Strauss resigns as England captain - Cook named as successor

[MUFC1987]

Surprised to see him go, but it makes sense. He can't buy a run at the moment and he's getting on a bit too. There's no need for him to get dropped and declare that he'll 'battle to get back in the side' only to never make it. The numbers have almost coincided making it the perfect time to retire, with 100 Tests and 50 as Captain. No need to struggle through the winter and then have a lot of pressure on him. He'll go down as a great advert for English cricket and rightfully so.

Don't see how this has got anything to do with KP though. The decision wasn't because of him and the problem is bigger than KP v Strauss, so it won't make a difference with KP coming back either. Here's hoping we give someone a good chance over the winter to replace Strauss. Hopefully, fitness pending, Nick Compton gets a go. The likes of Root are just too raw for me at the moment.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

who next opens?

 

[cricket_icon]

Good question. I'm guessing Trott could easily go up a slot.

 

[Epic]

Does he have much experience as an opener?

 

[puddleduck]

He's basically been doing it for the last 2 years

MUFC is spot on, why on earth do people keep trying to make this about KP? He's quite clearly not been good enough as a batsman for a while and a tour of the subcontinent against his major weakeness is hardly likely to boost him. If anything he was edging closer and closer to finishing with a career average below 40.

Let me end though by saying thanks Straussy. You've been a great servant to English cricket, and a good player. I'm pretty sure he'll be involved in cricket for a while, either as part of the ex England captains commentator fraternity at Sky, or potentially as a coach.

 

[Sureshot]

Going back to the earlier points, I don't see why he'd want to go back and play county cricket. Will he ever get the same buzz as he did with England, has he got anything else to achieve that would compare with what he's done? The man has barely seen his family and young kids for the last few years, let him have a life and I hope we will see him in commentary in the not too distant future, think he'd be perfect for it.

Whilst I've criticised his batting a lot of late, he's been an exceptional leader and has been one of the best man-managers in the game (even with the KP saga). I doff my hat to you, Straussy.

Got to agree with MUFC, Compton for the gig. Lions, good season, etc. Root is a talent, but he needs more cricket under his belt.

 

[VC the slogger]

Sad that Strauss has retired from all cricket.. He could've played another 2-3 years of county cricket. Anyway he had a very good career playing 100 Tests, 21 hundreds, captaining England to Ashes victories in 2009 & 2010-11 and also taking them to the No 1 ranking in Tests. He was also a good slip fielder so England will miss him there. Will miss watching some of the brilliant pulls and cuts he played.
Joe Root could be an ideal replacement for Straussy as he's been in terrific form this season scoring 668 runs in 12 matches @55.66 which is phenomenal due to the tough batting conditions since the start of the season in April. I also think Nick Compton who's already got over 1000 runs in 10 matches should be given a chance sometime soon but I'm not sure whether he can open or not. Or maybe one of Trott/Bell could be sent opening and Compton can find a place in the middle-order then.

 

[War]

Solid but unspectacular player that was a good leader of men for England since 2009. When i look a this record i'm always surprised that he got 21 test hundreds, they seem to have sneaked up on you without you even realising ha.

His captaincy also was solid but not very inventive, but most of the time it wasn't exposed.

When i think back of the best of Strauss as a batsman it would have to be in test his batting in south africa 2004/05 and in ODI's - his 158 vs India in the 2011 world cup.

 

[puddleduck]

I wouldn't say they snuck up considering he's got about 1 ton in around 2 years

 

[icyman]

The thing about Strauss is that he was highly under-rated. There hasn't been a great response or shock to his retirement. The kind that we got when KP announced it was far superior than this one.
At 35, it is inevitable and the signs were there when he quit ODIs last year. Yet, somehow Andrew Strauss has never seemed to enjoy the fan following that others, or for that matter any other English captain, Hussain included.

This however does leave the English with an opening conundrum. But, as we have seen over the last 2 years or so, they have planned for every eventuality. I do see Bell as a short term opener. Not too sure about Compton being drafted in immediately. Another option could be to have Matt Prior at the top-or is it too risky a move ?

 

[Collingwood50]

I don't see the harm in sticking in Root now. So what if he has a tough few years to start. He'll only be 24-25 and will have 10 years or so to make his mark!

 

[lenny the pole]

Are there any good 'English' openers in County Cricket at the moment?
I suspect one of the reasons why Strauss and Cook had remained as an unchanged partnership at the top for so long is because there was no viable alternative coming through.

Promoting Trott or Bell to open in my view is a mistake in the long term. I think having a specialist opener is always the best answer. Having said that Australia's use of Shane Watson worked well, I accept he was never a classic traditional opener and didn't make centuries as an opener but give him credit he did score runs and make a very useful stop gap and was a very useful 5th bowler. Might this be a possible answer for England, with Cook as the stable accumulator at one end, get someone aggressive in at the other to attack the opening bowlers?

 

[vorgaphe]

KP to return as opener?

 

[War]

Are there any good 'English' openers in County Cricket at the moment?
I suspect one of the reasons why Strauss and Cook had remained as an unchanged partnership at the top for so long is because there was no viable alternative coming through.

Promoting Trott or Bell to open in my view is a mistake in the long term. I think having a specialist opener is always the best answer. Having said that Australia's use of Shane Watson worked well, I accept he was never a classic traditional opener and didn't make centuries as an opener but give him credit he did score runs and make a very useful stop gap and was a very useful 5th bowler. Might this be a possible answer for England, with Cook as the stable accumulator at one end, get someone aggressive in at the other to attack the opening bowlers?

I'd say Nick Compton and Michael Carberry are the best two natural openers who can come in.

 

[barmyarmy]

Carberry is 31 and Compton 29 (and also bats 3 for Somerset). Root is the player for the future.