Countdown to Twenty Three Hundreds.
Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 7:50 pm
Supporters of other countries can snigger into their Wisdens. England's batters are staring down their country's record for most Test hundreds, like cold eyed bandits in a Mexican stand-off. Yes, twenty two hundreds.
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting
Currently the record is shared by Cowdrey, Boycott, and, after all these years, Wally Hammond. Lining up at their backs are:
Pietersen, 20.
Cook, 19.
Strauss, 19.
Bell, 16.
OK, Bell aint gonna do it yet, but there is a decent chance of it being surpassed his summer by someone. Remarkable that so many should be hunting this down at the same time. Nothing like this has happened in the England team since Hammond set the record. In twenty years time, when all the KP bashing and campaigns to exclude Strauss have faded away, this will be remembered as a golden era of England batting.
And that's before we get to Trott's (seven) hundreds, made at a much better innings per hundred rate than all the others.
Some will say this is a result of a poverty in international bowling right now. Some will point to all the little factors that have led to the nudging upwards of averages in the last decade or so.
But not me! Determined as ever to recognise when things are going right, I want to draw attention to the determination, skill and hard work that has got them so close to a legend like Wally Hammond, and along with Trott, suspect that a similar legacy awaits them too.
For what it's worth, I think KP will get there first, against South Africa. Will he go for the whole fist pumping, doubled up, cup final celebration? Or will he decide it will annoy the tourists more to tip his hat, and point his bat at infinity?
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting
Currently the record is shared by Cowdrey, Boycott, and, after all these years, Wally Hammond. Lining up at their backs are:
Pietersen, 20.
Cook, 19.
Strauss, 19.
Bell, 16.
OK, Bell aint gonna do it yet, but there is a decent chance of it being surpassed his summer by someone. Remarkable that so many should be hunting this down at the same time. Nothing like this has happened in the England team since Hammond set the record. In twenty years time, when all the KP bashing and campaigns to exclude Strauss have faded away, this will be remembered as a golden era of England batting.
And that's before we get to Trott's (seven) hundreds, made at a much better innings per hundred rate than all the others.
Some will say this is a result of a poverty in international bowling right now. Some will point to all the little factors that have led to the nudging upwards of averages in the last decade or so.
But not me! Determined as ever to recognise when things are going right, I want to draw attention to the determination, skill and hard work that has got them so close to a legend like Wally Hammond, and along with Trott, suspect that a similar legacy awaits them too.
For what it's worth, I think KP will get there first, against South Africa. Will he go for the whole fist pumping, doubled up, cup final celebration? Or will he decide it will annoy the tourists more to tip his hat, and point his bat at infinity?