New Zealand in England May - June 2013

[Ahmad94]

Root seems such a promising concept for such a young player. Hope he keeps this going.

 

[MUFC1987]

Yeah, I think he'll be around for a long time. But now he's got a century down the order, I don't get why everyone wants him to open. Leave him where he's doing well.

 

[Haarithan]

Joe Root looking more and more the real deal. First international cricketer to amass 1000 FC runs this calendar year (second overall).

Root's last 6 FC innings: 104, 71, 40, 179, 236, 182.
5 matches, 812 runs @ 135.55, 4 100's, 1 50.

 

[Owzat]

Root's played well and does look the part. Here's hoping he's put those low scores behind him.

Good knock by Root, and indeed Bairstow. I wonder if Taylor's brief career isn't now over.

Root : 10 inns, 396 runs @ 44.00 (HS 104, runs/inns 39.60)
Compton : 16 inns, 472 runs @ 33.71 (HS 117, runs/inns 29.50)
Bairstow : 12 inns, 315 runs @ 28.64 (HS 95, runs/inns 26.25)
Taylor : 3 inns, 48 runs @ 16.00 (HS 34, runs/inns 16.00)


vs IND : Compton 34.67, Root 93.00, Bairstow 9.00, Taylor n/a
vs SAF : Compton n/a, Root n/a, Bairstow 74.50, Taylor 16.00
vs NZL : Compton 33.00, Root 37.88, Bairstow 23.80, Taylor n/a
vs WIN : Compton n/a, Root n/a, Bairstow 12.67, Taylor n/a

Compare their 1st three innings and you have Compton 75 runs, Root 97 runs, Bairstow 20 runs and Taylor 48 runs. Compton has two hundreds to Root's one and none for the other two, both of his against New Zealand. While the kiwis are making a decent fist of both series, they aren't the greatest side around and while Compton is struggling with the bat this series, averaging just 10.67, he does average 34.67 against India and 46.40 in New Zealand.

I still think Root may have the better future :

Scores 0-9 : Compton 6/16, Root 2/10, Bairstow 6/12, Taylor 1/3
Scores 10-29 : Compton 4/16, Root 3/10, Bairstow 2/12, Taylor 1/3
Scores 30+ : Compton 6/16, Root 5/10, Bairstow 4/12, Taylor 1/3

Root has the lowest percentage of single figure scores, including ducks of which all but Taylor (none) have one each, and the highest percentage of scores of 30+ . Perhaps the worrying statistic for Compton is 81% of his scores are under 40, when he gets in he isn't often going on. Bairstow's comparable figure is 66.67%, Root's 50% and Taylor hasn't yet passed 40.

Considering 50% of Compton's innings, 75% of Bairstow's, and 80% of Root's have come against the kiwis or windies, you would hope or EXPECT a few more scores. Conversions to 100 having reached 30 are 2/6 for Compton, 1/5 for Root, 0/4 for Bairstow and 0/1 for Taylor.



Root will probably start in the Ashes, Bairstow play some part but not sure if Compton may be left out.

As for this Test, as I suggested in my previous post it was a bold move by Cook to bat. I thought the captain winning the toss might be tempted to bowl, but I think batting first was the bold and turns out best move. I think the kiwis would have either had to make a big total batting 1st, or bowled us out for 250-300, to be in box seat in a four dayer. As it is now they'll struggle to post an imposing enough total, I mean we're looking at maybe having to bat only once or skittle us cheaply 2nd innings, neither looking that likely.

Looks like a decent pitch for batting, at 67/3 at lunch we looked a bit shaky, the kind of score I thought the fielding captain might have been hoping for at some stage during the morning. Would have been interesting to see how the kiwis coped at 67/3, we may still find out. No great surprise Bell didn't go on, and indeed a duck for Broad. He's a lousy bowler, batsmen, lousy cricketer, so expect a 5wi or two this match



One thing I wanted to broach was the use of reviews. The kiwis were reluctant to use reviews after losing one, a thin tickle on the bat which I'm not sure if it would have been given scores one for incorrect decisions which I thought was what we wanted eradicated. Aren't the kiwis now out of reviews? It means any incorrect decisions against them will go uncorrected, I think the use of reviews is great but should be for all decisions not just tactical by the captain/batsman.

I know the captains can use it unwisely with LBWs and other decisions that aren't glaring errors, but frankly what's the point in having "technology" and not using it (all the time) ?!?!? Football will venture into that soon with "goalline technology", tackling a piddling amount of incorrect decisions if you consider there's about a 50/50 chance the ball crossing the line decision will have been called correctly anyway. Countless penalty, offside goal/chance and crucial red card decisions will go unchecked. "Score"

 

[Lee1981]

Compton is not good enough for this England team, time to start finding a new opener

 

[MUFC1987]

Compton is not good enough? Despite scoring two centuries in what, his last 4 and a half Tests? Give the guy a break. I don't see how Bairstow is suddenly so much better than him and deserves his spot.

Compton is batting at the toughest spot in any side, opener and is doing fine. He's not going to score big runs every time he goes out to bat, because nobody does.

 

[vaibhavtewatia]

Pretty good counter-attack by NZ after their middle order was rattled by Swann.
Steven Finn, the last person I though would take wickets at Leeds, was expecting some magical stuff by Anderson today!!
Finn, I think is now developing that mature approach of 'not only relying on speed'. He's actually faring very well as he's playing more no. of matches. Good for Brits!!
Williamson, couldn't really make a mark in this innings, one of the batsmen everyone is looking forward to, the other one being Root.




And there goes another wicket.

 

[Haarithan]

Did Cook just opt for a heavy roller? :\

Btw great to see Swann at his very best again.

 

[Lee1981]

Another failure by Compton

 

[Owzat]

Compton is not good enough? Despite scoring two centuries in what, his last 4 and a half Tests? Give the guy a break. I don't see how Bairstow is suddenly so much better than him and deserves his spot.

Compton is batting at the toughest spot in any side, opener and is doing fine. He's not going to score big runs every time he goes out to bat, because nobody does.

I suspect he won't be opening in the Ashes, maybe at some point but the selectors will see his last six knocks and they may well trump his two hundreds - 13, 2, 16, 15, 1 and 7. He'll need to work hard and quickly, he's no spring chicken.



Quite an odd day for England, a lot went right for them and not least reviews where they got an LBW when they were probably more interested in the bat-pad catch. I said it would be interesting if the kiwis were 67/3 and how they'd cope, they were 72/3 and didn't.

Cook boldly opted to bat, it has paid off, then rightly opted not to enforce the follow on. Not because we don't need to win the match to win the series, but because there should be enough time to set 400+ and bowl the kiwis out.

So England need to push on this morning, they may already have enough runs on the board to win, but I'd bat on until about halfway into the afternoon session or 430-450 ahead, whichever comes first. England may feel the need to "secure" the series, but winning chases of 400 are rarer than rare, and there may come a match where we need to win and don't because we are overcautious, and that can be habitual.

I'd love to know how often a captain has gone on to set a target well over 400 and run out of time as the opposition are nearly all out for 300 or thereabouts.

 

[Lee1981]

2 hundreds do not change the fact he is not good enough for us.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

2 hundreds do not change the fact he is not good enough for us.

Who would you have at the top of the order then?

 

[barmyarmy]

Compton's problem isn't really that he's not good enough; it's his age.
If you're already 29 you'd better be scoring big runs regularly to stay in the team in my opinion. Root is clearly the long-term prospect.

 

[Ahmad94]

Pretty upsetting to think, that Kane Williamson has a better average as a bowler than Tim Southee.

 

[Lee1981]

Who would you have at the top of the order then?

Root