At least the cricket is interesting

[mickd1961]

The problem with English cricket is partly the fact that it’s almost impossible to get out of the test side/squad.

James Whittaker puns his colours to certain “talents” and backs them to the hilt even with failure after failure.

Buttler for example, barely averages into the 30’s and supposedly “done” after bailing for this test......now due to return for the final test.....why?

It took three years to decide Sibley couldn’t bat.....I knew after two tests.

Malan......not good enough in his late 20’s so why bother now at 33-34?

Bairstow......smashes up the dressing room in temper after virtually every dismissal and then goes and does the same thing next time around......never learns.

Curran.....a trier but not quick enough and throws his wicket away.

Moeen......supreme talent but too lax these days with the bat.

Anderson.......great first innings bowler but seems to have lost it in second innings.

Billings......another of Whittaker’s pet projects.

He might be the “Brearley” we need though.

Astute and inspirational but perhaps lacking true international batting or keeping pedigree.

Root......stick to batting son, world class at that but not a leader.

[BaggieSingh]

Look at Hussain, I’d say average batsman but one of the best England captains ever, great at motivating, really worked well with Duncan Fletcher who arguably was a right pain in the arse and couldn’t have turned England around from such a terrible team to what they became, without Hussain and his ability to bridge the dressing room and coaching staff, before Hussain handed over to Vaughn, who didn’t have the personality to turn a team around like Hussain did, but sure as heck could make them believe they were able to win against anyone
Root is an excellent batsman but an absolute Wally of a leader

[Yarmbaggie]

The problem with English cricket is partly the fact that it’s almost impossible to get out of the test side/squad.

James Whittaker puns his colours to certain “talents” and backs them to the hilt even with failure after failure.

Buttler for example, barely averages into the 30’s and supposedly “done” after bailing for this test......now due to return for the final test.....why?

It took three years to decide Sibley couldn’t bat.....I knew after two tests.

Malan......not good enough in his late 20’s so why bother now at 33-34?

Bairstow......smashes up the dressing room in temper after virtually every dismissal and then goes and does the same thing next time around......never learns.

Curran.....a trier but not quick enough and throws his wicket away.

Moeen......supreme talent but too lax these days with the bat.

Anderson.......great first innings bowler but seems to have lost it in second innings.

Billings......another of Whittaker’s pet projects.

He might be the “Brearley” we need though.

Astute and inspirational but perhaps lacking true international batting or keeping pedigree.

Root......stick to batting son, world class at that but not a leader.

Have I missed something? When was James Whittaker resurrected into English cricket? I thought we got rid of him years ago and replaced him with Ed Smith and even since then there has been another change.

My understanding is that when Chris Silverwood was appointed as Head coach he was given, by Ashley Giles, the overall responsibility for picking the team with input from the captain and James Taylor (the cricketer not the singer-songwriter) in his role as Head scout.

[Barrera]

I thought too it was Silverwood who decides on all team selection .... reporting into Giles. We do have a tendency to be too loyal to players who are proven failures at Test level .... both batting and bowling. Think we are missing Stokes as well who has grit and backbone - always up for the fight.

[mickd1961]

Have I missed something? When was James Whittaker resurrected into English cricket? I thought we got rid of him years ago and replaced him with Ed Smith and even since then there has been another change.

My understanding is that when Chris Silverwood was appointed as Head coach he was given, by Ashley Giles, the overall responsibility for picking the team with input from the captain and James Taylor (the cricketer not the singer-songwriter) in his role as Head scout.

I stand corrected, I confused Whittaker with Ed Smith.

Regardless of who the head honcho is we have adopted a policy of deciding who is going to be good before they’ve actually done anything and then flogging the idea to death through ump**** failures and recalls.

One aspect we never seem to hunt for in our upcoming batsmen these days is patience.

I don’t think Hameed will be the next Boycott but he certainly doesn’t feel the need to go chasing the ball if he hasn’t scored for a while, as long as you can put away the bad ball there’s no real problem with just getting a single every 4 or 5 balls.

You’re never going to average 40+ in tests if you move around and twitch as much as Burns does.

Stillness at the crease is something I would look for and a low back lift.

[BaggieSingh]

Stillness I agree with but for backlift there are a few who have had high unconventional backlifts and done well
Sehwag, Lara, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Gooch spring to mind

But I think even all of them would have that stillness especially in the head is essential

[mickd1961]

Stillness I agree with but for backlift there are a few who have had high unconventional backlifts and done well
Sehwag, Lara, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Gooch spring to mind

But I think even all of them would have that stillness especially in the head is essential

Steve Smith is the only Tourette’s style batsman I’ve known of to be successful.

Burns is horrible to watch.

Watch the classic stance and stillness of Boycott.......still the best English opener of my lifetime.


This is a simple but superb critique of batting with Boycott and Ponting.

https://youtu.be/G9fufvTkdMM

[BaggieSingh]

Steve Smith is the only Tourette’s style batsman I’ve known of to be successful.

Burns is horrible to watch.

Watch the classic stance and stillness of Boycott.......still the best English opener of my lifetime.


This is a simple but superb critique of batting with Boycott and Ponting.

https://youtu.be/G9fufvTkdMM

Boycott really, tests have moved on since his time
It is possible to play more a more positive style and still accumulate runs
The Aussie openers of the 90s and 00s proved that (Slater, Hayden, Langer etc) and the likes of Sehwag and Gayle

I can appreciate a good technique but just blocking and letting balls go to the point that your strike rate is in the 20s is so damn boring, and Boycott falls well and truly in that category, even hero’s of my youth such as Gavaskar played in a different era just look how often tests were draws in those days, it was rare to get a result whereas in the last 20-30 years it’s much more common

I don’t want test cricket to be diluted but it’s definitely better to watch and still a challenge between ball and bat than the days of Boycott

[kettering_baggie]

Boycott was just one batsman, i.e. there was another one at the other end. Boycott could hold up his end (!!!) while the other one could score at a faster rate; how good would it have been in this series against India to have had an opener that could have carried his bat through the innings? Anyway, regardless of his scoring rate, Boycott had technique, sadly lacking in many of today’s batsmen. I blame limited over cricket, especially the dreadful 20/20.

[BaggieSingh]

I see your and Micks point
Technique has been sacrificed for entertainment
But I didn’t mind to a degree, especially the bad old days when you could see 6 bouncers and over, not massively entertaining

But I think we had a good balance in the 90s and early 00s with good attacking batsmen and some real cracking players with good solid technique

We do seem to have gone too far the other way

However other countries seem to be relishing it, India have a good mix of batsmen with good technique and flair, albeit no one with the sort of technique of a Dravid / Boycott type