England vs West Indies 2nd test Headingley

[bigfluffylemon]

Moeen slaps it straight to the fielder. In the match situation, what a stupid shot.

England might get 250 from here. 300 might be enough given WI batting, but is probably out of reach unless Ben goes ballistic. Well done to the West Indies for a much better performance with the ball. Could be a close game.

[sussexpob]

Ben Stokes is a legend when you give him cats lives.

[mikesiva]

Roach secures his third wicket! Moeen out for 22....

[bigfluffylemon]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the 50s were statistically the golden age for batting, but the 2000s and 2010s have been the next best decades.
.

The 2000s were, I thought the 2010s were well down on that.

I think generally, the standard of Test cricket has dropped across the board in this century. Batting, bowling, fielding.

I didn't watch much test cricket prior to 2000, so hard for me to say, but with the inexorable rise of limited overs, it does seem likely.

[bigfluffylemon]

Should the risk of injuries mean England should field an extra bowler? I'm not against the extra bowler if it doesn't weaken the batting- which arguably it shouldn't. But if you have to pick one because of fear of injuries, then arguably the bowler in question needs to be rested. Anderson's recent overseas record shouldn't make his place automatic anyway.

Agree here, but my argument was that our bowlers/allrounders are better bats than any of the specialist batsmen being picked at the moment.

[Arthur Crabtree]

James Anderson away figures, last four years, from last year:

46.8
17 (inc. 3 Tests in WI)
37.7
41.5.

[backfootpunch]

As an addendum to the above post, Smith's 100 scoring rate is third only to Bradman (who predictably is in a league of his own with 36.5%) and Clive Walcott (20.2). With 20%, Smith is just ahead of Sutcliffe on 19% and Everton Weekes on 18.5. But he passes 50 almost exactly as often (40% of the time) as Joe does.

Wow.

Didn't Smith briefly have the second best ever average recently?

Not sure were going through a golden age currently, to put present day stats into perspective.

The pitches in Australia went through that period when they were the flattest i have ever seen in test history

Like the series against India in 2015 when Smith and kohli scored 4 hundreds and Warner 3

Only one bowler in that series averaged under 30 and that was Hazelwood who averaged 29.3. The lowest Indian bowling average was shami at 35 everyone else averaged above 45

[backfootpunch]

Should the risk of injuries mean England should field an extra bowler? I'm not against the extra bowler if it doesn't weaken the batting- which arguably it shouldn't. But if you have to pick one because of fear of injuries, then arguably the bowler in question needs to be rested. Anderson's recent overseas record shouldn't make his place automatic anyway.

Agree here, but my argument was that our bowlers/allrounders are better bats than any of the specialist batsmen being picked at the moment.

Agreed

stokes and moeen allow us the luxury of a 6th bowler

Ideally they would allow us to pick an extra batsmen but they are all bloody useless so why not take the strain off our aging opening bowlers

[Arthur Crabtree]

In fairness to the British press , there was a fair bit of rubbishing of West Indies floating around among the Experts of the Internet too
Possibly even some on this site ? I haven't checked.

West Indies won a Test in UAE recently, which England have never done.

But very disappointing from them. They may get the wickets on a good day. But they won't get the runs.

It wasn't me.

[bigfluffylemon]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the 50s were statistically the golden age for batting, but the 2000s and 2010s have been the next best decades.
.

The 2000s were, I thought the 2010s were well down on that.

I think generally, the standard of Test cricket has dropped across the board in this century. Batting, bowling, fielding.

I was wrong, it was the 40s, not the 50s, and given how little cricket was played in the 40s, that average is likely to be hauled up significantly by Bradman (out of just 45 tests played in that decade, Bradman played in 15 of them).

2000s are next, then 2010s.
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ;type=team

[Arthur Crabtree]

Though not much in it unless you go way back.

[greyblazer]

I will be surprised if Stokes doesn't end his career with an average of over 40.

[andy]

100 for Stokes

[backfootpunch]

I will be surprised if Stokes doesn't end his career with an average of over 40.

We certainly need his batting more than his bowling at the moment

[andy]

His batting really is maturing, good to see...if only he could become more consistent with ball too, then he will be high class