Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

sussexpob wrote:Then you would assume wrongly, Rich . It was Alfie who made the point about pitches. I didnt attribute the quote to him because it is, like I said, just another of the 140 different critical reasons I am reading for this series failure. The best spinner in recent times in county cricket has had the fact he has a pitch that is seen as turning frequently held against him, with people saying anyone could do it on that wicket. So this isnt a reason. Its another lazy conclusion that sounds like a reason, but it doesnt pass the first b*llshit test. Like the "only express pace takes wickets in OZ" when reality suggests a guy bowling at 78-81mph actually took most wickets, or any other of the lazy journo crap post series loss.

The simple fact is, you cannot tell me the cupboard is bare when we picked an opening batsman and part time spinner to front the attack, with another identical role player being given a go, then another all rounder with a less than brilliant record, now a 20 year old who cant nail down a county spot in his own team and hasnt done anything of note to suggest he can cope at test cricket.

Its a bit like picking only strikers for England's football team who have scored 5 goals per season, and ignoring some slow target man who fired 33 goals in the season, but then saying "yeah, but this guy has pace and far more skill, etc"...... then when you dont score any goals in the group stage and get knocked out, bemoan the fact that the striker cupboard was too bare.

The cold, hard fact is, we have not once in the last 2 years, picked the best performer in England's county system. So the argument that we dont have anyone better is utterly invalid.

Average of 25 gets ignored for averages of 41, 45 plus and 38 .....

Durhamfootman wrote:Just seen the scorecard

how terribly predictable

alfie wrote:

Dr Cricket wrote:I actually like Crane but isn't it crazy that he has to learn how to bowl spin in a test match and not actually learn this in County cricket.

Well yes. But unless you can change the English climate quicker than waiting for Global Warming to do the job , you'd have to persuade the money men to get the CC back into the right part of the summer instead of giving way to the fast food of the limited over stuff... They've made changes designed to help the spinner ...the four day game instead of three ; and recently this change to the traditional toss at the start. But it really isn't quite as simple as we might wish. There are reasons why certain types of player tend to develop in some countries more than others ; and overcoming them is not something that can be easily addressed by artificial tinkering with the rules .

Adi wrote:3. Cook showing that his Bangladesh 200 was not his last of 200. It seems to me that he is capable of scoring more 200's.

Adi wrote:
What else could be the positives?

Arthur Crabtree wrote:

Adi wrote:
What else could be the positives?

Broad had a couple of scores with the bat.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:

Adi wrote:3. Cook showing that his Bangladesh 200 was not his last of 200. It seems to me that he is capable of scoring more 200's.

There's an unavoidable flipside though. 132 in the other eight innings. You can't separate out the big score, but it's best seen in its context.

Cook ended the series with better than his career average, but that feels a little misleading.