Be still my beating heart

[chickenfeet]

So England just failed in their bid to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but they came mighty close. Credit to the Australian tail for a gutsy performance but it certainly showed up some real and addressable weaknesses in the England game. It goes without saying that, with the win this time, nothing will be done about them but here goes:

1. When your nos 3 and 4 batsmen produce only around 50 runs between them in a test you have got a problem. When it's apparent that part of the problem is faulty technique you have a big problem. On current form neither Vaughan nor Bell should be playing test cricket.

2. England, or at least Vaughan, lacks killer instinct. Yesterday, with Flintoff higher than a kite, it was over an hour before Vaughan gave him a bowl. He should have been given the new ball. He frightens the Australians, Hoggard doesn't. Similarly, it's a bit depressing to watch England bowling to the Australian tail with three and four men on the boundary. Put some pressure on them for goodness sake.

3. Hoggard. What's the point of playing an opening bowler who isn't much of a threat when he's bowling well and is so embarrasingly bad when he isn't that his captain daren't let him bowl at the Australian tail?

Part of the problem of course is that the out of form England players have no way of playing themselves back into form as they simply don't play first class matches anymore and, equally, the county games, are played by weak sides so they don't really say much about anyone's test potential. The selectors are pretty much stuck with what they start the season with and the players know it. There is no real sense among them that they are playing for their place every match, largely because they aren't.

Comments

[jen-c-w.livejournal.com]

im(admittely biased)o, Bell doesn't seem to be playing with obvious flaws, just getting out to stupid shots. Vaughan's form, as I said previously, is really concerning me though.
Am I imagining it or did Mark Taylor go through a very bad patch with the bat when captaining Australia?

[atpotch.livejournal.com]

Yes, Mark Taylor played hideously in the run in to the 1997 Ashes in which the pressure on him was increased by England's victory in the first Test at Edgbaston. But he was a good batsmen and recovered. The same is true of Vaughan in my opinion, though Bell was a muddle since anyone could prove themselves as Test quality when playing Bangladesh. I agree with the general consensus that it should have been Thorpe and Pietersen, and in their absence, Collingwood. I wouldn't put it past Fletcher and Graveney to drop Bell since he dropped Read after England won the first three Tests in the Carribean, but I wouldn't say Collingwood, the obvious next in line, is a like for like replacement so they may make do and mend.

I have to disagree on Hoggard: his fourteen wickets in South Africa were immense and very, very scary for a good Test side. Harmison couldn't bowl it on the cut strip. The key to this story is that consistency of selection has won England Test Matches with their good bowlers, and as long as three of the four continue to fire the fourth can find his feet at the top level.

TCH