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Loading ...Is it me or is Strauss batting more and more like Graham Thorpe used to in the sub continent? Quite apart from anything else perhaps he is the nurdler the England ODI side needs at about 4 or 5.
Strauss relies on deep-rooted belief. Bell doesn’t
By Will 2 years ago, mid-December Add your comment below
When I woke up this morning at about 8 o’clock, England had just lost Kevin Pietersen and were three-down for not many. Were it not for needing to leg it to the estate agent to sign my contract, not to mention heading into the office for work, I’d have swallowed the cynaide there and then. England’s good position looked to be slipping away faster than the dying subcontinental sun.
What a turnaround; what guts, determination and skill Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood showed. It’s at times like these that we struggle to comprehend the importance of England’s position here: it is fast becoming a match-winning one and, if they win, it will count among the very best on Indian soil. If that’s putting too high a price on an England victory, then to call it one of the most unlikely is an understatement. The terrorist strikes; the will-they-won’t-they return; the fact it’s in India, against an Indian team who have just beaten Australia. Kevin Pietersen may not be sleeping too well at the moment, but MS Dhoni will be reaching for hot milk and nytol this evening.
Strauss has been immense in this Test. He is not the player of old, but that’s inevitable. Firstly he doesn’t have Marcus Trescothick at the other end to spur him on, and secondly he has suffered a fairly rubbish couple of years. He seems to have gone back in time, perhaps even to before he was at Middlesex. Dogged defence has replaced urgent strokeplay but, crucially, he’s still ticking along at a good rate. His innings in this Test have been of a true opener, and we’ve not had cause to say that about him for some time. He was too loose, too often.
Loose is one of many words that could be used to describe Ian Bell. How long will England persist? It seems inconceivable that Owais Shah won’t be considered in the next Test; a shock and a wake-up call is what Bell urgently needs. I’ve lost count of the number of times he gets off the mark with world cricket’s most sumptious and technically perfect cover drive (or on-drive), but he seems allergic to score ugly runs. It’s all about positivity and urgent run-making; appearing to make a statement; rolling up his sleeves, having a word with the fielders. This is not Ian Bell.
Bell was my first interviewee in 2005 and he came across as a really shy, quiet sort of bloke who was intimidated by the bravado Kevin Pietersen – who was the brash newcomer at the time – brought to the side. Shortly after that series he gave an interview in which he spoke about his “presence”, something Alec Stewart had been helping him with. So his theory went, he felt he needed to assert himself more – whether that meant skipping down the pitch for a lofted four to a spinner, or skipping down the pavilion steps and showing a “positive” way of reaching the crease when he first came in.
This is all clearly a facade of paper-thin proportions and it’s not kidding anyone, least of all Bell himself. Like Strauss, he should just be himself and rely on his ridiculously rare batting gifts to see him through.
Tags: andrew-strauss, england, england-in-india, ian-bell, paul-collingwood |
2 Responses to “Strauss relies on deep-rooted belief. Bell doesn’t”
December 14th, 2008 at 12.01 am
December 14th, 2008 at 11.30 pm
Strauss in the ODI side at 5?! You must be joking. Agree about Thorpe though
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