BBC Blog Network

User Profile

Lucas

Listed below are comments made by Lucas between Tuesday, 29th July 2008 and Friday, 9th January 2009.

«Newer
Older»

Sensible Strauss just the tonic 10:34am on 09 Jan 2009 Well, he went to the right public school...
Pressure mounting on the England captain 5:40pm on 29 Jul 2008 #77

Dropped catches affect every bowler in the team. A single bowler may have his statistics hampered by bad luck over the course of a match, or, at a stretch, a series, but statistically speaking these things average themselves out over a longer period.

This cannot be used as an excuse for Sidebottom's ineffectiveness against good batsmen.
Pressure mounting on the England captain 5:25pm on 29 Jul 2008 Leaving aside Sidebottom's single test against Pakistan in 2001, his figures (wickets, average) by series are:

West Indies in England, 2007: (16 @ 19.68)
India in England, 2007: (8 @ 37.87)
England in Sri Lanka, 2007/08: (5 @ 63.60)
England in New Zealand, 2007/08: (24 @ 17.08)
New Zealand in England, 2008: (17 @ 20.47)

(Source: www.cricinfo.org)

In other words, in the two series against decent opposition (India and Sri Lanka), Sidebottom was ineffective. His figures have been bloated by playing poor sides (WI and NZ), who lost their wickets playing poor shots to Sidebottom's accurate but sedate bowling.

Harmison wouldn't have been my choice by any means, but he has taken wickets against good teams (e.g. Australia), as has Simon Jones.
Pressure mounting on the England captain 5:07pm on 29 Jul 2008 Why is everyone suggesting picking Sidebottom? I've nothing against him personally, but surely this series has shown that medium-pace dobblies (however accurate) won't bowl the Saffers out.
Pressure mounting on the England captain 2:22pm on 29 Jul 2008 rav_man, Sidebottom hasn't done anything 'wrong'. He's used his talents to the best of his ability in turning himself into a consistently accurate medium pace bowler. My point is that, without pace and movement (which Sidebottom doesn't generate, except on a wet Headingley wicket), you won't trouble a good batting lineup like the South African one. England need to take 20 wickets, not simply restrict the scoring rate.
Pressure mounting on the England captain 1:45pm on 29 Jul 2008 England go into this test with only two wicket-taking seamers, Flintoff and Anderson. As good as they are, that's too much to ask. Sidebottom, an honest and accurate medium-pace bowler, is never going to trouble the Saffers, who (unlike New Zealand, whom Sidebottom terrorised) have shown the patience and technique to score at 2.5 an over and slowly build up big scores against accurate but unthreatening bowling of Sidebottom's kind.

And why has Collingwood been brought back? Recent months have shown that, whilst he tried hard, he does not have the technique for test cricket (except on very flat pitches). Broad may not be bowling well, but he's in better nick as a batsman than Collingwood. Bizarre.

This is the worst, most negative team they could have chosen from the squad. The Saffers will be looking forward to an easy victory.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

Lucas