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Loading ...Well Collingwood’s England’s Mr. Consistency at the moment, but Vaughan really has to go. Put Bell in at 3, have Strauss open, put the ‘keeper at 6 and play Flintoff (when fit, of course) at 7, as part of a five-man bowling attack. Strauss has always looked good, and at the moment I think he could do a better job than Vaughan as an opener.
Strauss not out 114
By Jonathan Liew 2 months ago Leave a comment on this post
Well, it’s tea. Andrew Strauss is 114 not out. It’s yet another infuriating twist in the tale.
It’s infuriating, not because I didn’t want him to score runs, but because it delays still further the day when I finally make up my mind about him. I really was beginning to formulate a definite opinion of him: a nice-looking player but too limited in his range of strokeplay, prone to playing away from his body, iffy against spin, etc etc. Then he goes and scores a hundred. Fair enough, it was chancey, the attack was county standard at best, the pitch is a belter and Bell’s hundred was better. But it is a hundred, and one that matters. Vaughan and Collingwood can’t buy one of those at the moment. And, at the age of 31, it seems he’s finally discovered the straight drive.
So since I can’t muster an opinion of my own, I reckon I might be swayable by somebody else’s. Do leave yours below…
Tags: andrew-strauss, england, england in new zealand, ian-bell |
8 Responses to “Strauss not out 114”
March 24th, 2008 at 3.54 am
March 24th, 2008 at 3.58 am
Equally, people could have formulated their opinions of him immediately after his 7th Test hundred.
He’s had an awful slump. Every batsman goes through one. Look at Punter in the last month. Even in this innings - and Straussy would be the first to admit - he hasn’t been fluent, and yet still he’s managed to bash 150+. If a man can do that when he’s out of form, when he’s batting in the last chance for his career, then he can bat.
Straussy has proved himself at Test level, with outstanding performances against most of the world’s attacks. If he can score two Test hundreds in a series against Warne in his prime, then he can’t be that dodgy against spin.
He’ll have bad days in the future, and hopefully many more better ones. Let’s not be frustrated. Let’s be happy he’s on his way back to the top.
March 24th, 2008 at 4.09 am
I don’t think we should be so hasty to call for the head of Michael Vaughan either. Three bad games - so what?
Unfortunate that the entire top order has been failing to fire recently - frustrating for everybody except the opposition. He faced some good balls, played some poor shots. He will come good again. Have patience.
There is no need for massive surgery in this side. They are young. They have had terrible luck with injuries in the last few years and have been more unsettled than they’d like. But even after much underperforming, they have the best stats in England behind them, and history shows a settled side is better.
Some motivation - by stick or by carrot, yes - beheading England’s most successful skipper after what will likely be another series victory, no.
March 24th, 2008 at 8.56 am
The question with a slump, is what sort of slump is it? is it a mid-career slump, such as Mathew Hayden had, then he went off and reinvented himself. Or is it the beginning of the end. Meaning he will still perform well sometimes, but he’ll perform equally badly almost as often from now on, thus keeping Jonathon undecided on whether he’s past it or not.
Natural talent can get you long way, but at a certain point, it’s not enough any more, and you have to start working at it. Strauss has discovered the straight drive at 31, you say, so perhaps he’ll extend himself even more. Let’s hope so. I still think being dropped from the captaincy in favour of Flintoff 18 months ago did a lot for his loss of self-esteem. Perhaps he’s recovering it now.
March 24th, 2008 at 9.31 am
Steve - you’re absolutely right to bring up the captaincy issue. another thing to consider is the fact that Strauss was on the receiving-end of 7 pretty shocking umpire decisions out of 8 dismissals on that tour of Australia. (the 8th dismissal he was run-out by Vaughn!). combined with the fletcher clique’s backroom political wranglings, i’d say that 7 straight WRONG decisions would be enough to bring any player’s form back to ZERO.
also, Vaughn is very much a confidence captain. if he’s batting well he gets all chest-puffy and pointy in the field. when he’s on a bad run he gets noticeably downcast and sulky. this is a not a good way to lead. his fielding used to be a real asset. now, he’s slow and his mobility has been greatly reduced. here’s hoping Vaughn does the honourable thing after this tour…
Strauss Captain for the summer. Graham Ford installed as coach as soon as possible. Bell elevated to opener - why has this never been tried? KP 3. Strauss 4. Shah 5. etc
good on yer Andrew. double it up tomorrow please!
March 24th, 2008 at 1.21 pm
ok, so this is exactly what I feared would happen.
Strauss cashed in against a not particularly brilliant bowling attack, still looked flaky against the new ball, and really didn’t feel technically sound outside off.
Bell came out without much pressure on him and played a rather glorious innings.
This doesn’t really answer any of the questions that they both had hanging over them, so I’m with Jonathon, I’m frustrated that I’m still left undecided as to whether they’re worth picking or not.
March 24th, 2008 at 2.20 pm
This one innings doesn’t mean his form is back, all it does is buy him another series. If he then gets through that one he will get a chance against a better attack in the SA series. So I think by the end of the summer we will be in a position to make up our minds on Strauss.
Don’t think these calls for Vaughan to go are warranted just yet, in Sri Lanka he looked very fluent at times and was out to some unlucky dismissals. In this series he’s been on the receiving end of some of the few excellent deliveries the NZ attack have mustered. The only time he’s really thrown away his wicket is in his most recent innings. He certainly deserves a summer before we start questioning his place.
March 25th, 2008 at 1.13 am
Since he came back against the West Indies last summer, Vaughan’s averaged 63, 49 and 36 in his last three series (leaving out NZ where everyone’s been woeful). Not drop-worthy figures.
Somewhat ironically, Strauss has now scored the most runs of anyone in this NZ series (Fleming should pass him shortly though).
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