Alistair Cook: An apology

[chunkyshanhawk53]

1 Shakib Al Hasan BAN 438
2 R.A. Jadeja IND 415
3 B.A. Stokes ENG 372
4 R. Ashwin IND 369
5 Moeen Ali ENG 326
6 V.D. Philander SA 319
7 M.A. Starc AUS 306
8 H.M.R.K.B. Herath SL 216
9 J.O. Holder WI 208
10 M.D.K. Perera SL 206

Test all rounder rankings

 

[Bri]

Doesn't he average about 40 with the ball

Yup. 131 wickets SR 65, 4 5-fers and 1 10-fer in a match - Stokes 95 wickets at 34 and SR of 60, 4 5-fers and 0 10 fers.

I mean bliddy hell, you'd hope for better but we haven't got better and last year everyone was saying what a top class all-rounder he was. He's had a bad series with bat and ball but we can only guess how the injury to his spinning finger has affected him.

 

[Billy Rocket]

Too late yes but I'm not sure how 244 not out is too little.
Unless you're just blindly spouting a cliche.

Given the state of the track I'm amazed that nanas and sticks of rhubarb haven't been mentioned yet

 

[chopsfc007]

Yup. 131 wickets SR 65, 4 5-fers and 1 10-fer in a match - Stokes 95 wickets at 34 and SR of 60, 4 5-fers and 0 10 fers.

I mean bliddy hell, you'd hope for better but we haven't got better and last year everyone was saying what a top class all-rounder he was. He's had a bad series with bat and ball but we can only guess how the injury to his spinning finger has affected him.

What makes him top class he has been average at best with the ball and flakey as fuck with the bat

 

[Aleem Dar]

Averages don’t always tell the full story mind. With two world class seamers (when Broad can be arsed), Ali takes up a middle innings role when people are liable to be spanked. By the same token, there has been times he has gone through a bucket load of overs for not many in a containment role.

If we were going in pure stats, chops would want us to be picking Boycott and Botham still.

 

[Bri]

Averages don’t always tell the full story mind. With two world class seamers (when Broad can be arsed), Ali takes up a middle innings role when people are liable to be spanked. By the same token, there has been times he has gone through a bucket load of overs for not many in a containment role.

If we were going in pure stats, chops would want us to be picking Boycott and Botham still.

If we didn't have an all rounder in there we'd be probably having to choose a full-time spinner who can't bat .... Ali can win a game with his bat now and again, Rashid is canny but a little less effective in either discipline (I'd have had him on this tour though as I think we all would). Or, of course go for a batsman and no spinner at all in which case we pick another fast medium bowler.

He's just going through a period when he's out of form ... but he is a good player.

 

[sonson]

Not having that mate. 3 tests of shite .then pressure off, we make a game of it. We have the talent.We lack characters imo.it ain't lack of form, it's personality. Ben Stokes would have helped with that side of it.

Australia aren't amazing no but we are quite abit worse than them as things stand because we're not particularly good. Their attack is better in the round , their batsmen are better in the round. I thought at the beginning it was a closer margin of difference but this series has proven otherwise. Smith makes an enormous difference as well. It's hard to see how any attack in the world could have nudged him once set in these circumstances. He might be only one man but the fact is he's been the difference and it's been an absolutist massive difference at that.

Mentality is all a part of how good you are anyway. If not the deciding factor. The best sportsmen in the world have a winning mentality and psychological force field they can turn on at will that lesser players who are just as technically accomplished don't have. All the lads this series on either team can do their job well in certain circumstances. But there's only a few can do do them all the time and when it counts. Most of them are Australian.

 

[Ageing trundler]

The main 3 reasons why we've been outplayed are fairly obvious as I see it 1) Smith has been outstanding 2) Ali has been awful 3) Stokes (at least our 3rd best bowler and batsman) hasn't been there. You're looking at 500+ runs and 20 wickets and it's a different mindset with Stokes in the team. Others have been up and down, which happens.