***Official*** West Indies in England

[oitoitoi]

*sighs*

Anyway, very decent performance from England again, Prior, Shah, Bopara all batted well, all would be worthy of MotM. The bowlers have chipped in with wickets at the right time, it has been a trifle dull. Yet I'm sure if other teams had done this they would have been "awesome". whilst England are doing it, it must be the oppo being crap.

Has been deathly dull for the last couple of hours, but one-sided contests generally are.

They were the performances that were frankly the bare minimum against this bowling and fielding. Frankly in the face of such opposition the tops sides would have have really mauled the Windies, think about it, you can't really bowl that much worse than they did, these are the games where you should see 350+ these days. Bopara definitely didn't do enough for a MOTM. Prior will probably get it, but if Taylor hits some more runs he might have a shout. None of the English bats really took it to the windies, they just took what was on offer (which in fairness was more than enough to win comforably). For example, Prior should really have kicked on and hit a biggish hundred being so well set. I'm being harsh but you don't improve by being self satisfied, and England definitely have to improve if they want to compete with the big boys.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Well, aggressive opening batsmen that hit over the top and take on the fielding restrictions, playing a more risky game with a high strike rate, allowing for that slightly lower average. There aren't many genuinely good ODi players that didn't play in this mould, with averages of 35 and under.

So has Shane Watson gone from a mediocre ODI batsman (which you previously said, despite the fact that he spent the majority of his career at 6-7) to a world-class ODI batsman yet (he averages 39 now)?

 

[wfdu_ben91]

I don't see what's wrong with the use of the word mediocre. None of these players were greats of the generation, and didn't produce the goods regularly enough to become the top batsmen, so therefore in my eyes they're pretty mediocre. You look at the list of the 10-15 best ODI batsmen of this era, and I'd bet that most of them average comfortably over 35, or have a top strike rate. You won't get many with an average of 35 or under and a lowish strike rate that are regarded as top class ODi players.

Adam Gilchrist? Andy Flower?

Again, in ODI cricket?

And if Flower was "the best", you would think he would score more than 4 ODI centuries in over 200 games...

Steve Waugh was named in Australia's best ever ODI team as a batsman and he averaged 32 in 320 odd games and only scored 3 centuries in his entire career. King Pietersen would have a heartattack if he saw this and he would most likely label this selection as ludacruis and call Waugh a mediocre batsman before finishing the sentence with "tbh".

 

[King Pietersen]

So has Shane Watson gone from a mediocre ODI batsman (which you previously said, despite the fact that he spent the majority of his career at 6-7) to a world-class ODI batsman yet (he averages 39 now)?

The case of Shane Watson was mainly slagging him off to annoy you, as I know how defensive you get when Australian cricketers aren't held in the highest regard. I now rate Watson quite highly, I don't think he's a top class ODi batsman yet, but if he continues to improve and make big runs then he soon will be.

Try reading Ben mate, I said that an average of around 35 + a high strike rate makes the batsman a top player. Gilchrist was a top ODi player. I don't personally believe that Andy Flower was one of the greats of ODi cricket, but I didn't see alot of him so could be wrong, I'm happy to be proven wrong. As for Steve Waugh, in the final 5 years of his career he had a decent record, averaging 35 with a strike rate of 80, I'd consider him just above mediocre due to his strike rate. Tbh.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

The case of Shane Watson was mainly slagging him off to annoy you, as I know how defensive you get when Australian cricketers aren't held in the highest regard. I now rate Watson quite highly, I don't think he's a top class ODi batsman yet, but if he continues to improve and make big runs then he soon will be.

Just because his a better batsman then Owais Shah.

 

[oitoitoi]

Again, in ODI cricket?

And if Flower was "the best", you would think he would score more than 4 ODI centuries in over 200 games...

Yeah I reckon right now Younis is one of the best no. 3's going around in OD cricket, very reliable, goes at a good rate, can perform anywhere against all types of bowling, does well under pressure, can finish. Bear in mind Flower batted at no.4 most of the time, pretty tough to hit hundreds from there, also considering how weak his side was he was often left by himself. IMO he was right up there with Bevan at rotating the strike in the middle overs, especially against the spinners.

 

[TT Boy]

Yeah I reckon right now Younis is one of the best no. 3's going around in OD cricket, very reliable, goes at a good rate, can perform anywhere against all types of bowling, does well under pressure, can finish. Bear in mind he batted at no.4 most of the time, pretty tough to hit hundreds from there, also considering how weak his side was he was often left by himself. IMO he was right up there with Bevan at rotating the strike in the middle overs, especially against the spinners.

This year...

8 games, average 12, highest score 28

 

[oitoitoi]

Princesses figure have been somewhat ruined, what a shame

I reckon Watson is best used as a lower order hitter, around 5 or 6, unfortunately for him he'll probably have to open instead where he'll be a bit hit and miss.

 

[superkingdave]

Not sure how much England can take out of this series. Had the opportunity to see what Morgan can do but didn't give him a chance. We will probably get some talk about Prior doing well up the order, but i'm not sure that is anything positive for the future. Haven't really solved any problems (bowling at the depth, scoring quickly in the first 15 overs against half decent bowling). England are pretty good frontrunners in ODI cricket, just not much good when the opposition puts up a fight.

On the other hand, On paper West Indies have the 3 best ODI players taking part in this series (Chanders, Gayle and Bravo) as well as 2 of the best 4 bowlers (Taylor, Bravo). All things considered, especially with England missing Flintoff and Pietersen, West Indies should have expected to win this series. Obviously you can't predict attitudes, and West Indies' has been disinterested at best, which is why England can't take much out of the series apart from the win, maybe a bit of confidence.

 

[oitoitoi]

This year...

8 games, average 12, highest score 28

Last 3 years...

Cricinfo Statsguru - Younis Khan - One-Day Internationals - All-round analysis

 

[superkingdave]

Grant always a better ODI batsman that Andy tbh

 

[stumpski]

Anderson being brought back for the number 11 ...

Is this really necessary? Enough 'needle' already.

 

[Smith]

Thanks to Runapoo Morton and Chandercrawl, WI lost a match they could have give a shot at.

 

[oitoitoi]

tell you what benn's putting the top order to shame

 

[stumpski]

Certainly making a case for moving above Taylor, if he can keep his place that is.

 

[Goughy]

Just got home so I have not read the thread. Great player and all, but WTF was Chanderpaul doing? Pointless and gutless.

 

[rivera213]

I hope the Edgbaston wicket is faster than it was today for the Ashes test, otherwise we're going to have 1 boring draw.

For today's game, I think Anderson's 3/58 flatter him a bit. I'm a fan of his, but some of his deliveries to the RH batsmen would've been put away for 4 pretty easily by the likes of Ponting and Clarke.

 

[Goughy]

Flower averaged 31.68 runs a game. That is better than mediocre and short of great.

 

[King Pietersen]

Who got MOTM and MOTS? I left the room, came back and some Champions League preview thing was on. Did they show the presentation?

 

[oitoitoi]

Prior MOTM, Broad MOTS, though MOTS in a 2 match series is a bit of a joke