Although he can occupy the crease (something nobody else seems to be able to do), he can't dominate and doesn't look good enough to make daddy hundreds. He has averaged 30ish, having toured India and New Zealand (before they kicked on a bit), and that average is inflated by back to back 100s against NZ. In his 8 innings against India, he made one notable score - 57. I suspect he'd be completely owned by the South Africans and for that reason would prefer to take the more experienced Carberry who hasn't been given anything like the opportunity afforded to Compton.
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Pakistan v England test match
- Thread starter BensGrandad
- Start date
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 30,594
Compton had the misfortune of having to replace Andrew Strauss in the line-up, and that brought big pressure. The expectation on him this time would be significantly decreased. He is also older and wiser.
He also broke his finger in the 1st Test vs NZ in 2013 and damaged his ribs at the start of the 2nd test so unsurprisingly under-performed in that series, then fell out with Andy Flower. Yet he has the temperament for test cricket and has amassed runs consistently in the county championship.
We don't need him to dominate bowlers, we just need him to stick around and get 30s and 40s, see off the new ball and let the other strokermakers play around him. I fancy he can now do that job better than Carberry and he's three years younger so could buy the selectors a few more years to bring through a younger replacement. If we pick Carberry now then we'll have the same problem again in 1-2 years time.
Either way, there's no one out there making a convincing case to be the partner for Cook.
spring hall convert
Well-known member
Nearly there - you missed the failed Trott experiment from your openers list!
spring hall convert
Well-known member
The cupboard is bare with opening batsmen. Neither Compton or Carberry excelled themselves in county cricket last year. Mind you we all chucked when Australia called Chris Rodgers up to open at 35 and he did a fine job.
For me it's either Hales or whether James Vince or Tom Fell could move from 3 to open. It's a matter of time before Fell breaks into the England side, he scored over 1,000 at 3 in a struggling Worcestershire side at over 40 last year.
For me it's either Hales or whether James Vince or Tom Fell could move from 3 to open. It's a matter of time before Fell breaks into the England side, he scored over 1,000 at 3 in a struggling Worcestershire side at over 40 last year.
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 30,594
My bad - I realised that 10 minutes later!
The situation is so desperate that if Kevin Pietersen announced he was sorry for everything that had gone before but offered to step into the breach as emergency opener then I'd be tempted to take that. I fancy he would have got a damn sight more than either Lyth or Ali has managed in the past two series. That said, I accept he is a ****.
They both scored more than 1000 runs, so they didn't exactly fail.
I don't see any point even talking about Pietersen: he's given up f/c cricket but if you do want to bring back an old England player, there was one who scored 1000 runs last year and is definitely an opener
OzMike
Well-known member
Folded like a pack of cards.
Pavilionaire
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- Jul 7, 2003
- 30,594
They both scored more than 1000 runs, so they didn't exactly fail.
I don't see any point even talking about Pietersen: he's given up f/c cricket but if you do want to bring back an old England player, there was one who scored 1000 runs last year and is definitely an opener
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Good choice, provided you're prepared to park the plane to South Africa outside his house and connect a slide to his bedroom window.
spring hall convert
Well-known member
They both scored more than 1000 runs, so they didn't exactly fail.
I don't see any point even talking about Pietersen: he's given up f/c cricket but if you do want to bring back an old England player, there was one who scored 1000 runs last year and is definitely an opener
View attachment 69782
It's such a shame about Trescothick. He'd still be opening for England now at 39. Perfect partner for Cook as well (well, nearly perfect, one could have been a right hander I suppose.)
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Bold Seagull
strong and stable with me, or...
Ah, but if he were, Cook's England career would just be getting going
Pavilionaire
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- Jul 7, 2003
- 30,594
Shouldn't laugh, but
Who knows, if you pick Tres then Trott might feel better about himself and, hey presto, you've got a top three.
spring hall convert
Well-known member
Hmmmm, I take your point but they would have fitted him in somewhere. Cook was identified for greatness from a very young age, it might have meant that one of Strauss's slumps would have proved fatal before he took matters into his own hands or Bell may have only got half the caps he did...
Or Pietersen may have not been tolerated for as long as he was.
He certainly would have played a lot less one day cricket, which would have been no bad thing.
Interesting stuff.
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Talking about wicketkeepers - I watched Chris Read at Horsham in the summer when we played Notts. He gave a wicketkeeping masterclass and his batting wasn't too shabby either. I know he's 37 but surely he could've been England's keeper for the last 10/12 years? Ok he'd have been competing with Prior for a significant chunk of that time but purely in terms of wicketkeeping has there been a better keeper over this period??
BensGrandad
New member
- Thread starter
- #175
In Reads case should we not pick the best at the moment irrespective of age and let tomorrow take care of its self.
spring hall convert
Well-known member
Didn't he have the best average of any Div 1 keeper in the CC last year?
spring hall convert
Well-known member
Playing in the sub contingent is never easy. South Africa ( the best team in world) 186 ao and 79/6 in India.
KZNSeagull
Well-known member
We are in a major drought here at the moment. I just hope it breaks when England's plane lands, otherwise I suspect we are going to get hammered.
Not the greatest wicket though. Highest innings score so far is 201 and only batsmen have passed 50. There's nothing like a good test match wicket ... and this is nothing like a good test match wicket
Lifelong Supporter
Well-known member
Wicket keeping and batting together in the Test arena is not easy. Read's batting is not Test class (I remember him ducking into a yorker !) and I feel would inevitably impact on his keeping performance. This may be a reason he has not been chosen.
Playing Championship cricket with confidence can only be an indictor of what will be achieved at Test level where there is far more scrutiny and challenge of weaknesses.
That said I do not believe Buttler or Bairstow are the answer in Test cricket. Buttler may come back refreshed in a year or two but I would not bet on it.
Playing Championship cricket with confidence can only be an indictor of what will be achieved at Test level where there is far more scrutiny and challenge of weaknesses.
That said I do not believe Buttler or Bairstow are the answer in Test cricket. Buttler may come back refreshed in a year or two but I would not bet on it.