Yes Gregory a genuine opening bowler at county level, whereas Ealham first or second change, like some of those other 90s "new-Bothams". Gregory a level below as a bat, however.
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England Player Watch
- Thread starter Molehill
- Start date
White was a great fifth bowler in Asia. Did well in the Pakistan and SL tour in the early 00s if I recall. Could really rev his pace up and had a nice round the wicket angle to the left handers. Allowed England to play Giles and Croft and still have two good pacers. Like most of the England all rounders of that era, they were 'moment' cricketers who would produce a great performance every now and then but a lot of dross in-between. I suppose Chris Lewis should've been the real standout all rounder but just didn't have the mentality unfortunately.
Over the years we've been blessed with 3 outstanding all rounders in Botham, Flintoff and now Stokes.
In the times when we've not had one of them, we've had to play people like Ealham, Lewis, Pringle etc.
All very decent players but not really at the level required.
Having Stokes fit and firing with the ball this summer is vital to our chances. If he can't bowl, then it's hard to see us winning.
In the times when we've not had one of them, we've had to play people like Ealham, Lewis, Pringle etc.
All very decent players but not really at the level required.
Having Stokes fit and firing with the ball this summer is vital to our chances. If he can't bowl, then it's hard to see us winning.
Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
*Giles and Salisbury
Chin Music
State Captain
Ollie Pope scored 91 for Surrey. I can’t help but comment that this inability to convert is something that afflicts him too much in international cricket. That said batting isn’t very easy across the country at the moment and it has kept his team in the match.
wpdavid
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
That was in the Pakistan leg of the 2000-01 winter. If memory serves, Kevin was right about Croft replacing Salisbury in Sri Lanka.
wpdavid
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
He fell to Abbas with the second new ball. I don't think that failing to convert has been an issue in county games, especially at The Oval. And as you say, he kept Surrey in the match in tricky conditions against a very good county attack. Until Abbott's end-of-innings slog, I think the eight Surrey batsmen after Pope had contributed about 80 runs.
Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
kevinw said:
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Haha I don't really think scoring 91 instead of 100 is exactly his biggest problem. It's all the scores between 20 and 60 that are annoying. You'd take him converting his 20s into 90s.
grecian
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Gregory should be in the one-day Squad, but not good enough for Tests. I'm not sure the guys we tend to pick for ODIs are any good, or are not exactly fit most of the time.
His batting average looks worse than it is as he basically couldn't buy a run for his first few seasons, was very odd as he was considered more a batting all-rounder when he was playing yoof. He was hugely hyped and though he's obviously had a fine county career he never quite lived up to it, as Brumbers says maybe injuries hit him like so many of Englands bowlers.
His batting average looks worse than it is as he basically couldn't buy a run for his first few seasons, was very odd as he was considered more a batting all-rounder when he was playing yoof. He was hugely hyped and though he's obviously had a fine county career he never quite lived up to it, as Brumbers says maybe injuries hit him like so many of Englands bowlers.
HeathDavisSpeed
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Lewis Gregory. Well, he's no Matthew Bulbeck.
Chin Music
State Captain
Well he’s tonned up in the second innings with a quick scoring century to boot and seen his team home. I have never questioned his talent, having watched him prior to his international debut but I would prefer him to score more tons at the highest level.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Not converting starts is a legitimate problem.
Not crossing an arbitrary milestone isn't.
When do you arbitrarily draw the line on what is a good start and one that has been "converted"?
Nintendo
Cricketer Of The Year
Match and situation dependent IMO. James Vince nicking off after a 40 in a series like the recent border Gavaskar or the last time India toured SA where 200-250 was a more then competitive score is much different then him doing the same thing in a 400 par game.
I personally would call marnus's 40 odd's marnus in the first half of the last border Gavaskar series less if a wasted start then the 100 and out he got in the 4th test of the 2021 series despite him scoring alot more in the later scenario.
There will always be match context but as a general rule of thumb, I'd suggest you want your top order batters to convert their 30, 40 and 50-somethings into centuries as much as possible. It's those types of innings that hold the team innings together, pushing it on to something competitive. Perhaps compare Marnus's 49 with Rohit's 120 in the first GS match earlier this year.
Anyhow, off topic although the reason it gets raised in this thread is that recent England's batters have been criminally bad at converting good starts into centuries until the past year.
Chin Music
State Captain
I see Pope as a world class talent, but he is clearly quite some way short of being a world class player. I remember really thinking he looked great at the Oval re SA last summer but got out when he had got to 60 odd but then got out somewhat carelessly. He has done OK, purely since when he has been moved to 3, but he needs a fair few big scores to really kick on and really make the grade. He has had a few missed opportunities and he didn't do so well as the "project" player, but has definitely improved since say the tour of Australia nearly 18 months back.
