Off Topic England v S Africa Test Series

Stokes bowled well today.

 

Looks well set up for tomorrow.

Can't believe Ali was batting at 8.

 

Where would you bat him?

 

I think he could bat at three - he bats there for Worcestershire. As Stan pointed out, he has a better test batting average (just) than Stokes (although he was wrong about his bowling average being better).

 

Much higher up. He's not top class but he's experienced now and we have a few gaps higher up. Not a big thing, I just noticed he batted 8 in the last innings and was surprised. Looks like Roland-Jones can throw the bat a bit, we bat down to 10 and Jimmy could be worse. But we rarely fire consistently high up the order.

 

I really like him, but I wonder whether it's because he's a front line spinner that they bat him lower down. He's certainly good enough to bat at 3.

 

It's 2 and 3 that we need to sort out.

 

Yep.

If we lose quick wickets I'd prefer to see Ali coming in than Stokes.

 

Agreed.

 

Further to the recent all-rounder posts, I thought I'd check our current players' stats against other recent ones and some of the greats......

Ali - Batting 35.01, Bowling 38.83
Stokes - Batting 34.19, Bowling 34.21
Flintoff - Batting 31.77, Bowling 32.78
Kallis - Batting 55.37, Bowling 32.65
Botham - Batting 33.55, Bowling 28.40
Hadlee - Batting 27.16, Bowling 22.29
Imran - Batting 37.69, Bowling 22.81
Kapil - Batting 31.05, Bowling 29.64
Sobers - Batting 57.78, Bowling 34.03

Kallis easily best of the recent players and amazing stats for Imran.

 

Come on chaps, I spent a good ten or twelve minutes checking those stats out. Nothing, really?

 

What's your hourly rate?

Imran really was outstanding.

I am trying to think of a great Aussie all rounder.

 

Going back even before my time, but Keith Miller - 36.97 batting and 22.97 bowling.

No one more recent springs to mind.

 

Doug Walters was 49.26 batting and 29.08 bowling, but he didn't really bowl that much, 49 Test wickets (we are comparing Test stats?)

 

Yes, Test stats only. Walters probably didn't get enough wickets to count.

 

Warne could bat.

 

He only averaged 17.32, Col.

 

Also, after Sobers, struggling to think of Windies all rounders.
Given that between them the Aussies and Windies dominated international cricket for over 25 years, perhaps all rounders are not needed. Just really good players.

 

Six wickets today. Or a highly improbable 375 runs. It's almost as unlikely that SA will bat out 98 overs.

As soon as one falls, then it's Philander (who will swing for a while then misjudge one) and then you're into the bowlers, none of whom can bat as well as England's bowlers. You do look at this and think that it hinges on a single, relatively early wicket.

I'm really confused by the way Du Plessis has played this game. Twice out LBW playing no stroke is unheard of for a player of his experience. And for SA, that kinda demonstrates the approach the team has.

 

Imran was the only one that I genuinely thought of as international class in both disciplines (Sobers was before my time). The others were first class in one and international class in the other.

For the Aussies, Steve Waugh had a purple patch where I think he was top 10 in both batting and bowling.