England in Australia

[puddleduck]

Is it me or is Monty's batting not that bad? His scores have been:

Not too bad for someone dubbed a walking wicket.

His batting is actually a lot better than it was made out to be. It's not on a par with Giles, not quite as a dogged as Hoggard, and not as big hitting as Harmison, but if he works at it like McGrath has done over his career, he could feasibly end up better than Hoggy and Harmison and bat at 9.

 

[manee]

Its only that stupid lunge defense outside offstump that he needs to work on.

 

[evertonfan]

When players like Atherton and Gower say that Monty is a good batsmen then what right do we have to disagree?

 

[manee]

Absolutely none!

 

[plympilgrim]

theorectically that is 51 off 3 innings which is an average of 17!!

 

[rickyp]

When players like Atherton and Gower say that Monty is a good batsmen then what right do we have to disagree?

interesting you should say that, i thought i heard about it somewhere but really wasnt sure, care to link/quote me please?

 

[puddleduck]

When players like Atherton and Gower say that Monty is a good batsmen then what right do we have to disagree?

The same right that allows us to disagree with Duncan Fletcher and Andrew Flintoff! Also the same right that allows me to say that almost without doubt anything Botham says will be a load of rubbish

 

[evertonfan]

Well there's no definitive quote, it's just what they've been saying on Sky commentary throughout the summer.

 

[Sureshot]

interesting you should say that, i thought i heard about it somewhere but really wasnt sure, care to link/quote me please?

There might not be many, if it's anywhere it'll be on the skysports website but it was very often said throughout our summer in 2006.

 

[Gunner786]

this match just proved that england should go in with a bowling line up of

mahmood
hoggard
anderson
panesar

but we all know thick dunc wont drop giles

 

[Sureshot]

Harmison or Anderson though. Harmisons action was so much better in the last test which in my mind makes me think he now can be a match winner, Jimmy did well in this tour game but poorly in the 2 tests. Saj gives us depth in batting (as replacement for Giles as we seem so intent on batting to 8) and a very strong arm.

 

[evertonfan]

It might seem a bit vein to say this but Mahmood looks a bit more intimidating. Mahmood is built like a tank and seeing him running in might be a bit more intimidating than seeing the smaller, slimmer frame of Anderson. There's a good 5mph+ difference as well.

 

[Sureshot]

Saj (don't laugh at this) has also shown more consistency, even in a good spell Jimmy will give away 4 balls whereas in a good spell Saj is always outside off stump, plus even with Saj I feel I know more where the ball is going, plus he can use a bouncer whereas Jimmy can't get it above the chest.

 

[evertonfan]

I'll agree with that. Anderson was never really capable of bowling tight spells but Mahmood has improved in that aspect. The way he's transformed his game from the Sri Lanka drubbings to what he is now is nothing short of remarkable. I'm still very much an Anderson fan and think he is still a better bowler than Saj, but maybe this series was too early for him. If Jones isn't back for the summer then maybe that will be the time for the old Anderson to re-surface.

 

[Sureshot]

It was always going to be hard ask for Jimmy to come into this series after a career threatening injury.