Ashes 2013/14

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Ashes 2013/14

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

indiana wrote:
Going great this summer :)

I particularly admire Alistair Cook for being so respectful of KP's achievements that despite starting the summer only 134 total test runs behind KP, 7 dismissals later he still has 19 fewer runs and his test average continues to drop further and further behind KP's.

But Cook has nice hair and a lovely smile, indy. biggrin

Salmon · Tennis legend

"Not at all. We look at it as a team, you lose as a team and you win as a team."

Yes, it's not like England would heap all the blame on an individual. Like, never!

Cook seems undroppable, though, and he has made it clear that he will not resign. Unfortunately even club cricketers will score hundreds if you give them enough opportunities, and certain pompom wielding media personnel will give us a triumphant "I told you so!" whenever Cook finally gets lucky, and he'll start with a clean slate, free to fail a dozen times before anyone even raises a finger at him.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Not a great ending today it has to be said. Cook to go as captain, stay on as opening bat, Butler to replace Prior, rest Broad he ain't fit, not sure about Stokes. And why did they bring Moores back ???????!!!!!!!!

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

I could well be displaying my cricketing ignorance here but why can't Cook simply be moved down the order a bit? I'd have thought that might take a bit of pressure off his batting thus both increasing his hopes of a high score and decreasing the debilitating affect on the whole team of always being on the back foot when coming into bat.

Ratty · County player

Any excuse to dredge up one of my old favourites, which is that the "missing" top British tennis players are playing professional cricket ...

Jos Buttler was national standard at tennis until he was about 11, when he pretty much gave up to concentrate on cricket. It's a much better career choice for almost all talented sports players.

indiana · Tennis legend

The thing is, imoen, I don't think that many people would consider Cook to be a particularly good / inspirational captain.

He has shown himself as a great opener before, but his captaincy isn't really so valuable that it argues for accommodating him in the team further down the order and say pushing someone else up to open, possibly to their detriment. Root, for instance, has already been mucked about by having a period opening when many felt that he is technically not ready for it.

Personally, if Cook can no longer do a job as opener, I wouldn't swap him with anyone in the team, I'd drop him and find both a new opener and new captain ( who could be one and the same ).

I've actually got much more longterm faith in his opening than captaincy and think he will come good again as an opener, ( whether he needs a shortterm break is debatable ), but he does need reprieved of the captaincy, which I think is impacting on his batting.

Salmon · Tennis legend

I can see how the Buttler experiment is going to turn out. He'll be dropped within a year from the Test team, and to regain his place, he will start playing "responsibly" in ODIs and T20s.

-- Edited by Salmon on Tuesday 22nd of July 2014 04:51:34 PM

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Thanks Indy, I knew I was missing something obvious

Salmon · Tennis legend

An exciting time period is coming up in English ODI cricket, since we'll soon get to know who'll lead the next cycle of excellence (2015-2019). My money is on Root getting the job next summer, with Cook retiring from ODIs shortly after the WC. Trotty will probably replace Morgan for the World Cup, too, so things looking rather peachy at the moment.

And rest in peace, Phil Hughes. cry Never thought something like this would happen in my time.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Salmon wrote:
And rest in peace, Phil Hughes. Never thought something like this would happen in my time.

Yes, amen to that.