Andrew Strauss

DMC

Long time no post here, still watching cricket, just not on boards often enough.

The stage was set for something you really knew was going to happen. Today, we witnessed it.

India, with 600+ on the board, get 8 overs at England before the close of play. Out walks England's openers, Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss. 8 overs, flat pitch, glorious summers evening... block, block, block to the close.

Unless you are on Planet Strauss. We saw it so many times in the Ashes, where lightening stuck many times to this poor chap.... pulls it deep to long leg. Again.

He's gonna get slaughtered in the press, I reckon. He's back to the point where he lost his place to Ed Joyce in the ODI team in Australia, but whereas then he was "out of form", this looks like he's completely shot.

greg-h

I can understand the way you build your score brick by brick,But England continue to play defense which in my view is outdated,You can no longer play cricket that way. Duncan Fletcher got the blame for the WC performance but its the way they play cricket they go for singles not for boundaries until they have a look at the way they play England will never get into the latter stages of the WC

Marshy

greg-h wrote:

I can understand the way you build your score brick by brick,But England continue to play defense which in my view is outdated,You can no longer play cricket that way. Duncan Fletcher got the blame for the WC performance but its the way they play cricket they go for singles not for boundaries until they have a look at the way they play England will never get into the latter stages of the WC

Yeah but test cricket and 50 over cricket are two very different things. Its one thing going gung ho in a one day game during the first few overs and another being reckless in a 5 day contest when you should be playing for stumps.

TrueDub

greg-h wrote:

I can understand the way you build your score brick by brick,But England continue to play defense which in my view is outdated,You can no longer play cricket that way. Duncan Fletcher got the blame for the WC performance but its the way they play cricket they go for singles not for boundaries until they have a look at the way they play England will never get into the latter stages of the WC

You can't score boundaries when you're back in the dressing room, so it's vital to build your innings. Taking 4 or 5 singles an over is not only good scoring, it's intensely irritating to the fielding side, and good play all round. Boundaries are more flashy & better entertainment for the crowd, but big innings are built on solid foundations, and that means playing yourself in & scoring all kinds of runs.

Washout

just played a pretty bad shot tog et caught in the slips.

this guy is in trouble for his spot.