England v West Indies Test/ODI/Twenty20 Series ** Spoilers **

To be fair there was a 5 over spell where the scoring rate was much more like a Test! Although from the sounds of the text commentary that was more a case of Cook middling it repeatedly straight to a fielder than defensive play.
 
Mad old tory said:
To be fair there was a 5 over spell where the scoring rate was much more like a Test! Although from the sounds of the text commentary that was more a case of Cook middling it repeatedly straight to a fielder than defensive play.
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I'm not sure how much ODI cricket you've watched, but it's very common for scoring rates to fluctuate. Even when a team is batting well, there may be a period of a few overs where they're scraping 3 an over and it feels like a Test.
 
Mad old tory said:
Wow, can't believe that Mahela's average is comparatively so poor for a player of his undoubted class. Sure I remember him playing some stunning ODI innings as well so he must have had some distinctly average runs as well.

Still one of the top, top test batsmen though and an absolute joy to watch when he's in full flow.
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Key thing is though, his world cup record is really good which I guess is where it counts.

Another interesting one, Cook's average is superior to a Mr CH Gayle, and his strike rate is only a few runs behind!

It's interesting actually that whilst Gayle looks incredible beasting the ball around the park, the end result isn't really that different on your average track. Players like Cook and Bell can manouver the ball and importantly run very hard. It's less effective on slower wickets, but bearing in mind the next world cup is in Australia that's not going to be such a big deal.
 
Gayle is generally good for coming up, racking up 30-40 very quickly, and then leaving. Which is what makes him such a great T20 player - that's a significant part of the innings in that, but in a ODI it's a lot less substantial.

I remember before he really kicked on at Test level, people were saying that Cook really needed to lose the late cuts to slip he seemed so intent on playing. He did that, and reaped the dividends. Now it seems he's simply learnt to regress.
 
Weebull said:
Gayle is generally good for coming up, racking up 30-40 very quickly, and then leaving. Which is what makes him such a great T20 player - that's a significant part of the innings in that, but in a ODI it's a lot less substantial.

I remember before he really kicked on at Test level, people were saying that Cook really needed to lose the late cuts to slip he seemed so intent on playing. He did that, and reaped the dividends. Now it seems he's simply learnt to regress.
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Only thing is, bar that 290 last summer (yeah OK) and not doing TOO bad over winter, I wouldn't say his test form is quite up with his ODI form now
 
Anybody watching the T20? Hales has played very, very well. Bopara on the other hand either needs to go big or go home, he is putting the pressure on Hales because he is scoring at 6 an over which isn't good enough for 20/20 cricket.

EDIT: Just as I say that he hits a boundary..
 
Ravi Bopara screws it up at the end once again, that's why I don't like him playing for England. He has been there for a long time, he should have taken a few singles to win it rather than trying to end it with a 6 and putting all the pressure on two new batsmen..

EDIT: Didn't matter in the end, won it due to a misfield.
 
Monkeymatt said:
Ravi Bopara screws it up at the end once again, that's why I don't like him playing for England. He has been there for a long time, he should have taken a few singles to win it rather than trying to end it with a 6 and putting all the pressure on two new batsmen..

EDIT: Didn't matter in the end, won it due to a misfield.
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Other than getting out, Bopara did his job perfectly there. Hales was in an excellent hitting mood, so Bopara made sure he gave support from the other end. He scored at a great pace, rotated strike extremely well and made sure that by the time he had left the crease, victory was the only outcome.
 
TheCenturion said:
Other than getting out, Bopara did his job perfectly there. Hales was in an excellent hitting mood, so Bopara made sure he gave support from the other end. He scored at a great pace, rotated strike extremely well and made sure that by the time he had left the crease, victory was the only outcome.
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But that's the problem, Bopara seems to have this urge to try and finish the game with a bang and make a name for himself which is completely unnecessary. If you've been in for quite a while you have to stay in for those last few overs as it is very difficult for new batsmen to come in and score runs from the first ball. I wouldn't mind if he got bowled by a good delivery but this is the 2nd time(1st was against India last year) he has been caught on the boundary in the last few overs of a match when he didn't need to go for a big shot.

Luckily this time it didn't mean we threw away a winning position but he really needs to stop doing that when all he needed to do was knock the ball around for a few singles.
 
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