Sri Lanka vs England 1st Test Galle

[The Rat]

Thing is with Bairstow he doesn’t have issues against pretty much the same attacks in white ball, albeit the formats have their differences. He’s also proved how good he is at red ball in the past. You don’t lose that ability, form is temporary etc etc.

On Burns, I don’t think it matters what they say, if he keeps dropping catches and getting no runs as he was at the end of the summer he won’t be in the side never mind being captain. I think Root is safe for the foreseeable anyway is that score. Think he could have a good year this year, touch wood.

Big Bairstow fan, but unless he has totally corrected his flaws which came into his game, he cant be batting 3 in England or Australia. He was messed about by England, and moved to make up for others shortfalls, its a shame as they totally mismanaged him

Regardless of Bairstow, Burns has a lot to do, he has done no more than OK, averages 32, so the amount of praise he gets is a bit perplexing

I mean he was even a pundit for one series last year telling Ian Ward the secrets of being a good test match batsman, I was thinking, why would he know?

I am being unfair a bit, and he still gets into my XI, but we really need him to improve

We shouldnt be talking about changes to our top 6 because Bairstow made a 50 against Sri Lanka though, we have a settled top 6.

 

[The Breen Machine]

Well its not just that, those 3 play most of their crickt on flat pitches

Root plays most of his cricket in the hardest conditions to bat in

Bairstow making a couple posters look foolish there, he is an obvious pick for this tour, he may not get a big knock ths series, but he has shown why he was picked with 3 of our top 6 missing

Its not like they picked him 3 in Ashes series like, it was just logical with his record here and the players missing

If flat pitches were such a factor then Smith wouldn't average almost 60 in England from 16 tests. His averages on the flattest pitches, the sub-continent, are markedly lower than his averages in Australia/NZ/SA/England.

I wouldn't class New Zealand as a batsman's paradise although admittedly they have produced more flat decks than usual in recent years.

 

[The Rat]

If flat pitches were such a factor then Smith wouldn't average almost 60 in England from 16 tests. His averages on the flattest pitches, the sub-continent, are markedly lower than his averages in Australia/NZ/SA/England.

I wouldn't class New Zealand as a batsman's paradise although admittedly they have produced more flat decks than usual in recent years.

They have the flattest pithes in the world mate.

Not sure how you can watch England cricket over the last few years and not think its just a different game to the one played in OZ n NZ, it seam and swung all over the place

thats not a fair comment and you know it.

If you are consistenly playing test cricket in England in May, you are gonna need a miracle to average anywhere near 50. Imagine what KP would have averaged without that?

 

[The Breen Machine]

They have the flattest pithes in the world mate.

Amazing how they have such a successful seam attack then.

 

[The Rat]

Amazing how they have such a successful seam attack then.

Because its a brilliant attack, they do, I am not saying anything controversial here, can only guess you haven't watched much cricket over their lately.

 

[The Breen Machine]

They have the flattest pithes in the world mate.

Not sure how you can watch England cricket over the last few years and not think its just a different game to the one played in OZ n NZ, it seam and swung all over the place

thats not a fair comment and you know it.

If you are consistenly playing test cricket in England in May, you are gonna need a miracle to average anywhere near 50.

I didn't say it isn't a different game, but if Root wants to be considered in the same echelons as Smith, Williamson and Kohli then his conversion rate needs to improve. Pietersen and Cook managed to convert when playing half of their games in England.

Because its a brilliant attack, they do, I am not saying anything controversial here, can only guess you haven't watched much cricket over their lately.

Here we are, passive aggressive comes out again

 

[The Rat]

I didn't say it isn't a different game, but if Root wants to be considered in the same echelons as Smith, Williamson and Kohli then his conversion rate needs to improve. Pietersen and Cook managed to convert when playing half of their games in England.

But Pietersen and Cook didn't average nearly 50.

Thats a fair point, but I think you were being disingenuous about the conditions in England, they are so much harder than most places in the world.

