England Player Ratings

Strauss: 5.5 - one decent innings and a patchy performance in the field
Cook: 7 - gradually sorting out his technical issues
Trott: 4 - one decent innings, looked out of his depth in the last test
Pietersen: 4.5 - one decent knock in the first test. Is it technical or mental issues?
Collingwood: 8 - Mr Gutsy
Bell: 7 - test career partially resurrected
Prior: 6 - keeping was ok, 2 fifties when there were runs on the board, but nowt when it really mattered
Broad:6 - one Michelle, and feck all runs. Attitude is a concern
Swann: 8.5 - star turn
Anderson: 6.5 - didn't get the returns he should be considering he is supposed to be the leader of the attack
Onions: 6.5 - wholehearted effort and gutsy with the bat - a bit lacking in class?
Sidebottom: 7 - did ok in his one test considereing his previous lack of bowling

When did Broad get a michelle?

WideWally wrote:When did Broad get a michelle?

He didn't! a 4fer in the second test was his best return.

Mental issues?


FFS, one bad series and people are already calling him mental. Typical sook mindset.

Attitude is a concern?


Yes, I'm sure we'd rather have Steve Harmison bundling his way in with zero aggression and intent.


Je-su-s

Strauss: 4 - poor performance allround - expected more from one of our bankers
Cook: 7 - Still got issues but mentally stronger than some others in the side
Trott: 5 - Jury still out, perhaps not a number 3
Pietersen: 4 - again, both our banker batsmen failed to deliver
Collingwood: 8 - Brigadier block indeed, best batsman on tour consistently
Bell: 8 - maybe too high but saved the series for me. Question is will he dine out for the next 20 tests on the back of it
Prior: 5 - Keeping was fine, really poor with the bat when it mattered.
Broad: 6 - decent effort with the ball, seems to have inspired spells. Poor batting effort
Swann: 9 - good series with bat & ball and an extra point for being a character
Anderson: 6 - Usual story. Good when it swings, Tres Ordinaire when it doewsn't
Onions: 6 - Unlucky to be dropped, bowled a lot better than the figures suggest
Sidebottom: 6- Didn't really do anything wrong but lacks penetration these days


In summary - our bowling remains decent on helpful wickets, but very hittable at times otherwise and with regards to our batting I just don't see how we dare go in with 5 bowlers given the Prior/Broad combo at 6/7 atm.

DJ_Smerk wrote:Mental issues?


FFS, one bad series and people are already calling him mental. Typical sook mindset.

It's a question to be answered - has he really got over losing the captaincy?

DJ_Smerk wrote:Attitude is a concern?


Yes, I'm sure we'd rather have Steve Harmison bundling his way in with zero aggression and intent.


Je-su-s

He does have an attitude problem. FFS, he was reluctant to walk today when the referral gave him out! He's too fond of spitting the dummy.

Basil wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:Attitude is a concern?


Yes, I'm sure we'd rather have Steve Harmison bundling his way in with zero aggression and intent.


Je-su-s

He does have an attitude problem. FFS, he was reluctant to walk today when the referral gave him out! He's too fond of spitting the dummy.

Stuey Broad will be called Sunny Broad sooner than later.

Like father like son. Chris usually required the absence of all 3 stumps before scraping himself away from the middle....

JKLever wrote:Like father like son. Chris usually required the absence of all 3 stumps before scraping himself away from the middle....

You could say that about a whole load of players though.

Steve Waugh, Sunny Gavasker, WG Grace, Viv Richards...the list goes on.

JKLever wrote:Strauss: 4 - poor performance allround - expected more from one of our bankers
Cook: 7 - Still got issues but mentally stronger than some others in the side
Trott: 5 - Jury still out, perhaps not a number 3
Pietersen: 4 - again, both our banker batsmen failed to deliver
Collingwood: 8 - Brigadier block indeed, best batsman on tour consistently
Bell: 8 - maybe too high but saved the series for me. Question is will he dine out for the next 20 tests on the back of it
Prior: 5 - Keeping was fine, really poor with the bat when it mattered.
Broad: 6 - decent effort with the ball, seems to have inspired spells. Poor batting effort
Swann: 9 - good series with bat & ball and an extra point for being a character
Anderson: 6 - Usual story. Good when it swings, Tres Ordinaire when it doewsn't
Onions: 6 - Unlucky to be dropped, bowled a lot better than the figures suggest
Sidebottom: 6- Didn't really do anything wrong but lacks penetration these days

Pretty much. Bell's a 7, though. Started and finished the series like a tiny balled Malteser freak.

