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Cricket 37: Boycott's Grandma Probably Should Bat


Jeor

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It'll be a bit different this time around. For one the pitch is showing signs of wear and tear - that last over from Lyon showed there was a lot of turn in the pitch, and there's been just a little bit of variable bounce. Secondly the element of time offers some protection for a target as well. If England only have 3.5 sessions to bat, that's about 110 overs and the rate for chasing down 400 would be prohibitive on a fifth day pitch.

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Paine still screwing up the reviews. They have to come up with a better system for using them, or at least have someone who is a better judge of them giving some more input to Paine.

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2 hours ago, Jeor said:

Root suffers a bit from comparison - the 1-1 conversion rates of Smith and Kohli are pretty insane even historically. A world-class batsman probably should have about 50% more 50s than 100s I reckon (e.g. 10 centuries, 15 half-centuries).

Historical examples include Tendulkar (51/68 is quite good), Kallis (45/58 is impressive), Lara (34/48), Ponting (41/62). Steve Waugh is a little less impressive at 32/50 although he did bat at No. 5 for most of his career. A contemporary is Kane Williamson with a neat 20/30 which I'd say is pretty good. But note the names here, we are comparing historically great batsmen.

I reckon that although Root's 16/43 is still below par, it's not ridiculously bad. Yes, it probably holds him back from being a historically great batsman but there was a good article showing that the Big Four really is only the Big Three (Smith/Kohli/Williamson). It's a bit like tennis where people wanted to make Andy Murray in the Big Four but really Federer/Nadal/Djokovic are comfortably ahead of him.

Lol I certainly wouldn’t be comparing Root to Smith in this regard! And Steve Waugh is significantly better than Root - he converted just under 40% of his 50s to 100s. At 27%, Root is in the company of the likes of Brendon McCullum. And the trend is not his friend...

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12 minutes ago, Paxter said:

Lol I certainly wouldn’t be comparing Root to Smith in this regard! And Steve Waugh is significantly better than Root - he converted just under 40% of his 50s to 100s. At 27%, Root is in the company of the likes of Brendon McCullum. And the trend is not his friend...

Well yes, I think we can conclude from the data that Root is not a historically great batsman. He's certainly a good one, but in 50 years time when people look back on this era Root's name won't be mentioned.

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I think all four (Kane, Smith, Kohli and Root) were very similar level a couple of years back. It's just that not everyone kicked on. Smith pulled ahead quite significantly, while Kohli stayed at the same level. Kane dipped a bit while Root dipped significantly. But for a while there it was a really good four horse race!

Hard to see anything but a draw from here. Unless Aussies bat very aggressively (could work out for Warner!).  I don't think they can get England out in a day, considering Root has found some form and Burns looking very solid. Not to mention the impending Denly century!

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13 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Well yes, I think we can conclude from the data that Root is not a historically great batsman. He's certainly a good one, but in 50 years time when people look back on this era Root's name won't be mentioned.

I think the trend in the numbers is also very interesting. Apart from any notions of historical greatness, it’s telling us something about a secular decline in form as well as the burden of the captaincy.

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At this rate Australia might as well start every innings with 0 reviews. I don't know what the stats are but I doubt they've been successful with one since the Joel Wilson horror show in the First Test.

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Well that's that, and England having narrowly avoided the follow-on have at least taken one tricky decision out of Paine's hands. Cummins very lucky with almost a no-ball on that delivery to Buttler.

So assuming rain stays away then we have around 160 overs left in the match. You think Australia would want to get England in again before the end of play. Leading by around 200, if they bat for 50 overs they might be able to set a 350 target before inserting England again. I think they should be wary about trying to bat aggressively to set a higher total - the pitch is starting to deteriorate and Broad et al could be dangerous.

I wonder if Warner will come out and just try to thump some quick runs - try and hit his way out of the form slump.

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Whatever else happens in this Ashes series, we may have Stuart Broad to thank for ending Warner's career. I reckon he must be in serious consideration for being dropped for the Fifth Test now.

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Maybe he'll be recalled for the Australian summer, but surely the Fifth Test (if it's a decider) the selectors have to be at least seriously considering dropping him. Michael Holding on commentary just said that Australia's highest opening partnership for the series has been 13, which is a mind-boggling statistic of failure.

Although his opening partner's scores haven't been much to write home about, Warner's own scores of 2, 8, 3, 5, 61, 0, 0, 0 are breathtakingly bad. He's averaging in single figures even with that half century. If this series is live (as I expect it will be) going into that last Test in a winner-takes-all match, I don't think the selectors can afford to stick with Warner.

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