 

[The Breen Machine]

But Pietersen and Cook didn't average nearly 50.

Thats a fair point, but I think you were being disingenuous about the conditions in England, they are so much harder than most places in the world.

It is the hardest place in the world I do agree with you. Cook and KP were probably averaging around 50 at Root's age in fairness to them though.

It's not a huge criticism of Root overall who is a top class batsman, just his only area of improvement for me.

 

[The Rat]

It is the hardest place in the world I do agree with you. Cook and KP were probably averaging around 50 at Root's age in fairness to them though.

It's not a huge criticism of Root overall who is a top class batsman, just his only area of improvement for me.

Yeah I agree you for sure, I think he plays too many shots compared to the others, always a risk of him getting out.

just I think in general its worth pointing out, jsut annoys me none of the pundits/media ever mention it. Very rare in England that the ball doesnt do something most of the day.

 

[Salem Street South]

White ball cricket - the ball doesn't move as much and the fields are far less attacking. Bowlers tend not to bowl at the stumps so much either
Test match cricket is a whole different game - pressure built up, men around the bat, nagging off stump line, moving ball etc etc

I like YJB, but I think he's a reasonable No.6 at Test match and no more than that

Fair enough mate good points & agree with most.
It was great having him, Mo & Stokes as our 5,6,7, such a shame that got broken up.

Still think he’s got it in him to prove everyone wrong, he’s been doing it almost his career.
Whatever, he’s too good an option to have in the squad to not have him in the squad, if you know what I mean.

 

[TopCat]

Fair enough mate good points & agree with most.
It was great having him, Mo & Stokes as our 5,6,7, such a shame that got broken up.

Still think he’s got it in him to prove everyone wrong, he’s been doing it almost his career.
Whatever, he’s too good an option to have in the squad to not have him in the squad, if you know what I mean.

Agree

 

[Salem Street South]

Big Bairstow fan, but unless he has totally corrected his flaws which came into his game, he cant be batting 3 in England or Australia. He was messed about by England, and moved to make up for others shortfalls, its a shame as they totally mismanaged him

Regardless of Bairstow, Burns has a lot to do, he has done no more than OK, averages 32, so the amount of praise he gets is a bit perplexing

I mean he was even a pundit for one series last year telling Ian Ward the secrets of being a good test match batsman, I was thinking, why would he know?

I am being unfair a bit, and he still gets into my XI, but we really need him to improve

We shouldnt be talking about changes to our top 6 because Bairstow made a 50 against Sri Lanka though, we have a settled top 6.

I wouldn’t put it past him to correct them is all I’m saying, i believe he’s good enough to do it, but it’s up to him at the end of the day.

 

[The Breen Machine]

Yeah I agree you for sure, I think he plays too many shots compared to the others, always a risk of him getting out.

just I think in general its worth pointing out, jsut annoys me none of the pundits/media ever mention it. Very rare in England that the ball doesnt do something most of the day.

Definitely. I think if it was just an issue in England it wouldn't be so bad, but it's widespread. One other mitigation for him is that the others have usually had better line ups around them so are probably batting under less pressure (With exception of Kohli who has a billion eyes watching him).

Williamson's average in England is surprisingly poor (30), but I think he's a different animal these days to what he was 5 years ago.

 

[The Rat]

I wouldn’t put it past him to correct them is all I’m saying, i believe he’s good enough to do it, but it’s up to him at the end of the day.

Yeah thats true, he is absolutely one of the best 6 batsman in England like. I'd still say 3 was too high for him even then.

As you say its down to him, if he wants to play for England he will have to do it.

Its worth pointing out how hard it is to play in all formats as a batsman these days, only the very very best seem to do it well, even for India and Oz.
@Voice of fair play think I have Sri Lanka too much credit, that was as bad as it gets batting wise!

