material

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

In defence of Bashir, Sri Lanka didn't even pick a spinner for The Oval Test. Frankly, he shouldn't have been bowling then, they should've been in the dressing room. But I'm still not entirely convinced as to how he's become the number 1 in the spin ranks, especially as he can't bat.

I would also rank Brook lower. Averaging 36 against two attacks that aren't the strongest in Cricket is not great. His ceiling should be up there with Root, but he's not making the most of starts.

Duckett's such a tough one to weigh up. On one side he's generally getting us off to half decent starts and we don't have Root turning up at 10-2, but the other is his mode of dismissal. He's rarely actually got out. I wouldn't mind him being a bit more selfish when he gets to 80 and try and take his time getting to a ton, it would be more beneficial to the team at that point.

I'd rank Pope lower, just needs to be more consistent, and his captaincy (especially at The Oval) was dumb. 430 runs of which 160 odd came at his home ground where we know he's a completely different player. Needs to improve elsewhere.

I'd probably put Smith up there with Root and Atkinson, not sure what more he could really have done for his first 6 Tests. Absolutely owns that spot now and resolved an issue.

If Hartley could bat like Mo, then sure, he’d have a great shout, but he’s a #8 at best with the bat, so I’m not sure he should automatically get preferential treatment over Bashir, Bashir did do better in India after all (and Ahmed we should be treating with more caution as he’s a leggie). Bashir I think did alright in the circumstances, the West Indies batting was poor, but it’s hard to play against a very decent Sri Lanka batting lineup when they’re so used to spin (and on unfriendly surfaces too!). Agreed with Brook, some of his dismissals are forgivable, Jayasuriya did him like a kipper at Old Trafford, and I don’t blame him for hitting out when we were after quick runs at Lord’s, but the rest of the Sri Lanka series was very poor by his high standards. Duckett is pretty reliable at doing the most basic requirement of an opener in getting in, but that’s not to say that we couldn’t do with him sticking in a bit more sometimes (the first innings at the Oval was a frustrating one, but not nearly as frustrating as the first innings at Lord’s for me as we didn’t have the same platform and were immediately bang under pressure). Whether it’s because he simply can’t play defensively, or whether he doesn’t want to…I’m not quite sure! Pope is Pope, he is the most feast or famine cricketer out there, I suppose you’d like someone who does at least stick around reliably, but when he gets the runs he gets, does it matter how he gets them? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any doubts about him against the very best in the world, but without doing something funky with the lineup, he’s definitely the best we’ve got at the moment. We all knew about Root already, but Smith and Atkinson are the real breakthroughs of the summer, perhaps they both showed some signs of fatigue against Sri Lanka, but I wouldn’t expect Atkinson to play 6 Tests back to back, and I wouldn’t expect Smith to hold the gloves forever. Not sure Atkinson will ever replicate his fine 100 at Lord’s (Broad never did, and the mixture of the demands of being one of the main weapons in the bowling attack plus Varun Aaron eventually turned him into a bunny), but I don’t see why he can’t plunder useful runs from #8 in future. Woakes is ever reliable with the ball in English conditions, how much of a worry is it that his batting has declined? He used to be a viable option as a #7, but going off the last few years, that’s definitely a spot too high for him now. I think it’s interesting that Potts, Stone and Atkinson basically bowled at exactly the same pace on average in the second innings at Lord’s considering Potts used to be a proper dibbly-dobbler and Atkinson and Stone have been measured in the mid-90s, think Atkinson is the most likely to succeed abroad, followed by Stone, followed by Potts, but I am more encouraged by Potts than I was at the start of the summer (that’s if the extra oomph he’s found doesn’t put too much stress on his body). Quick word on Josh Hull, he obviously struggled under difficult circumstances in the second innings, but I thought he bowled nicely in the first innings, but for the love of God young man, work on your catching!

 

[kevinw]

Great Summer: Root, Smith, Atkinson, Woakes
Good Summer: Wood, Stokes
Average Summer: Pope, Duckett, Crawley, Stone, Bashir, Potts, Hull
Poor Summer: Brook, Lawrence

Honorary mention to Anderson, who was unlucky to be retired.

Despite a 5-1 win record, both opponents were weak, though SL played with far more heart than the WI, and took advantage of England's complacency. They've got a few decent players to build around now, so they could easily improve in future. In terms of performances, Root was almost flawless until the Oval and Smith looked like he'd played fifty Tests already. Atkinson tailed off a bit but had a phenomenal start to Test cricket. Woakes picked up the baton from Jimmy. Wood and Stokes were decent when they played. But....a lot of mediocre performances, particularly from the batters. Duckett and Brook have buckets of talent, but just found ludicrous ways to get out. Do they find batting tedious? Brook needs to knuckle down, in particular - Duckett you can somewhat excuse given his role in the side. Pope got a couple of luck-laden scores, but was frenetic otherwise as usual. Lawrence was thrown a hospital pass. The new bowlers did alright - Stone the best of the bunch. Hull got wickets but looked way out of his depth. A real kick in the teeth for the likes of Sam Cook, who've put the hard draft in and taken tons of wickets. Not a vintage Summer despite the results. I don't think many questions were answered overall.

 

[Hungry Llama]

Some averages for the 6 tests this summer

Root 10-1-666-143-74.00
Smith 10-0-487-111-48.70
Pope 10-0-430-154-43.00
Brook 10-0-377-109-37.70
Duckett 11-1-364-86-36.40

I wouldnt say Brook had a poor summer, but certainly very dissapointing against SL
From 13 home tests he averages a moderate 38 with 1x100.

Leading bowlers for England
Atkinson 34 at 20.18
Woakes 24 at 20.25
Wood 11 at 22.47
Bashir 15 at 36.66

After the Oval test Popes figures batting at no3 for England in tests
43-1-1798-205-42.81 6x100 7x50

Compare with Root at no3
59-3-2222-254-39.68 4x100 14x50