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England v South Africa: Joe Root suffers first defeat as Test captain
Seven defeats in the last ten is worrying actually. Jonathan Agnew said there are no more excuses for England's 'champagne' cricketers. But I'm more concerned about the less fizzy. I thought Jennings was a schoolboy book series in the sixties. Where is Saeed, given his successful debut on the tour of Bangladesh and India? And when you consider what happened to Sam Robson, one can see that an opening partner dilemma is the tip of the iceberg. Why pick Dawson when Rashid was the obvious spin choice? And with Wood only offering pies, what other options are there in the fast bowling department? Where's Footitt (not so long ago hailed as the next best thing)?
It seems to me also that England just pick players who've stacked up runs in the county game. Nothing wrong with that but there is when you play them out of sequence. Ballance ought to be batting at five as he does for Yorkshire; he just doesn't cut it at three.
As for the opener issue, England would perhaps do better to throw someone like Hales back in. The overall problem though, as Boycott rightly points out, is application and mentality. The one-day ethos is too prevalent in our test team and how I would love to see a return of more obdurate batsmen like Randall and Tavare.
I'm afraid our current crop are not capable of batting for one day, let alone two as they were asked to do at Trent Bridge. |
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Author: JimmyMac
22-11-2019 04:54:35
