He'll average >50 with the ball and <20 with the bat. It's a finger spinner's graveyard, and he doesn't like the short stuff. It's not a promising recipe.Be interesting to see how he bowls in Aus.
I'd almost be tempted to ditch Elgar and have Root alongside Cook as a makeshift opener making room for Bavuma. Definitely not a great series for opening batsmen.Team of the series (bat/bowl)
1. Dean Elgar (36)
2. Alastair Cook (33)
3. Hashim Amla (41)
4. Joe Root* (57)
5. Ben Stokes (37/43)
6. Johnny Bairstow + (41)
7. Moeen Ali (36/15)
8. Vernon Philander (44/23)
9. Toby Roland-Jones (21/22)
10. Morne Morkel (15/26)
11. James Anderson (6/14)
Could also pick Maharaj (13/30) given he took a lot more wickets than Philander or TRJ
And no, there were no other batsmen to average more than low 30s
Time to revisit those predictions:
- No
- Nope
- Lol
- Erm...
- Er...
Other statements of mine during the series include: 'Anderson is on his way out'. I don't know how I do it.
Giving a passing grade to someone who was dropped after one Test, was sent home and whose Test career could be done is something else.Pollock's are atrocious. Deluding himself.
And if my Aunty had balls etcIf Philander had no fitness issues he'd have got more runs and wickets than Mo
if?And if my Aunty had balls etc
Cricinfos new layout may have contributed to that, it's not that easy to navigate now so Pollock gets a pass on thatFactual inaccuracies are pretty poor too, considering how easy it is to look through people's scores during the series. Such laziness.
You could well be right about him ave over 50 with the ball but I wouldn't discount him scoring some decent runs.......his dislike for the short stuff is overplayed imo.He'll average >50 with the ball and <20 with the bat. It's a finger spinner's graveyard, and he doesn't like the short stuff. It's not a promising recipe.
Be happy if he proves me wrong as he's one of the most likeable players in world cricket ATM.
I'm not sure Ali dislikes the short ball. He is one of the worst hookers of the ball I've seen in international cricket. He'll always get some early in a series to see if they can get him hooking. S.A. put the bouncer to bed against him after the second test as he didn't play a hook shot until yesterday. When he ducks and sways he plays the short ball pretty well.You could well be right about him ave over 50 with the ball but I wouldn't discount him scoring some decent runs.......his dislike for the short stuff is overplayed imo.
I havent got high expectations for this Ashes tour but I am really looking forward to seeing how the Stokes, Bairstow and Ali trio go with the bat.