Isnt 77% 'vast majority of the time'?but as I say, wicketkeeping (in fact fielding in general) is a completely different discipline to batting or bowling, and one where it's expected that the person get it right the vast majority of the time. .
In my book a wicketkeeper who has 3 abysmal Tests in 13, at any given point in their career, has had a shocking period.
I have a nice bridge for him to cross.Jeez, there's a couple of South Africans of British descent/parentage playing for England, get over it.
It's not really vast enough, considering how bad he is when he's having a shocker. I'm all in favour of Prior remaining in the side, but if we were told that he's going to perform that badly in 23% of tests he plays for the rest of his career, I'd get him out of the side for sure.Isnt 77% 'vast majority of the time'?
Surely you can't seriously mean this? Do you really mean that a Test bowler can't be expected to bowl near enough what he wants to near enough every delivery? I would expect them to do so. And yet when they're out of form, and/or under pressure, it can happen a lot. Think about the number of thigh-high full tosses all of England's bowlers bowled in the 2nd Pro20 game the other day. It's not much to ask that a bowler pitches the ball the vast majority of the time, but they failed even to do that. It happens.wicketkeeping (in fact fielding in general) is a completely different discipline to batting or bowling, and one where it's expected that the person get it right the vast majority of the time. Whereas no-one has ever remotely come close to expecting a bowler to bowl what he's trying to bowl near enough every delivery, nor a batsman to pick the right shot for every delivery he faces.
I was thinking more ~95%+ TBH.Isnt 77% 'vast majority of the time'?
OK, first a few of things: I am making absolutely no claims about Kieswetter's merits or demerits as a wicketkeeper, I know next to nothing about how good or otherwise he is. My comments have purely been aimed at Prior's wicketkeeping in itself. And his bad wicketkeeping in those matches was more than merely a few missed chances - in the lattermost Test in fact I don't off the top of my head recall any drops at all, just a whole load of utterly straightforward takes being missed. And also, the reason we "ignore" the 5 most important matches of his career (and in fact the 2 before that as well which most people have not-surprisingly brushed-over) is because my comment related to his wicketkeeping up to this summer - that of this summer is completely irrelevant to the point I'm making.Surely you can't seriously mean this? Do you really mean that a Test bowler can't be expected to bowl near enough what he wants to near enough every delivery? I would expect them to do so. And yet when they're out of form, and/or under pressure, it can happen a lot. Think about the number of thigh-high full tosses all of England's bowlers bowled in the 2nd Pro20 game the other day. It's not much to ask that a bowler pitches the ball the vast majority of the time, but they failed even to do that. It happens.
Luckily for bowlers and batsmen, bad form is self-limiting. A bowler is taken out of the attack; a batsman is dismissed.
In Prior's case we're talking about 3 games out of 13 (which is to ignore, of course, the 5 most important matches of the lot). And what we're really talking about is maybe half a dozen dropped catches (I haven't counted) and a few more clumsy takes in the course of literally thousands of deliveries. And it so happens that a couple of those drops were particularly expensive, but that's no reflection on his keeping (let's not forget golden boy Craig Kieswetter's two dropped catches this season which cost over 500 runs between them.)
Anyhow if any of this sounds as though I reckon that Prior is, has ever been, or ever will be, a top-class keeper, that's not what I mean. All I'm trying to say is that he has been treated pretty harshly for the mistakes that he made.
Well technically you're right, but it's important to recognise that the point you're making itself involves an artificial dissection of Prior's record. You have left out of account the '09 Ashes (and for good measure you're not even credited that with being evidence of significant improvement). It reminds me of "Apart from 2004, Steve Harmison has always been crap", or perhaps "Apart from 708 specific deliveries, Shane Warne has never been a penetrative Test bowler". Yes these things are true, but the things you choose to leave out can tend to make the subsequent discussion quite misleading.the reason we "ignore" the 5 most important matches of his career (and in fact the 2 before that as well which most people have not-surprisingly brushed-over) is because my comment related to his wicketkeeping up to this summer - that of this summer is completely irrelevant to the point I'm making.
I don't think so. My very first post on the matter, and in fact several subsequent ones, have said that it is possible that Prior is improving (\has improved) and that if he has, great, because he's apparently a pretty damn good batsman, and if he can\has become an acceptable Test wicketkeeper, England have a very useful player indeed on their hands.Well technically you're right, but it's important to recognise that the point you're making itself involves an artificial dissection of Prior's record. You have left out of account the '09 Ashes (and for good measure you're not even credited that with being evidence of significant improvement). It reminds me of "Apart from 2004, Steve Harmison has always been crap", or perhaps "Apart from 708 specific deliveries, Shane Warne has never been a penetrative Test bowler". Yes these things are true, but the things you choose to leave out can tend to make the subsequent discussion quite misleading.
Thats obvious by watching school sports in either country in the space of a few years.. The difference is scary..Fact is the amount of foreign players we have in our does make ENG a bit of laughing stock to other nations & it further highlights the underying factor that our youth system is weak here. England aren't producing enough local talent right now & i'm not how that problem can be fixed in the coming years.
Foreign-raised players maybe, but foreign-born merely makes a laughing-stock of those who might attempt to laugh at it. The UK is a popular destination of migration and someone who's lived in England from the age of 6 having been born in South Africa (such as Andrew Strauss) is no more or less British than someone born there. Foreign-born, UK-raised players playing cricket for England has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the cricket system and everything to do with the country at large.Fact is the amount of foreign players we have in our does make ENG a bit of laughing stock to other nations
Yea anyone who doesn't call who doesn't call him English is an ass. Thats like saying Hussain & Cowdrey are Indian. KP, Morgan, Trott fall into this category.Foreign-raised players maybe, but foreign-born merely makes a laughing-stock of those who might attempt to laugh at it. The UK is a popular destination of migration and someone who's lived in England from the age of 6 having been born in South Africa (such as Andrew Strauss) is no more or less British than someone born there.
It is a part of our culture yea. But foreigners see it as "England got to depend on immigrants to come in for them to get talent in their sports" & its true. As i've said before, cricket for example is seen soo much as posch sport, black people are not interested & majority of the Asians dont want to represent us. Added to fact that coaching at youth level is way below the standards of other countries.Foreign-born, UK-raised players playing cricket for England has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the cricket system and everything to do with the country at large.
\_/ about his appearences for Australia - he's South African.No more than Kepler Wessels playing for South Africa was, or Sammy Guillen and Grant Elliott for New Zealand, or Brendan Nash for West Indies, or several other cases. There has always been the odd instance of a player making a conscious decision to switch his allegiances.
Whether this should be allowed, and whether much longer residence qualifications should be imposed, is a moot point and one that can be questioned for a long while, but there's no good reason to single-out England in terms of "imports". It's not even a case of any one team importing players - the players make their own choices of where they want to go.