Now how about that for a headline? Monty Panesar is a tabloid sub-editor’s dream! Anyway, I’d like to agree wholeheartedly with Jag who was delighted to see an English left-armer bowl around the wicket. I know Ashley Giles gets a lot of stick, some of it undeserved, but even he cannot deny that his over-the-wicket tactics have been painfully dull to watch.
I didn’t see a lot of Panesar today. However, what immediately struck me was the similarity between Daniel Vettori. In the piece I wrote for Cricinfo on Monty, Mark Ramprakash said we [England] should be looking to find someone of Vettori’s ability. While it’s too early to suggest Panesar has the same ability – incidentally, he certainly doesn’t have the same talent with the bat which Vettori possesses – he did well today, and looks a decent prospect. It’ll be really fascinating to watch his progression.
Maybe one day he’ll be / reveal the full Monty! (sorry, again)
That pun is even worse than some my ex-officemate used to come up with – and there’s a very good reason why we’re no longer officemates.
Anyway, I was listening today and it was either Aggers or Vic Marks who made exactly the same Monty/Vettori comparison…something about ‘great minds’ and ‘fools’, perhaps