GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
So this morning I was discussing last night's events with a colleague who hadn't seen the scoreboard. Told him of Ambrose's ton and how he got out the next over. He was hardly surprised. And why would he be?
We have, batting as I type, two batsmen with good records and in their early Test careers both scored a lot of centuries. Seventeen between them in their first 50(ish) Tests - yet neither has passed 150. From memory, Cook's HS is 127 (I was there when he scored that ) and Strauss's is around the 147 mark.
So I thought I would look into this over the last three years, starting with the 2005 Ashes. Here are the centuries scored since then:
In this list there are 42 centuries. Only two of these have been turned into doubles, and just eight have been over 150 (including the two doubles). Also, there are only five not outs, four of which are from Bell/Prior batting at 6/7.
When passing 100 in this period, our batsmen average 142.68 per dismissal. This is actually a lot higher than I was expecting...however, i think if you look at our batsmen aside from KP/Colly, there seems to be a psychological trend of 100...job done. I believe that this is a major factor in our failure to dominate games in this period. We need players going on to 170, 180, and it just isn't happening. Cook is a great batsmen and I would never criticise a player who gets a century but getting out in the 100s and 110s...he should be doing better, carrying his bat through the innings and scoring a double century from time to time.
Do I expect too much or is this fair enough? There are 19 scores below 120 in my list, admittedly including Bell's not outs, but still...I think this is an area we need to improve in. Thoughts?
We have, batting as I type, two batsmen with good records and in their early Test careers both scored a lot of centuries. Seventeen between them in their first 50(ish) Tests - yet neither has passed 150. From memory, Cook's HS is 127 (I was there when he scored that ) and Strauss's is around the 147 mark.
So I thought I would look into this over the last three years, starting with the 2005 Ashes. Here are the centuries scored since then:
Code:
Vaughan V Australia 166
Strauss V Australia 106
Flintoff V Australia 102
Strauss V Australia 129
Pietersen V Australia 158
Trescothick V Pakistan 193
Bell V Pakistan 115
Pietersen V Pakistan 100
Collingwood V India 134*
Cook V India 104
Strauss V India 128
Pietersen V Sri Lanka 158
Trescothick V Sri Lanka 106
Pietersen V Sri Lanka 142
Cook V Pakistan 105
Collingwood V Pakistan 186
Bell V Pakistan 100*
Strauss V Pakistan 128
Cook V Pakistan 127
Bell V Pakistan 106*
Pietersen V Pakistan 135
Bell V Pakistan 119
Strauss V Pakistan 116
Collingwood V Australia 206
Pietersen V Australia 158
Cook V Australia 116
Cook V West Indies 105
Collingwood V West Indies 111
Bell V West Indies 109*
Prior V West Indies 126*
Pietersen V West Indies 109
Vaughan V West Indies 103
Pietersen V West Indies 226
Cook V West Indies 106
Collingwood V West Indies 128
Collingwood V India 134
Pietersen V India 134
Vaughan V India 124
Pietersen V India 101
Cook V Sri Lanka 118
Ambrose V New Zealand 102
When passing 100 in this period, our batsmen average 142.68 per dismissal. This is actually a lot higher than I was expecting...however, i think if you look at our batsmen aside from KP/Colly, there seems to be a psychological trend of 100...job done. I believe that this is a major factor in our failure to dominate games in this period. We need players going on to 170, 180, and it just isn't happening. Cook is a great batsmen and I would never criticise a player who gets a century but getting out in the 100s and 110s...he should be doing better, carrying his bat through the innings and scoring a double century from time to time.
Do I expect too much or is this fair enough? There are 19 scores below 120 in my list, admittedly including Bell's not outs, but still...I think this is an area we need to improve in. Thoughts?