Paid Members ElCece Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 7 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: Someone on Cricinfo just called one of England's openers "Dot Sibley" and I can't stop laughing. Thats on point. How haven't I heard that before. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewdogg Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Re: 'Dot' Sibley, some people (not on here) are so obsessed with test cricket being boring if a team hasn't scored over 400 and been bowled out in a day. Saw a few posts on Twitter that it was a dull day of cricket. It was a sensible day of cricket, India didn't do enough to tempt the English batsmen, so they did the right thing by staying out there and pick off the bad balls. I thought it was nice to see our batsman batting (relatively) sensibly. I woke up really early this morning, and was really impressed with Burns and Sibley and then out of nowhere Burns plays a stupid attempt at a reverse sweep. Lawrence was a touch unlucky to face Bumrah in his first balls, but that was clever captaining by Kohli knowing that Lawrence played quite well against spinners against Sri Lanka. Be interesting tomorrow if Stokes is so reserved against the bowling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 Against India's batting line-up, I say you just bat for as long as you can and not worry about the scoring rate. Stokes has been excellent at going through the gears in recent test matches, he'll start pretty slowly. Great to see Root finally getting centuries though, he's starting to look like Steve Smith in the Ashes in that you can't see how you can get him out. Bumrah is brilliant though, not many bowlers could come up with a ball like that last over of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Teedy Kay Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 So is Root the best English player of spin ever? Or does he have to do more to prove that? Gower and Trescothick are obviously greats at it, and I feel Root is better than both of them. But is he better than Bell or Cook? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ElCece Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 2 hours ago, Teedy Kay said: So is Root the best English player of spin ever? Or does he have to do more to prove that? Gower and Trescothick are obviously greats at it, and I feel Root is better than both of them. But is he better than Bell or Cook? He is the best I've seen, admittedly my watching started in 2000/01. Those saying it was boring, I found it to be a really enjoyable day. Mostly good test cricket although I will say Nadeem and Sundar didn't look fantastic. I know its hindsight etc but Kuldeep Yadav would surely be a better option? I'm have no problems with players using the reverse sweep as a shot. Strikes me as when Root, Stokes and in the past Buttler used it that it was a high percentage shot. I did think the choice to use it at the point was daft by Burns mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 It's not really a natural shot for Burns and I don't know why he played it. Like Sibley, he has limited scoring areas and looks a much better player when he sticks to them. He should just do what Sibley does and bore the opposition to death, then let the middle order come in and up the rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 Traditionally that's what a Test opener should do. See off the new ball and tire out the bowlers so the middle order can cash in. Root is in some rare form at the minute. The best English player of spin in my lifetime. I always used to think it was Gatting, who bar 1 very famous delivery was a majestic player of spin. I remember listening to the 82 tour of India where Gatt and Foxy Fowler got double hundreds in the same game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Teedy Kay Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 (edited) How the hell did I forgot Gatting!? An amazing player of spin, it's what made the Warne delivery even more special. That performance today from both Sibley and Root was near perfect test match batting, I've been fuming like Boycott at the change in mindset of scoring runs rather than just staying in and letting the runs develop from there. Steve Smith does exactly that, he stays in first and foremost, and gets runs from the bowlers increased frustrations and tiredness. I'm quite pleased the mindset may be changing from when Ponting switched the Aussies to playing near one day cricket in the Test format. Edited February 5, 2021 by Teedy Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 1 minute ago, Teedy Kay said: I'm quite pleased the mindset may be changing from when Printing switched the Aussies to playing near one day cricket in the Test format. I love that Ricky Printing. Definitely a font of knowledge as a commentator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 One thing that's gone under the radar in cricket in the last year with everything that's been going on is that Pakistan has hosted a few series in a row now, which is fantastic to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 5, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 5, 2021 Apologies for the double post and of particular interest to @PowerButchi. Been looking for this for years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted February 6, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted February 6, 2021 19 hours ago, Teedy Kay said: So is Root the best English player of spin ever? Or does he have to do more to prove that? Gower and Trescothick are obviously greats at it, and I feel Root is better than both of them. But is he better than Bell or Cook? Gatts was a tremendous player of spin, which makes The Ball of the Century even funnier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 6, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 6, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, PowerButchi said: Gatts was a tremendous player of spin, which makes The Ball of the Century even funnier And the reverse sweep in the 1987 World Cup final Edited February 6, 2021 by Devon Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ElCece Posted February 6, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted February 6, 2021 Finally managed towards the last session from today and it strikes how Archer has shown nothing with the bat in test cricket. He averages nearly 25 in first class cricket but I would consider putting him at 11. He seems uninterested in sticking around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatTom Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 55 minutes ago, ElCece said: Finally managed towards the last session from today and it strikes how Archer has shown nothing with the bat in test cricket. He averages nearly 25 in first class cricket but I would consider putting him at 11. He seems uninterested in sticking around. I think Archer's mentality is that he's there to hit hard and score some runs quickly (FC strike rate over 65), or get his bowling shoes on. At a county level, you can get lucky with that strategy. He's got 6 first class 50s, so he does know how to hold the bat, but I think the difference in quality between county and Test cricket means that while he can still bat, those sorts of innings will be far less frequent. For that reason, he'll stay at 9 ahead of Leach/Broad/Anderson/Wood. Root is looking good between the two Sri Lanka tests and this innings. It's a huge year for his legacy between the two series against India and the Ashes fast approaching on the horizon. He's looked confident and assured and crucially, he is converting his scores from 50 to 100 and beyond. The TV commentators love pointing out that the last time we made a huge first innings score, India replied with 759/7 and we lost by an innings. Even if Leach, Bess and Anderson don't add much in the morning, I think there are enough runs on the board to make relatively secure that they can't lose the game. Bess and Leach need to be tidy with the ball and keep run rate down to build pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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