backfootpunch wrote:alfie wrote:Root rather got himself out then...
If you want pressure for the middle order , budget , you have it
He always gets himself out
He should have a better record than Steve Smith but he just isn't ruthless enough
Constantly gets out between 50-80 playing a sloppy shot
It's like the team being 40-3 forces him to focus, then once we recover to a decent score he loses concentration and gets out
While I agree with the frustration of Root not converting his 50s, at least he gets 50s - record numbers of them. It seems to be a bit churlish to be criticising the man who is probably our best batsman since Barrington, and goes past 50 in 40% of his innings (only Hobbs, Barrington and Sutcliffe have a better rate of 50+ scores per innings than Joe for England).
I just plugged the numbers into a spreadsheet out of curiosity, and while his hundred scoring rate of 12% is on the low side for someone of his average, it has only been bettered in recent times for England by KP (12.7%). You have to go back to the pre-1970 greats to find anyone who scored 100s more than 13% of the time they came to the crease for England (Barrington, Sutcliffe, Hobbs, Hutton, Hammond, and a couple of others who didn't play all that many times). Since 1970 only Denis Amiss and KP have a rate of 100 scoring that is better than Joe's. So I think it is more perception than reality - one feels as though he could be even better than the already special batsman he undoubtedly is, but he scores plenty of 100s by any reasonable standard.
If only we had this problem with the rest of our batting line-up.