1st Test against India started this morning at Trent Bridge.....India won toss and batted......at the moment 100-1 with 15 minutes until lunch.....think it is safe to say that India have had a good morning.... The pitch looks like a batsman's dream and is offering nothing to the quick bowlers and with very little spin alternatives we are probably staring at a huge 1st innings score...... Not the best situation for Cook to find his form......
I haven't lost interest, but Cook is poor captain and is totally out of form with the bat. He could be on borrowed time.
Not sure why the groundsmen are preparing such flat tracks......it was described on TMS as being like a pitch prepared in India.....daft when we have no top class spinner in the side....
Of course not 'apart from Pietersen'. I'm including Pietersen in that statement - plenty of promise but he rarely delivers, whereas Bell can pretty much be relied upon to turn up, score runs, and take catches. No contest that Bell is the better cricketer.
Promise? Pietersen has scored 8,181 test runs at an average of 47.28 - I'd say he's delivered. Bell is a fine player, but has scored over 1,300 less runs in just 7 less innings. Both better than Cook, though.
And Pietersen gets himself out every time to stupid shots, and can't catch very well. He also has an attitude problem that has cast him out of the team. As I said - Bell any day. he can at least bat at number 3, something Pietersen asks to do and then fails at time and again when called upon.
Pietersen may have an attitude problem, but he's a better batsman than Bell - their respective records show that.
Fine - continue to cling to one stat that says he's a better batsman. Bell, however, is a far better cricketer...
Alright, he's a better bowler too and that makes him a better cricketer (I'll give you the catching).
His bowling figures only come nto play if you can name one test where he was specifically picked for his boaling. Otherwise they are incidental. Sorry mate, but there's no way that Pietersen, with all his ability and faults, is a better all-round cricketer than Bell, who really doesn't have any faults - least of all in his character, which is a major factor when you are talking test cricket.
