Insanity is doing same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Albert Einstein
England finished their winter season today. Stats from this season are woeful. Played: 7. Won: 0, Lost: 5. Four of those losses were in Ashes and one was against the kiwis today. Lost both series. England leave Hagley oval tonight with same questions as they had when they first landed in Brisbane five months ago. Being denied by New Zealand's lower order meant they are now winless away from home in a record 13 matches. They have lost 5 of them by innings. That is bad even by England's standards.
Other than boxing day test, when Cooky saved England from whitewash and the performance in Christchurch this week, there is not much to show for during this whole dreadful season. From getting bowled out to 58 to losing by innings from 368-4 at WACA, this season had every ingredient of a nightmare. Stokesy was away for the Ashes, which had a huge impact on the series result, but there was none else to blame other than himself. He needs to learn and hopefully he will.
During this winter season, the performance of pacers other than Jimmy and Broad was absolutely stinking. While Broad and Anderson averaged 29 together, rest of the others averaged a whopping 72! You don't win many games when third, fourth and fifth bowlers average in excess of 70.
The team looks horrendously unstable. I love Cooky as much as anyone else, but 80% of his runs in last 20 innings have come in just 2 innings (243 against West Indies and 244* at MCG against Australia). He averaged less than 10 in this current series, which is simply not good enough for someone having scored more than 12,000 test runs. It is creating pressure on newbies like Stoneman. England would want him to come back with oodle of runs this summer. He is the best batsman in England and he has earned his right to call his time on career, but time also seems to be closing on him quickly.
While the white ball team is on a roll and arguably the best in the world right now, the test team in general looks abysmal. Trevor Bayliss is not having any answer to their overseas test woes. In my opinion, England cricket needs a fresh red ball coach and a new beginning starting with chopping and changing the coaching staff. ECB needs to prioritize Test cricket again. By focusing more on white ball after 2015 world cup, they seem to have forgotten about test cricket completely. Nothing seems to be working. The concern now is that England's overseas problems could start to erode a healthy home record that has propped up their Test standing over the last two years.
There are some silver linings from all this though. Malan looks like the find of the season. Vince was convincing on a number of occasions, though he still averages in the 20s after 13 games, but IMO he is worth the investment. Stoneman looks like a good bet considering the form Alastair Cook is in. Mark Wood is fit and back in the team. His pace will be crucial when England visits Australia again in the future. Anderson is as breezy as ever. In fact, like an old fine wine, he is getting better and better with age. Even in the disaster of Ashes, he managed to pick 17 wickets at a respectable average of 27. Today at Hagley Oval, he also overcame Courtney Walsh to become the bowler to have bowled maximum number of deliveries by a pace bowler in tests. That is an excellent testament to his longevity in the game and his services to English cricket. Broad endured his toughest ever year in 2017, but seems to be back reasonably well as his performances in New Zealand show. Jonny Bairstow has become arguably their most reliable batsman.
On the downside, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes were disappointing. Woakes averages 61 with the ball overseas, which is ridiculously bad. Ali neither seems to be getting runs, nor pick up crucial wickets, which made him useful in the first place. Root has had 7 fifties this season and yet he failed to convert a single one of them into a hundred. Vince promises so much, yet he delivers so little. Mark Stoneman got a couple of starts in Ashes and looked good on a number of times. Even in this series he got two fifties, but time seems to be running out for him as well. Neither Stoneman nor Vince has nailed down their spots, though ECB is likely to stick with them for a while. They have experimented with Leach, Crane, Curran etc. but none of them have been very impressive. It will be interesting to see their starting XI in the coming summer.
There is just so much chaos that I can't possibly say. Serious changes are needed, otherwise touring teams next summer are going to give them a really hard time. I will watch from the sidelines as usual and wish them luck as always.
England finished their winter season today. Stats from this season are woeful. Played: 7. Won: 0, Lost: 5. Four of those losses were in Ashes and one was against the kiwis today. Lost both series. England leave Hagley oval tonight with same questions as they had when they first landed in Brisbane five months ago. Being denied by New Zealand's lower order meant they are now winless away from home in a record 13 matches. They have lost 5 of them by innings. That is bad even by England's standards.
Other than boxing day test, when Cooky saved England from whitewash and the performance in Christchurch this week, there is not much to show for during this whole dreadful season. From getting bowled out to 58 to losing by innings from 368-4 at WACA, this season had every ingredient of a nightmare. Stokesy was away for the Ashes, which had a huge impact on the series result, but there was none else to blame other than himself. He needs to learn and hopefully he will.
During this winter season, the performance of pacers other than Jimmy and Broad was absolutely stinking. While Broad and Anderson averaged 29 together, rest of the others averaged a whopping 72! You don't win many games when third, fourth and fifth bowlers average in excess of 70.
The team looks horrendously unstable. I love Cooky as much as anyone else, but 80% of his runs in last 20 innings have come in just 2 innings (243 against West Indies and 244* at MCG against Australia). He averaged less than 10 in this current series, which is simply not good enough for someone having scored more than 12,000 test runs. It is creating pressure on newbies like Stoneman. England would want him to come back with oodle of runs this summer. He is the best batsman in England and he has earned his right to call his time on career, but time also seems to be closing on him quickly.
While the white ball team is on a roll and arguably the best in the world right now, the test team in general looks abysmal. Trevor Bayliss is not having any answer to their overseas test woes. In my opinion, England cricket needs a fresh red ball coach and a new beginning starting with chopping and changing the coaching staff. ECB needs to prioritize Test cricket again. By focusing more on white ball after 2015 world cup, they seem to have forgotten about test cricket completely. Nothing seems to be working. The concern now is that England's overseas problems could start to erode a healthy home record that has propped up their Test standing over the last two years.
There are some silver linings from all this though. Malan looks like the find of the season. Vince was convincing on a number of occasions, though he still averages in the 20s after 13 games, but IMO he is worth the investment. Stoneman looks like a good bet considering the form Alastair Cook is in. Mark Wood is fit and back in the team. His pace will be crucial when England visits Australia again in the future. Anderson is as breezy as ever. In fact, like an old fine wine, he is getting better and better with age. Even in the disaster of Ashes, he managed to pick 17 wickets at a respectable average of 27. Today at Hagley Oval, he also overcame Courtney Walsh to become the bowler to have bowled maximum number of deliveries by a pace bowler in tests. That is an excellent testament to his longevity in the game and his services to English cricket. Broad endured his toughest ever year in 2017, but seems to be back reasonably well as his performances in New Zealand show. Jonny Bairstow has become arguably their most reliable batsman.
On the downside, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes were disappointing. Woakes averages 61 with the ball overseas, which is ridiculously bad. Ali neither seems to be getting runs, nor pick up crucial wickets, which made him useful in the first place. Root has had 7 fifties this season and yet he failed to convert a single one of them into a hundred. Vince promises so much, yet he delivers so little. Mark Stoneman got a couple of starts in Ashes and looked good on a number of times. Even in this series he got two fifties, but time seems to be running out for him as well. Neither Stoneman nor Vince has nailed down their spots, though ECB is likely to stick with them for a while. They have experimented with Leach, Crane, Curran etc. but none of them have been very impressive. It will be interesting to see their starting XI in the coming summer.
There is just so much chaos that I can't possibly say. Serious changes are needed, otherwise touring teams next summer are going to give them a really hard time. I will watch from the sidelines as usual and wish them luck as always.
