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The Cricket Thread


McFaul
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Duckett should get more chances batting in England but, following on from what has been said previously, it should be at something like no. 5.

Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root, Duckett, Stokes, Bairstow, Mooen... has the potential to be a fantastic test batting line-up.

Ballance shouldn't get anywhere near the side though.

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Interesting stats re: Root which I think illustrates where he's at his best. He's scored 11 centuries playing for England in tests and over half (6) have come at number 5. He also averages over 70 batting there. He's also scored much more runs there than in any other position and scored well over a third of his total runs there (1755 out of 4402). That's from 28 test innings (out of total of 94).

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his average is pretty tasty wherever he bats. it's no big surprise that he's scored a shitload of runs at 5, when the ball is generally older. would you play him there though?

 

edit - his strike rate is much better at 5 too, which is another reflection of the role. it's generally much harder to score runs near the top of the order when you have to see off the new ball. the one surprise is him not doing so well when he's batted at 6.

Edited by Dr Gloom
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His average is much better at 5 than in any other position though. All his other stats are much better there too. I think he's a middle order batsman who should be at 4 or 5. 4 is his next best position statistically. I think moving him about has been brought about by necessity but he's our best batsman and, ideally, he would bat where he's most comfortable.

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i'm not sure we have the luxury of enough quality batsmen to move him down to 5. ideally you'd play him there but if you do,  suddenly we have a problem at 3 and 4. and he could end up coming in with us 40-4 or something and having to save the day, as he has had to frequently last summer. he may as well have been playing at 3 anyway then, given how often he came in in that situation - and made runs. 

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it wouldn't surprise me if he goes on to average above 50 playing at 3, if he stays there. he's not far off it now. 

 

his average at 5 is obscene. i'd be surprised if he were to keep that up even he did drop back down the order. 

Edited by Dr Gloom
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Obviously you have to have a balance of what's best for Root and what's best for the team.  Given the other batsmen we have down the order (Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Butler), I think five would be too low for him.  Yes it might mean that he can score freely but we don't have the quality or experience above him cope.  Four would seem to be the ideal position for him as he can score pretty quickly and consistently if he comes in when we're in a decent position or he can hang around and recover our position if we aren't.

 

The problem has been since Strauss's retirement and Trott and then Bell losing their form, he's had to take on a bit too much for the team.  If Hameed can continue like he's started, and from what we've seen so far, there doesn't look like any reason why he can't, then that takes away one of the issues above him.  Jennings or Duckett could offer a long term answer to the number three issue allowing Root to move back to four.  That could be a very well balanced top order (left hand right hand) and really allow the middle order to take the game away from the opposition.  Of course until we see Jennings play or Duckett get over his technical issue, it's all hypothetical.

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Moeen and Pat Jennings both sweeping the ball beautifully. Good to see a couple of batting prospects at the top of the order emerge - something positive to take from this series.

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You don't want to jinx Jennings but it's hard not to be very impressed with how he's played this morning.  Didn't let a couple of early close calls go against him, he's looked assured in defence and shown he has a number of shots.  Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root could be the answer to our top order problems if these two can continue the way they have started.

 

Jennings conversion rate this year is amazing.  He got to 50 nine times for Durham in the county championship this year and made hundreds from seven of them (two of them being double hundreds).  And now he's converted for the Lions and England in a week.

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Be interesting to see how this pitch goes.  It certainly seems to be offering more for the bowlers now.  It was looking like we should have definitely been making over 400 but now I'm not so sure what will be a good score.  It definitely looks like if we could get over 400 we'd be in a good position.

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