14.7.10

Put to Bed

As ever, the modern cricket world moves rapidly on. With Australia and Pakistan locked in what looks like it has the makings of a decent match at Lord's, I'm going to hark back to the way in which England secured their short ODI series with Bangladesh on Monday, especially the contribution of the England captain.

Not very long ago many people were questioning whether Andrew Strauss continued to merit his place in the England one-day side - too one-paced, too conventional, not innovative enough outside his natural scoring areas - but his 154 at Edgbaston showed how hard he's been working to develop his game. Several magnificent lofted sixes were coupled with the usual drives and cuts and a leavening of reverse sweeps to comprise an outstanding innings, regardless of the relative weakness of the Bangladesh attack.

At 78 his ODI strike-rate is, without being outstanding, highly respectable, and it's obvious how highly his team-mates respect him.

Any doubts about his place in the side should have been put to bed for the time being.

2 comments:

Dean @ Cricket Betting Blog said...

Hi Brian,

Totally agree, I think you mentioned something regarding media hype in a previous article.

And I have brought the issue up on my blog also.

After the World T20, Strauss had to go as ODI captain, Prior had to be replaced in all sides by Kieswetter, etc.

Such esteemed commentators as Nasser Hussain doubted Strauss.

Where is all that talk now? After around 3 months, Strauss is arguably our most consistent ODI performer, and Kieswetter's batting has fallen off the side of a cliff.

Although I do believe it was right to make Kieswetter the ODI keeper.

I think he may be test keeper one day, but as I wrote on my blog at the start of June, talk of him taking over in the test team is just ridiculous, he is miles away with both bat and gloves at the moment.

Brian Carpenter said...

Just been reading Andy Bull in The Guardian who gave a good reminder that Strauss, with four ODI hundreds has now scored more than Atherton, Hussain and Vaughan (who of course never made one). So he can certainly bat in ODIs and he's currently doing it with real style as well.

As a Somerset follower I was guilty of getting a bit too excited about Kieswetter as well. In time, he'll be very good, but he may need more time than people thought. This is international cricket, after all, and it's a big jump from the county game.

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