Arthur Crabtree wrote:Freddie batted at seven behind Stewart in his early years, and later on had Prior after him. In between, he actually averaged about 44. I think he would have been a number six, had he not been injured all the time and unable to spend time in the middle working on his batting.
alfie wrote:No problem Stokes batting at six ...as long as (a) Bairstow bats seven with the gloves ..and (b)The top five bats are fit for purpose.
Getting the latter bit right seems to be the problem. Not helped by "wildcard" selections like Buttler at seven...
At least we see another (rather young) new man in Pope next up : let us hope he can put down a marker .
sussexpob wrote:Arthur Crabtree wrote:Freddie batted at seven behind Stewart in his early years, and later on had Prior after him. In between, he actually averaged about 44. I think he would have been a number six, had he not been injured all the time and unable to spend time in the middle working on his batting.
Batted six for 66 innings, averaged 32. This is the most innings by position. It worked because, as you say, he had prior behind at times, but more importantly imo he had a stable and quality top 5 ahead of him.
He wouldn't work now. You cant have one exceptional player in the top 5 justifying his slot, the next best only really justifying it on relativity to others poor performance.
We need batting power.If that means sacrificing a bowler for a 4 man attack then do it.
Stokes is fine in a team batting at 7 where a keeper is good enough like Gilchrist, or 8 when a keeper ain't the best. At 6 with a paper thin batting line up, it's quite frankly madness
KipperJohn wrote:If England bat first, I wonder if Kohli will be tempted to give Ashwin a few overs with the new ball against Cook and Jennings?
KipperJohn wrote:If England bat first, I wonder if Kohli will be tempted to give Ashwin a few overs with the new ball against Cook and Jennings?
alfie wrote:No problem Stokes batting at six ...as long as (a) Bairstow bats seven with the gloves ..and (b)The top five bats are fit for purpose.
Getting the latter bit right seems to be the problem. Not helped by "wildcard" selections like Buttler at seven...
At least we see another (rather young) new man in Pope next up : let us hope he can put down a marker .
GG - Amir Sohail wrote:Play them both and 'rest' Rashid....
I'd ideally have Burns in for Buttler too, unless Butler takes the gloves and Bairstow moves up. Feel it is harsh on Pope to debut at 4. Few failures and you know everyone will be saying he's been thrown in too soon....
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