Four of the top seven didn't average above the 20s, that's really poor. I tend to think a rating of a 6 is "average", and as those guys failed to perform to their averages by quite a distance, 4s all round.

Bottom line: batting was piss-weak when it counted, bowling had nothing up its sleeve when the conditions weren't doing most of the work.

Progress indeed...

And Cook 7? hmmmm. 6?

Trott and Pietersen 3. Massive disappointments.

Prior 6. Batting fell away after Test 2, good keeping.

Strauss - 2. Average captaincy, poor batting.
Cook - 6. Hot and cold, still a good player.
Trott - 3. Bonus point for being forced to bat where he doesn't belong.
Pietersen - 2. Just looked terrible and threw his wicket away in his one good knock.
Collingwood - 8. LET'S GIVE 'EM HELL, BOYS!
Bell - 7. Good series, loses a mark for being an intolerable gimp.
Prior - 0. C*nt.
Broad - 7. Hot and cold, over-rated batsman.
Swann - 9. Loses a mark for being ugly, bowled and batted to his maximum otherwise.
Anderson - 4. Same old gimp-faced Anderson, no consistency at all. Doesn't hit the stumps enough.
Onions - 4. Bowls alright but never takes any wickets.
Sidebottom - 6. For all the moaning about his selection he actually bowled well.

No more gimps?

What do we do about Anderson? For all of the talk of him now being the leader of England's attack, he still averages mid 30's in the last 3 years. There is always one good performance every series surrounded by averageness. I'd consider dropping him for Plunkett.

I wonder how anybody can call Anderson 'leader of attack' ?

for a 'leader of attack' he has way too many off-days.

Anderson - some good spells but disappointing given that England bowled first three times when the pitches were at their liveliest and there was assistance for him in Joburg but he didn't respond to the task. Always looks saturnine.

Broad - the odd good spell but insipid at times. Flaky with the bat.

Prior - kept well but failed with the bat when England needed him most.

Onions - moved the ball, beat the bat a lot but was luckless compared with most other bowlers in the series. Brave with the bat in England's desperate last few overs twice. Is said to be miffed that the selectors allegedly left him out due to fatigue.

KP - chalk and cheese tours of his erstwhile homeland. Failed to respond to the challenge and looked a bit isolated at times as if he wasn't fully attuned to the task. Was troubled by Steyn.

Bell - despite all his detractors did well a few times under pressure. Probably enhanced his reputation.

Strauss - unimaginative in the captaincy stakes and radically underperformed with the bat. His only half ton came in Durban when he feasted on some very tasty Ntini pies.

Sidebottom - didn't bowl that badly considering the hue and cry surrouding his selection.

Cook - performed perhaps better than expectations after a lean run but still needs to convert to bigger totals and he still seems to have that slight fragility outside off-stump.

Trott - a good outing in Centurion but deteriorated towards the back end of the series. Looked rattled a bit at sea in Joburg.

Barmy Army - helped swell the grounds - good drinking - good sunburn - good singing!

Boycott - threw his toys out of the cot re. the SA radio commentators and is in trouble for telling them that they're not Africans!

Dello wrote:

Pretty much. Bell's a 7, though. Started and finished the series like a tiny balled Malteser freak.

Four of the top seven didn't average above the 20s, that's really poor. I tend to think a rating of a 6 is "average", and as those guys failed to perform to their averages by quite a distance, 4s all round.

Bottom line: batting was piss-weak when it counted, bowling had nothing up its sleeve when the conditions weren't doing most of the work.

Progress indeed...

Agree with that. Colly 8. Bell 7. The rest between 3 and 5, however kind or unkind one wants to be to them. Distinctly shit overall.

Distinctly shit overall.

Ditto.
Bar Colly and Onions ... Bell reverted to type !!! .

Well, Onions can very much say he bowled OK. Shame the stats don't back him up in the slightest.

Interesting that Swann had a better batting average than Strauss, KP and Trott.

Interesting that he bats further down the order and with a lot less pressure . . . .

tac wrote:Interesting that he bats further down the order and with a lot less pressure . . . .

and that's why he does too. Not great against the short ball in truth but capable of tonking it

I'd say that Swann was the better all rounder than Broad overall (and not just because of his performance this series).... yet Broadjr gets all the plaudits!