 

[smoker]

Big Bairstow fan, but unless he has totally corrected his flaws which came into his game, he cant be batting 3 in England or Australia. He was messed about by England, and moved to make up for others shortfalls, its a shame as they totally mismanaged him

Regardless of Bairstow, Burns has a lot to do, he has done no more than OK, averages 32, so the amount of praise he gets is a bit perplexing

I mean he was even a pundit for one series last year telling Ian Ward the secrets of being a good test match batsman, I was thinking, why would he know?

I am being unfair a bit, and he still gets into my XI, but we really need him to improve

We shouldnt be talking about changes to our top 6 because Bairstow made a 50 against Sri Lanka though, we have a settled top 6.

You could sail the Titanic through the gap YJB leaves between bat and pad, which is why he's always at risk of being bowled through the gate or chopping-on, to an angled delivery on a fast, seaming wicket. He'll be an absolute walking wicket if he goes to Aus.

He doesn't have that problem in limited overs because the white Kook is a pudding that does very little off the seam. Also the weakness is a potential strength in Asia as he's less likely to bat-pad the spinners to short fielders.

We need to get out of the old mindset of playing 'your best XI' regardless of conditions. Just like you pick 2-3 spinners in Asia, you should pick batsmen who are good against spin. I was really pleased to see Dan Lawrence picked for this reason. Likewise, I wouldn't have had any complaints if we'd picked Jennings. Ali is another one who will get you runs against spinners but is weak against pace.

 

[The Rat]

You could sail the Titanic through the gap YJB leaves between bat and pad, which is why he's always at risk of being bowled through the gate or chopping-on, to an angled delivery on a fast, seaming wicket. He'll be an absolute walking wicket if he goes to Aus.

He doesn't have that problem in limited overs because the white Kook is a pudding that does very little off the seam. Also the weakness is a potential strength in Asia as he's less likely to bat-pad the spinners to short fielders.

We need to get out of the old mindset of playing 'your best XI' regardless of conditions. Just like you pick 2-3 spinners in Asia, you should pick batsmen who are good against spin. I was really pleased to see Dan Lawrence picked for this reason. Likewise, I wouldn't have had any complaints if we'd picked Jennings. Ali is another one who will get you runs against spinners but is weak against pace.

I think you’re being harsh there smoker

It’s an issue he’s developed due to his prolific white ball form

It’s not an issue he had before that to be fair. I agree he’s not a number 3 in England/Oz. But he’s still one of the best 6 test batsmsn in England

He averages over 50 in county cricket

Handful do, Pope, not efen sure root does

As I say we have a settled top 6 so it’s not an issue anyway. He’s just in for this series

I agree with your last paragraph for sure

 

[chopsfc007]

I think you’re being harsh there smoker

It’s an issue he’s developed due to his prolific white ball form

It’s not an issue he had before that to be fair. I agree he’s not a number 3 in England/Oz. But he’s still one of the best 6 test batsmsn in England

He averages over 50 in county cricket

Handful do, Pope, not efen sure root does

As I say we have a settled top 6 so it’s not an issue anyway. He’s just in for this series

I agree with your last paragraph for sure

Settled top six but not convinced or massive pressure on burns

 

[Voice of fair play]

Yeah thats true, he is absolutely one of the best 6 batsman in England like. I'd still say 3 was too high for him even then.

As you say its down to him, if he wants to play for England he will have to do it.

Its worth pointing out how hard it is to play in all formats as a batsman these days, only the very very best seem to do it well, even for India and Oz.
@Voice of fair play think I have Sri Lanka too much credit, that was as bad as it gets batting wise!

The one where he square cut it in straight into Sibley’s hands from the Bess long hop, was straight out of local third team cricket!

And that’s insulting third team local cricket!

 

[The Rat]

Genuinely pissed off by this rain, just shouted fuck off at my TV

 

[Silly Point]

Here we go Rat lad. Apologise to your TV
Spin and bounce first ball. Review second ball. Didn’t hit it and this looks close...