ianp1970 wrote:m@tt wrote:Not good. Not good at all.
Buttler - poor first innings but second innings was encouraging. Still, need centuries not occasional fifties.
Doubt we'll see many centuries at 7! Certainly no more than Bairstow could produce from there...
The old middle order seemed ok - to a certain extent! - with the top order not performing. The selector(s) answer appears to be: move the batting middle order up one (well Bairstow up 2, with Stokes staying put) and replace the bowling middle order with a non-keeping WK and a debutant bowler - albeit one who batted well in the second innings.
Root and Malan (still unproven - but we have bigger fires to deal with first!) both seem a place too high, Bairstow possibly two - if Stokes is cemented at 6 - and we don't have a competent opening pair! How about trying a third opener (Gubbins?) at 3 instead...
Oh for days of Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell
As an aside Matt, can your search engine calculate a percentage of total centuries scored by those from a no. 7?Even better if it can omit a non-WK/AR...
I do agree regarding Buttler and centuries - I posted the following on the G the other week:
I was thinking about this earlier. He will be batting at #7 which isn't really the position of a specialist batsman.
Bairstow has so far made 3 centuries from 35 innings at #7 (average 42, 38 runs per started innings).
Prior made 4 centuries from 82 innings at #7 (average 41, 34 runs per started innings).
It would be a little unrealistic to expect Buttler, or anyone for that matter, to be making frequent centuries from a position that will often see him batting with the tail, even if (unlike JB/MP) he doesn't have the additional responsibility of keeping wicket.
That said, centuries would definitely help!
So it will be tough for him. But as a specialist batsman rather than a keeper, a bit more will/should be expected of him.
Stats... of keepers batting at #7 to have scored 1000+ runs over past decade (so doesn't cover all of Prior and Dhoni's careers):
Q de Kock - 2.8 innings per 50+ and 8.3 innings per 100+
MJ Prior - 3.3 innings per 50+ and 23 innings per 100+
JM Bairstow - 3.9 innings per 50+ and 10.3 innings per 100+
Sarfraz Ahmed - 4.1 innings per 50+ and 17.7 innings per 100+
MS Dhoni - 4.2 innings per 50+ and 35.5 innings per 100+
BJ Haddin - 4.2 innings per 50+ and 23 innings per 100+
BJ Watling - 5.5 innings per 50+ and 13.8 innings per 100+
D Ramdin - 6.6 innings per 50+ and 19.7 innings per 100+
HAPW Jayawardene - 10.5 innings per 50+ and 21 innings per 100+
Buttler's 50-rate is middling at 4.5, obviously he doesn't have a 100-rate.
And agree that Root and Malan are a spot too high. If Malan fails in the second Test then we should consider bringing in an additional opener (Gubbins or Burns probably) and playing him at #3, because I don't see any specialist #3 options. That said, I'd like to see Clarke or Livingstone (depending on form) but that would involve Buttler dropping out.