James Troughton

[Arjun]

I don't know what went wrong, but the form of James Troughton in the matches that he played was awful. I had heard he has a lot of potential and as I had seen, he's also a good fielder, but with such a disastrous start to his career, every expert gave up on him. Comments like "I hope he stays in Warwickshire" (Boycott), "He's not good enough to continue!" (Deano) and "Last chance" (Ravi Shastri) became common and now he's gone. I usually support the younger generation, bu even I had lost all hope.

That does leave question marks about England's younger generation of players. One can accept it, even at their best, the established (and best) players (except for Gough and Thorpe) are not that great, and against the Australians, pathetic. But if the younger players are that bad, it's not good for English cricket, is it?

 

[badgerhair]

I don't know what went wrong, but the form of James Troughton in the matches that he played was awful. I had heard he has a lot of potential and as I had seen, he's also a good fielder, but with such a disastrous start to his career, every expert gave up on him. Comments like "I hope he stays in Warwickshire" (Boycott), "He's not good enough to continue!" (Deano) and "Last chance" (Ravi Shastri) became common and now he's gone. I usually support the younger generation, bu even I had lost all hope.

That does leave question marks about England's younger generation of players. One can accept it, even at their best, the established (and best) players (except for Gough and Thorpe) are not that great, and against the Australians, pathetic. But if the younger players are that bad, it's not good for English cricket, is it?

I don't know what went wrong, but the form of L Balaji in the matches that he played was awful. I had heard that he has a lot of potential, but with such a disastrous start to his career, every expert gave up on him.

That does leave question marks about India's younger generation of players. One can accept it, even at their best, the established (and best) players (except for Tendulkar and Dravid) are not that great, and against the Australians, pathetic. But if the younger players are that bad, it's not good for Indian cricket, is it?

(repeat above paragraphs as necessary with the relevant names changed for every country's team, naming the most recent clueless-looking debutant)

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Rik]

Hahaha classy there Mike!

 

[Neil Pickup]

Re: Re: James Troughton

I don't know what went wrong, but the form of L Balaji in the matches that he played was awful.

He was that impressive?

ODI Economy Rate: 11.00
Test Strike Rate: 402.00

 

[Arjun]

Sure, Balaji had a few bad matches, but he was given very little opportunity.

Troughton , on the other hand, was tried NUMEROUS times and yet he failed.

Was the Balaji post made up by the one-man Troughton fan club?

 

[Rik]

Sure, Balaji had a few bad matches, but he was given very little opportunity.

Troughton , on the other hand, was tried NUMEROUS times and yet he failed.

Was the Balaji post made up by the one-man Troughton fan club?

1st off, Troughton was probably picked a bit early, he's a talented player and I'm sure he'll come good in the end. When I've seen him play on TV for Warwickshire he's looked damn good.

Troughton played 6 ODIs, batted in 5 of them, batted much too high for someone as innexperianced as he is as well. Collingwood had a poor start against Pakistan and Australia and look where he is now. Troughton had to play Pakistan and South Africa, not 2 of the easiest teams to bat against. But he's still only played 29 FC matches and 44 OD ones including those 6 ODIs. He's still only 24!

Balaji was smashed everywhere on his ODI debut and I doubt another chance will come quickly after that. In his 2 Tests he managed one wicket, most people really couldn't understand why he was picked for the 2nd Test after doing nothing in the 1st.

If we are looking for the oddest comment on a young player, you'd be hard pressed to top this:

Hafeez was continously picked by the Pakistani selectors despite poor form in his latest ODI series. After 3 Tests he averaged 42.80 as an opener, and 22 ODIs he averaged 19.04.

I think it was Inzamam who said that after this poor form he doubted weather Hafeez would ever play for Pakistan again! He's still young! Things can change! Yet here is the captain writing him off. Not only that but the selectors kept picking him even when he was obviously struggling with form and in need of a break. There are many confusing things in this world, but the Pakistani selection panel is one we will never understand...

 

[luckyeddie]

Was the Balaji post made up by the one-man Troughton fan club?

Don't think so.

I reckon that he was just identifying the fact that every country produces players who don't quite make it or have a shaky start - how many Indians, West Indians, even Australians would you like me to name who fall into that category?

 

[badgerhair]

Sure, Balaji had a few bad matches, but he was given very little opportunity.

Troughton , on the other hand, was tried NUMEROUS times and yet he failed.

Half a dozen one-dayers in the space of a month is not very numerous. Balaji has played more days of international cricket than Troughton has, with possibly even less success.

Was the Balaji post made up by the one-man Troughton fan club?

I hold no brief for Jim Troughton. I've heard the odd good thing about him, like a couple of dozen other young English cricketers.

I'm much more a fan of his grandad, but there are thousands of us in that particular boat.

I chose Balaji because you're an Indian. Had you been a South African, I'd have taken the **** out of Charl Willoughby, the only bowler ever to make me nostalgic for Alan Mullallallallally. Sri Lankan, probably Eric Upashantha, easily the worst bowler picked as a front-liner I've ever seen. And so on. And if Troughton had been a foreigner, I'd have taken the **** out of an Englishman by reference to comedy acts such as Aftab Habib and Jimmy Ormond.

