Vaughan starts the excuses
In a webchat with Sun Online, England's captain Michael Vaughan anointed India as favourites for England's series against the hosts. He claimed that the English side was a very young one. While there is absolutely no doubt that India, at home, are expected to beat England, that bit about England being a young (presumably he means inexperienced) side needs some analysis.
People have to be realistic. Miracles don’t happen and we’re still a very young side. We beat Australia by playing great cricket on our home soil.I assume that England's preferred side for the tests would consist of eleven players picked from Trescothick, Strauss, Vaughan, Bell, Pietersen, Flintoff, Geraint Jones, Giles, Simon Jones, Udal (or Panesar), Hoggard and Harmison.
We are still a young side and if you want to be the best in the world you have to have all areas covered.
The total number of tests played by those twelve is in excess of 400 tests. An average of over 30 tests per player isn't bad, especially considering that 8 out of those 12 have played more than 20 tests, 6 have played more than 40 and 4 have played more than 50 tests.
Sorry Michael, that doesn't look an inexperienced lot to me, especially considering this same "inexperienced and young" bunch defeated Australia, South Africa and West Indies.
Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed -
| I think any bullishness Vaughan would have carried as a legacy from the Ashes was seriously dented in Pakistan. He's being cautious, but I agree that blaming the youthfulness of the side was not perhaps his most credible way of demonstrating more caution.
beowulf: Haha, but do you reckon Nagpur, Mohali and Bombay will have typical raging turners?
chris: Yes, it was quite a nice joke though :)
By 
Jagadish (20 Jan 2006, 7:20:00 pm)
beowulf: The last time when Mohali served up a track which wasn't a batting beauty was in 1999 when New Zealand rolled India over for 83 on the first day. Since then, teams average over 40 runs per wicket and score at over 3 an over, suggesting that the pitch continues to be close to a bowler's nightmare. The balance between spinners and [medium] pacers is pretty even, close to 50% each. As for Nagpur, I think as compensation for what happened against Australia, this time we'll see a turner while at the Wankhede, the wicket will be restored to the normal true pitch we normally see.
By Jagadish (21 Jan 2006, 12:02:00 am)
We'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. However, the moderators reserve the right to delete comments, especially those containing offensive or unsuitable language. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own cricket blog, but the moderators reserve the right to delete comments which only reference sites for viewing live streams.
Links within entries open in a new window. Some of the links may now be broken/not take you to the expected report since the original content providers may have archived/removed the contents. Some of the sites linked may require registration/subscription.
All opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. The authors' respective employers (past, present or future) are in no way connected to the opinions expressed here.
All pictures, photographs used are copyrights of the original owners. We do not intend to infringe on any copyright. Pictures and photographs are used here to merely accentuate and enhance the content value to our readers.
|
|
|
|
Post a Comment