Couple of questions

Just wondered

1. How good do we think Joe Root could be? This is off the top of my head but I think he has a higher average and more 100s than both Lara and Tendulkar after a similar amount of tests. I'm not saying R > L > T but does he have the potential to perhaps end up being, say, Ponting's level?

2. The ridiculous run rate of that innings. Has 20-20 actually improved test cricket (faster scoring, more adventure, faster totals, more results etc), rather than destroyed it (technique, falling crowds etc) as we all feared, many years ago in the mists of time?

Cheers. Hope all are well.

Not saying sr of > 80 didn't happen before 20/20 but is it happening more often in tests nowadays?

He's as good as he wants to be, the little scamp. You just want to pinch his cheek and put him on your knee

Welcome back, Triple-L!

Lil' Joseph has certainly changed his tune in the last 18 months. He used to crab along like no-one's business, becalmed for hours on end due to lack of front foot shots.

So, yeah, I think playing in other formats probably has developed his game in a positive way.

How good can he be? Possibly even as good as Ian Bell. He, too, was once in the form of his life.

How often do we identify young English batsmen as "potentially great" only for them to suffer a massive and semi-permanent form slump around the age of 30 (when they should be in their prime).

He needs his workload managed. Already he's showing signs of having a dodgy back, and he, Buttler, and Stokes are the three England players who are playing all formats of the game at international level. They'll need taking care of*




*So no doubt the ECB will burn them all out within three years.

No doubt, in the fullness of time, he will be known as the great nephew.

Scoring rates are certainly on the upward trend on average. Shorter boundaries are helping in addition to T20 but sometimes the fields set are quite attacking too. Root scored a lot of runs early yesterday while Clarke was understandly attacking.

It's just begging the question though, Red -> Pakistan?

Red wrote:Scoring rates are certainly on the upward trend on average. Shorter boundaries are helping in addition to T20 but sometimes the fields set are quite attacking too. Root scored a lot of runs early yesterday while Clarke was understandly attacking.

Really? I remember in the 2001 Ashes, Aus were scoring at four an over on average. Sehwag was belting it everywhere over 10 years ago, Gilchrist was doing his thing around that time as well.......Remember Edgbaston 2005? England made 400 in 70 overs on the first day. Scoring quickly in tests is hardly a recent phenomenon,

I reckon the average run rate in tests around the world be about the same now as it was 10 years ago.

Apart from the bats and ropes, a new attacking style of captaincy and play in general certainly pre-dates T20.

Dello wrote:Lil' Joseph has certainly changed his tune in the last 18 months. He used to crab along like no-one's business, becalmed for hours on end due to lack of front foot shots.

So, yeah, I think playing in other formats probably has developed his game in a positive way.

How good can he be? Possibly even as good as Ian Bell. He, too, was once in the form of his life.

We all know he will eventually take the captaincy, have a slump in batting form, probably play well over 100 Tests but end up averaging mid-40s like all the other recent England not-quite-world-greats... that's just the way it works here!

I was only half listening,but apparently Root's average in tests is the highest for any England batsman since 1968. Presumably since Ken Barrington last played a test.

What's amazing is England earmarked him for greatness before he'd even played a game for Yorkshire. They were sniffing around him for ages, adding him to various squads, unofficially, to net and gain some experience in such rarefied company.

I don't think he'd pulled up any trees in youth cricket. But someone somewhere (Andy Flower?) identified him as a champion in the making and I guess they're feeling pretty smug right now.

Very unusual for the English system to get anything right. Must have been a clerical error or something.

Dello wrote:What's amazing is England earmarked him for greatness before he'd even played a game for Yorkshire. They were sniffing around him for ages, adding him to various squads, unofficially, to net and gain some experience in such rarefied company.

I don't think he'd pulled up any trees in youth cricket. But someone somewhere (Andy Flower?) identified him as a champion in the making and I guess they're feeling pretty smug right now.

Very unusual for the English system to get anything right. Must have been a clerical error or something.

Perhaps they went for the wrong brother. Poor old Billy Root must have hawked himself round half the F/C County Second XI's (ours included) looking for a gig.

Made 166* for Notts 2nds against Direbyshire a couple of weeks back... bizarrely, his two FC appearances to date came for different counties against the same Mostly Crap Cricketing University (that is what it stands for, right?) in the space of a week.

It was about two years ago he came our way,and if he couldn't get a game then,he must be really crap.

Maybe he needs to find a different niche to his more illustrious brother, rather like Jamie Murray...

On his twitter a/c,he's a "full-time abuser of James Gregg." So perhaps he has found a niche for himself. If that's what they are calling it these days.

He's been an England sub fielder before. Maybe the man for this year's crucial run out of the Aussie captain?

Nah, I'm betting on an embarrassing hit wicket for Pup.

Basil wrote:Nah, I'm betting on an embarrassing hit wicket for Pup.

Like when Graeme Smith trod on his stumps after scoring back to back doubles over here? I was at Trent Bridge that day and fully expected to witness the first half of yet another...

Further to this subject, there's an interesting article on the bbc about the speeding up of long form cricket for anyone who's interested.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/33725711

Slightly ironic in that the article is quite long ... and "dug in".