To be fair to the club, that’s probably why Davies was brought in as an opener. It just hasn’t quite worked out as planned.
The lower order can, and have, scored runs quite quickly but I agree we do seem to be always fighting to get back into the game rather than dictating it.
Interesting comments from Stokes yesterday regarding intent of County players.
Sibley really can't plod around of strike rate at 30-40 if he wants to get in that side. I tend to agree, not saying every player needs to score at a run a ball but we need our openers to set the tone
It's also interesting that after the Lancs game, Rhodes said he would rather take risks to win a game than to draw it.
Very much batting for the draw atm!
I wonder if the Stokes comments will have any affect on our approach for the rest of the season.
This is turgid at 2 runs per over. Not very positive at all. 133/2 after 63 overs. You'd normally expect at least 1 batting point after that amount of overs.
Problem with this approach is that two quick wickets and were in trouble, even though we would only be 4 down after 60+ overs.
I also think in this match it’s really apparent because of how freely Northants scored.
But we’ve seen this a lot this year with Sibley, Yates, Davies and Rhodes at times taking a lot of time to score not many. But it’s usually been mitigated by Hain and Burgess scoring a lot quite quickly.
I’m not sure what the benefit it, because it just produces problems down the line.
Not only for bonus points. But days like today, it allows the possibility of the new ball exposing the tail.
It’s fine if Benjamin, Rhodes and Davies go on, and accelerate to balance it out. But all have got out before posting a decent score.
Now you’ve got the possibility of 3 wickets with the new ball and you’re into quite a long tail. We saw what OHD did with the second new ball.
To be fair, Northants only scored quickly due to the lighting quick outfield. If the ball didn’t go directly to the fielder it became a boundary. I lost count of how many edges flashed through for 4. Yesterday the outfield was very slow paced.
I have an analyst pal who I think is just now starting to get paid for his work. Start of the season he was down on Warwickshire but he did make a point about the Bears being difficult to beat. As points for a draw have gradually increased, bonus points have become less important. Getting 400 off 110, therefore, is less important than batting time and taking a defeat out of the game, which does seem our plan B.
All well and good, this worked for us last season when we drew games we could have lost, until Norwell and Woakes came back in the Autumn, got wickets, and we won the crucial games. It's dull for the majority of the time though. I have just watched about four overs at lunch and seen two singles. Not going to rush back to it...
Poor stuff from us in this match injuries or otherwise.
We have scored so slowly that the 2nd new ball could easily dismantle the rest of our batting without us getting close to avoiding the follow on.
Negative mindset that has made for a turgid performance. The more balls you face, the more chance there is of getting out.
Northants are a very average side indeed but we are making them look pretty good.
Young Bethell is certainly having a tough baptism this season.
Bethall could do with going out on loan for the July championship games, particularly if we have Hain back
Yah, anything I said about batting long for the draw is independent of negative mindset and I agree with that. Of course the Clarion Call from Bwn Stokes yesterday is going to change all that.
meashambear wrote:
Poor stuff from us in this match injuries or otherwise.
We have scored so slowly that the 2nd new ball could easily dismantle the rest of our batting without us getting close to avoiding the follow on.
Negative mindset that has made for a turgid performance. The more balls you face, the more chance there is of getting out.
Northants are a very average side indeed but we are making them look pretty good.
From what Ben Stokes said, I think you need a balance in a Test team and I cannot see how he can equate the way you play as a means of getting into the team if you have a striking rate of 60-70 per 100 balls if your batting average is 25. The way England batted was unbelievable but their were a hell of a lot of edges, false shots that only just missed fielders and it reminded me of all the plaudits that Chris Gayle got for his 200+ v Zimbabwe in the 2015 world cup, whilst watching it, I lost count of the number of mishits that went for 6 and could have landed anywhere. It's great to watch but England must realise that they cannot bat like that on every occasion.
Burgess is brilliant this season.
Burgess seemed to be batting on a different pitch once again.
He wasn’t out of control. Very few false shots. No slogging. Just picked his gaps, took fielders on, and made it look very simple. Why was no else able to score at a similar rate?
Makes be wonder with all this slow batting and references to the England team, whether Sibley is eyeing a test recall. With the usual failure of the top half a dogged Boycott type character could be the perfect foil to get the team to gel and allow the others to blast away T20 style???
That was my point, you cannot have a batting line-up with 7 Bairstow/Stokes blazing away as it probably wouldn't work.
Has anything been said about why Miles is not bowling?
Fridays game maybe. I see Northants are scoring fast again.
"Has anything been said about why Miles is not bowling?"
HE can't bowl, he's keeping wicket :-)