If Troughton were the only fish in the sea, I'd be very worried. But he isn't, and until we've been through the other half-dozen who look likely candidates and founf them all wanting, I won't presume that we're heading for disaster.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[marc71178]

One can accept it, even at their best, the established (and best) players (except for Gough and Thorpe) are not that great, and against the Australians, pathetic.

Oh, I remember Vaughan in particular being pathetic against Australia.

 

[gibbsnsmith]

i suppose he didnt *deserve* to get his runs.


I actually dont remember if he gave off many chances..

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

p.s. some of these people from CricInfo are a tad <fillinyourself>

Unnecessary.

 

[marc71178]

Was that an attempt to fill in the blank or a reprimand Liam?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The latter (unless I subconsciously have some issues which came out there).

 

[gibbsnsmith]

i was thinking of a word, bit more along the lines of "thinking outside of the box" or something similar. Not everything i say (hardly anything actually) are meant or are offensive, the perceptions are always different. *Sigh*



Moving on, Jamie Troughton seems a good enough player in the county circuit anyhow...

 

[Langeveldt]

Worryingly, I dont see who in the England youth setup is capable of being a class act at test level (batting wise).... Maybe Ian Bell comes close...

The most recent succeses in tests have been almost failures in the CC, Trescothick and Vaughan...

There hasnt been a Graham Smith or a Ricky Ponting, who have just looked destined to do well in the big time from a young age... Lack of talent dare I say? Are they all playing football?

 

[Rik]

That does leave question marks about England's younger generation of players. One can accept it, even at their best, the established (and best) players (except for Gough and Thorpe) are not that great, and against the Australians, pathetic. But if the younger players are that bad, it's not good for English cricket, is it?

Oh yes of course, Gough and Thorpe appauling against Australia! Well Darren Gough has taken a hat-trick against Australia in Australia and his overall record is 74 wickets in 17 Tests at 30.81 with best figures of 6-41. Not the most amazing figures but show me an Indian bowler with that kind of record against Australia other than Harbajan who has only played one series against them. 74 wickets at 30.81, not amazing but nowhere near pathetic.

Next we come to Thorpe. Now here you make your oddest statement, since Thorpe has the best record of any current English batsman against Australia other than Vaughan, who has only played one series against them. Thorpe has scored 1235 runs in 16 matches at an average of 45.74 with a highest score of 138, 3 100s and 8 50s. His average compares favourably with his career average of 42.61

Thorpe actually has a higher average against Australia than he does over his entire Test career! And that is supposed to be pathetic? Here's a hint, if your going to make big statements, check your stats 1st.

 

[Richard]

i suppose he didnt *deserve* to get his runs.


I actually dont remember if he gave off many chances..

He was out on 19 at Adelaide - everyone knew that except the idiot in the Third-Umpire's chair.
His other two big scores in the series were thoroughly good innings'. He was "dropped" on 100-and-something in his 183 at The SCG but I'd like to have seen anyone else do better than Martyn did.

 

[Richard]

And if Troughton had been a foreigner, I'd have taken the **** out of an Englishman by reference to comedy acts such as Aftab Habib and Jimmy Ormond.

If you ask me, Habib got a raw deal. To describe him as a comedy act is just a touch unfair. I was glad he was dropped when he was, but he has a good FC-record and to only play 3 Test innings isn't really a fair chance.
Similar to Ed Smith, though he got a bit more of a chance than Habib did. But a player who, by all accounts, should have suceeded but I'm glad failed as I think there are better players around (Thorpe in Smith's case, Atherton in Habib's).
As for James Ormond, well - a comedy act indeed. How such a rubbish bowler got so many wickets in the last 2 seasons is completely beyond me.

 

[Richard]

Regarding Jamie Troughton (if I remember rightly he was actually christened Jamie and has never been called James); for me he was picked for the wrong form of the game. His List-A OD record isn't great (not as poor as some, but not something suggesting ODI calibre) and his selection for ODIs was IMO a bad idea.
His FC form suffered a bit, too, after The NatWest Series. If he keeps his FC form up when a Test-place becomes available, he surely must be one of the first in-line.

 

[Rik]

If you ask me, Habib got a raw deal. To describe him as a comedy act is just a touch unfair. I was glad he was dropped when he was, but he has a good FC-record and to only play 3 Test innings isn't really a fair chance.
Similar to Ed Smith, though he got a bit more of a chance than Habib did. But a player who, by all accounts, should have suceeded but I'm glad failed as I think there are better players around (Thorpe in Smith's case, Atherton in Habib's).
As for James Ormond, well - a comedy act indeed. How such a rubbish bowler got so many wickets in the last 2 seasons is completely beyond me.

I'm not glad Ed Smith failed, because nearly every shot I saw him play looked total quality. He looked the most stylish batsman I've seen for a long time, playing for England, and that even includes Michael Vaughan. Smith had that Mark Waugh esq ease of stroke and time to play the shot, Vaughan has time but seems to put too much effort into how the shot looks, for example his pull shot he will stand there for ages after he's played it.