Ah the 82 I thought you were referring to Curran hence theOverton fair enough - that's his pace and like Curran it isnt really quick enough to get good players out on good pitches. OT was a good test match surface, it did exactly what its supposed to do. It was easy paced and comfortable for batting and as it got into days 4 and 5 helped tall quick bowlers with uneven bounce and started to spin a lot. There was nothing in it day 1-5 for an 80mph bowler that pitches it up thats for sure. That's why he wasn't picked and they went to the extent of bringing someone in from the cold rather than select him on that pitch in those conditions. You are right about Headingley - when I said Curran would have bowled well there i was being slightly generous, I should have specified on days one and two when it was seaming and swinging before flattening out.
Well Jimmy Anderson completely disagrees with you. Last year the pitches suited us more than India says Jimmy. This year the pitches suited Australia more than us says Jimmy. I would like to have seen more grass on them etc, etc. Good pitches for us against India last year, not this year. Good pitches for pitch it up English seamers such as Curran last year, not this year. Your thoughts?
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I think we’re in danger of over playing the importance of the pitch a bit here mind. Yes it’s nice to have a green top, overheads, and 6ft 90mph quicks, but Jimmy has been excellent on tours of UAE, Australia and SL in recent times, most of the time not bowling much above 84/85mph. Yes he’s our greatest ever fast bowler, but surely that shows if you get the ball in good areas consistently, you get your rewards. Sam Curran showed last summer he was capable of getting some of the worlds best batsmen out and could have made a crucial difference in this series.
Oh and check out the pitch from last years Test at the Oval and tell me how different it looks to the OT one!
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