In a matter of hours SA will be test #1

[mikesiva]

KP wants to play ipl next year instead of tests against new zealand....that is at the heart of englands problems.

[Arnik]

If england selection reflects a certain stability at the moment, it does not establish that that has always been the case.

ISP issues precluded me responding before now.

I never said that was always the case - I only dealing with the here and now.

also england has 60+ millions of people..10 times the westindian poplation and a lot more to choose from. england does not need to stick with players for any duration unless they are actually good.

You are not following the English game so I don't know why Bairstow's inclusion against SA should come as a surprise.

[Arnik]

and batsmen like cook, bell for eg are exactly what i have always thought of them..absolute bully in the case of cook..mediocrity in the case of Bell..exposed by good saffie bowling.
strouse is ok..tuff..hard trier but not a great batsman.
properly selected and led our westindian team team right now, acclimatised to englsh conditions can beat this englsih side on its best day. ..give it lots of trouble every day

In 83 tests Cook has a test average of 47.85. His away average is 51.50.

In 80 tests Bell has a test average of 47.25. His away average is 41.11.

Your conclusion that Cook is a "bully" and Bell is mediocre has no substance.

The SA attack is pretty good - Steyn, Morkel, and Philander are by some way the best pace attack in the world and if you think batting against them is easy then dream on.

Whatever WI team you care to pick could stay in England for a whole year and they WOULD NOT beat this English team in England.

The WI pace attack is not even close to the SA one.

[mapoui]

Your conclusion that Cook is a "bully" and Bell is mediocre has no substance.

yu are sweet! Cook failed what 6 times in this series..did he score a fifty?

bell, cook, strauss have feasted on weak westindies....a declined australia last ashes what happened in the emirates last ime aganst pakistan?

yuh see when the going gets tuff real batsmen stand up. those cant stand up to Morkel and company who are decent, good..but thats it.

I dont see no wasim akram or w younis in there..no lillee, thommo, hadlee, imran, marshall etc in there,,no ambrose.

Bully tahst what they are..especially cook. when they have to face tuffies they do not score.

[Arnik]

yu are sweet! Cook failed what 6 times in this series..did he score a fifty?

bell, cook, strauss have feasted on weak westindies....a declined australia last ashes what happened in the emirates last ime aganst pakistan?

yuh see when the going gets tuff real batsmen stand up. those cant stand up to Morkel and company who are decent, good..but thats it.

I dont see no wasim akram or w younis in there..no lillee, thommo, hadlee, imran, marshall etc in there,,no ambrose.

Bully tahst what they are..especially cook. when they have to face tuffies they do not score.

I do not know what you are smoking. You admitted that you have not WATCHED any of this series.

As a unit this SA pace attack is pretty good and Steyn will go down in history as a great fast bowler.

Cook's scores in this series are : 115, 0, 24, 46, 7, 3.

Very good bowling will (generally) always get the better of batting. You like ancient history so remember '76. Or if you want something of more recent vintage just check what Steyn did to the WI the last time SA toured.

[mapoui]

Cook's scores in this series are : 115, 0, 24, 46, 7, 3.

I stand slightly corrected. admittedly I did not watch much of the series.....

but in all honesty armik, dat is a grand total of 195 runs in 6 innings for a grand average of 32.

I about the 115....but how much damage does 195 for 32 in 6, do to my contention of bully

very little

I normally absorb cooks huge scores by osmosis, in passing. I did not obliquely observe any this time. my bad

but by his standard against minnow he shud have been capable of more when england needed more now..like Lamb used to give aginst the westindies monster attack

I like the kid Bairstow however. he was a pleasant sooprise even if he is english!

[mapoui]

Whatever WI team you care to pick could stay in England for a whole year and they WOULD NOT beat this English team in England.

brilliant comment! great improvement. you see what rubbin' shoulders with 'star' posters can do for yu!

The WI pace attack is not even close to the SA one.

but wait! hold on here a minuite. Roach is close to Morkel in Class and could be as good as Stine' in a year. he still has upside.

a fully fit and motivated Rampaul can skittle early wickets against any batting line-up in the world.

in this order: Delorn Johnson, Jason Holder and Shannon Garbiel..but especially Johnson... we have coming world beaters who will not take long to be among heaps of wickets.

the only fly in that ointment is a collective of Sammy, Hunter, Butts, Otis Gibson..extremely poor management that could abort prematurely by administrative folly, any quantity of talent in their hands.

properly managed...in at most 2 years but likely in one.... westindies pace will be ripping through the world again..just about the time we have to face the saffies again.

so hold on morks, stine and vernie mih boys. we soon come

[Arnik]

I stand slightly corrected. admittedly I did not watch much of the series.....
but in all honesty armik, dat is a grand total of 195 runs in 6 innings for a grand average of 32.
I about the 115....but how much damage does 195 for 32 in 6, do to my contention of bully

I never said that Cook had a great series. In this series the SA pace attack was pretty good so there is no shame in having a below par average.

but by his standard against minnow he shud have been capable of more when england needed more now..like Lamb used to give aginst the westindies monster attack

Folks tend to rate players by what they do against you. A commentator was recently talking about how two bowlers were asked their opinion of a batsman - one said that he was good and the other that he was rubbish. As the commentator said the probable explanation is that the batsman made runs against one bowler but not the other,

I like the kid Bairstow however. he was a pleasant sooprise even if he is english!

He was a surprise only to you!!

[Arnik]

but wait! hold on here a minuite. Roach is close to Morkel in Class and could be as good as Stine' in a year. he still has upside.

You did not read carefully - I said the SA pace attack AS A UNIT. Roach is world class. Only time will tell whether he moves into the great category.

a fully fit and motivated Rampaul can skittle early wickets against any batting line-up in the world.

I rather not deal in what ifs.

in this order: Delorn Johnson, Jason Holder and Shannon Garbiel..but especially Johnson... we have coming world beaters who will not take long to be among heaps of wickets.

What you say may well come to pass but I am dealing in the present and the present has SA sitting at the top of the test rankings with the best pace attack in the world.

One last point. In this series Philander took 12 wickets, Steyn 15 and Morkel 11. You have to think of them as a unit with each playing his part at various times. WI currently only have Roach.

Have you ever watched Philander bowl? The man is very good - he gives you nothing to hit and he is there probing away - excellent bowling.

[mapoui]

I never said that Cook had a great series. In this series the SA pace attack was pretty good so there is no shame in having a below par average.

let me tell you how I see it goes:

Cook scored a ton fus' time up. he is studied, worked out, plannedd for and plan effected. it works.

Cooks scoring plumments from the next innings.

he tries to work out the saffie tacics and is modeartely successful second test but is totally defeated in the third. the pitch helps a bit and dat could also have been decisive.

yu see it all comes down to tactics...what your opposition does and you ability to counter. thats it..pure and simple.

your opposition is skillful and probes you, make you work hard to survive. so the batsman who deals with it is the better one, the good one..the one who can really bat and is not a bully.

now I wish Bairstow came in earlier. then we wud have had a good idea of how good he is..if he had scored once again after the saffies sat and worked him out.

they were seing him for the first time and he scored against them. if he had played 2 tests and scored both times we would be sure he is indeed a classy lil playert.

think he is anyway but still need a lil bit more corroboration