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New Zealand v England 3rd test Hamilton

chunkyshanhawk53 said:
Steve James in the Times today is suggesting Bethell to open ahead of Crawley.

Interesting idea, Crawley is in a rut and Bethell has looked very calm even against the moving ball. He’s certainly proved me wrong

Interesting stat. No top 3 bat in history (any country) has averaged as low as Crawley from the same or more innings. Even Kraigg Brathwaite
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Crawley is odd as he was our best batsman in both the Ashes and India.

Then either side of that it's mainly been a famine for him. His partnership with Duckett though is worth persisting with though, just before this series they averaged more than Cook/Strauss partnership.

We need a backup opener ideally with a game under their belt just in case for the Ashes though. Bethell looked the most solid in that first innings for me and more akin to pre bazball opener.

Him waiting in the wings to depose Pope/Crawley is fine by me as nobody in the CC has put their hand up to bat top 3. Whereas the lad without anything behind in the CC has.
 
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chunkyshanhawk53 said:
Steve James in the Times today is suggesting Bethell to open ahead of Crawley.

Interesting idea, Crawley is in a rut and Bethell has looked very calm even against the moving ball. He’s certainly proved me wrong

Interesting stat. No top 3 bat in history (any country) has averaged as low as Crawley from the same or more innings. Even Kraigg Brathwaite
Click to expand...
As in they're swapping positions or Crawley is out of the team?
 
mackembhoy said:
Crawley is odd as he was our best batsman in both the Ashes and India.

Then either side of that it's mainly been a famine for him. His partnership with Duckett though is worth persisting with though, just before this series they averaged more than Cook/Strauss partnership.

We need a backup opener ideally with a game under their belt just in case for the Ashes though. Bethell looked the most solid in that first innings for me and more akin to pre bazball opener.

Him waiting in the wings to depose Pope/Crawley is fine by me as nobody in the CC has put their hand up to bat top 3. Whereas the lad without anything behind in the CC has.
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I'm no fan of Creepy, to me he needs to be dropped..... no idea who for though. Its like trying to drop Roberts and working out who to replace him with !
 
chunkyshanhawk53 said:
Steve James in the Times today is suggesting Bethell to open ahead of Crawley.

Interesting idea, Crawley is in a rut and Bethell has looked very calm even against the moving ball. He’s certainly proved me wrong

Interesting stat. No top 3 bat in history (any country) has averaged as low as Crawley from the same or more innings. Even Kraigg Brathwaite
Click to expand...
Interesting.

Back in the summer there were murmurings that long term maybe Jamie Smith might be tried at 3. Like Bethell he gives off a sense of calmness when he’s at the crease.

Duckett, Bethell and Smith in the top 3 would be a canny watch. :lol: All hypothetical of course. Who knows how Bethell would get on at 3 against the likes of Bumrah and Shami for example.

All of a sudden though England have the makings of a very good side. And to think how despondent we all were in 2021 when we had Burns / Sibley / Hameed opening and it looked like there was nothing coming through to take their places.
 
mackembhoy said:
The sort of people that vote in these competitions aren't really your proper sports fans though.
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This is the correct answer.
Inside Forward said:
Interesting.

Back in the summer there were murmurings that long term maybe Jamie Smith might be tried at 3. Like Bethell he gives off a sense of calmness when he’s at the crease.

Duckett, Bethell and Smith in the top 3 would be a canny watch. :lol: All hypothetical of course. Who knows how Bethell would get on at 3 against the likes of Bumrah and Shami for example.

All of a sudden though England have the makings of a very good side. And to think how despondent we all were in 2021 when we had Burns / Sibley / Hameed opening and it looked like there was nothing coming through to take their places.
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We need to learn how to play against spin on turning wickets.
 
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chunkyshanhawk53 said:
Steve James in the Times today is suggesting Bethell to open ahead of Crawley.

Interesting idea, Crawley is in a rut and Bethell has looked very calm even against the moving ball. He’s certainly proved me wrong

Interesting stat. No top 3 bat in history (any country) has averaged as low as Crawley from the same or more innings. Even Kraigg Brathwaite
Click to expand...
Borderline worrying iirc
 
Parkside said:
Stokes is on record as saying Smith will return to the team and Pope return to 3 for test v Zimbabwe. That quote was, however, before the emergence of Bethell.
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I almost think Bethell is too talented to leave out. Smith also comes back in. So it’s between Crawley and Pope to make way.
 
Mr Redknapp said:
His numbers aren't great but he's shown he has something about him like.
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I didn't expect Bethell to do as well as he's shown so far. Everything pointed towards young bravado him stepping up at 3, rather than based on ability.

Pope was averaging 80 or something when we debuted him at 4 against India when he'd only ever batted at 6. It showed he wasn't right to bat there at that time.

But yeah Bethell showed plenty, all 4 of his innings at 3 lasted 28 balls or more. Pope has batted 47 times at 3 and 24 of them he was dismissed facing fewer than 28.

Pope has always been a bad starter so for a a guy stepping up in his spot and doing the polar opposite to most of Pope innings is some feather in his cap. Plus he scored two half centuries to boot.
 
I think they will stick witH Crawley. This current setup seems to be pretty loyal to players and it seems as though the message to the openers is " score some quick runs" rather than play time and take the shine off the ball. For Crawley to be averaging 30 but at a strike rate of 74 (under Stokes) is exactly what they are looking for IMHO - put the new ball bowlers under pressure before the engine room of Root, Brook, Stokes & Smith come in.
 
VenisonsMullet said:
I think they will stick witH Crawley. This current setup seems to be pretty loyal to players and it seems as though the message to the openers is " score some quick runs" rather than play time and take the shine off the ball. For Crawley to be averaging 30 but at a strike rate of 74 (under Stokes) is exactly what they are looking for IMHO - put the new ball bowlers under pressure before the engine room of Root, Brook, Stokes & Smith come in.
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His and Duckett partnership is not worth replacing. But it's been one or the other with them two since India.

So hopefully they return back to a bit more form as a pair starting with this test.
 
mackembhoy said:
His and Duckett partnership is not worth replacing. But it's been one or the other with them two since India.

So hopefully they return back to a bit more form as a pair starting with this test.
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Aye it’s a real difficult one as I really think just my opinion that they is not many if any better opening options out there, so Crawley a very lucky boy and think that one of the reasons he has been given soo long.

And of course at times he has looked simply superb, one of the days in the fourth test against the Aussies he absolutely destroyed them.

However has to be a point he is dropped if he continues this form.
 
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