LOLDo they? Here's a look at the test squad and their first class stats.
Alastair Cook: 6625 runs at 45.06
Andrew Strauss: 10863 runs at 40.08
Ian Bell: 9157 runs at 43.81
Kevin Pietersen: 10172 runs at 51.37
Paul Collingwood: 9301 runs at 35.63
Andrew Flintoff: 8588 runs at 34.48
Matt Prior: 7473 runs at 39.53
Stuart Broad: 1092 runs at 25.39
Doesn't look "very poor" to me. Collingwood's the only player that doesn't have bloody good FC stats, and the only proper batsman to average under 40, but he's massively improved since the start of his FC career. Should probably try looking up the stats first Ben
Jacques Kallis 54.14 South Africa (1)
Kevin Pietersen 51.37 England (1)
Graeme Smith 50.06 South Africa (2)
Hashim Amla 46.23 South Africa (3)
Alastair Cook 45.06 England (2)
AB de Villiers 44.02 South Africa (4)
Ian Bell 43.81 England (3)
Neil McKenzie 43.68 South Africa (5)
Herschelle Gibbs 42.73 South Africa (6)
Ashwell Prince 42.29 South Africa (7)
Andrew Strauss 40.08 England (4)
He looks like a chucker to me.
LOL
If you take Pietersen out of that lineup then it does look quite ordinary because even New Zealand have players that averages above 45 in Sinclair & Fulton.
Code:Jacques Kallis 54.14 South Africa (1) Kevin Pietersen 51.37 England (1) Graeme Smith 50.06 South Africa (2) Hashim Amla 46.23 South Africa (3) Alastair Cook 45.06 England (2) AB de Villiers 44.02 South Africa (4) Ian Bell 43.81 England (3) Neil McKenzie 43.68 South Africa (5) Herschelle Gibbs 42.73 South Africa (6) Ashwell Prince 42.29 South Africa (7) Andrew Strauss 40.08 England (4)
Notice how Boucher is the only South African without a 40+ average? He'd probably have one aswell if he had played as much domestic cricket instead of International cricket like Prior has had.
And this is when all of the South African players have averages hovering around 50 if you deduct there Test statistics.
Considering England are one of the world class sides in the world then you have to say that their batsman have fairly weak first-class averages.
Sureshot said:We could do with getting AB early. I don't like him, he's too stubborn. Perfect for this situation.