Misbah Too Good – Your Thoughts on Wednesday’s Game

misbah-ul-haq

Ah. So that’s what a world-class batsman looks like.

Every time I start getting optimistic about England’s chances in the upcoming world cup, something happens that immediately deflates me. Today it was the sight of Misbah-ul-Haq – a genuinely world-class player who averages 50 in test cricket and 42 in ODIs – rescuing his side and carrying them over the finish line.

Players like Misbah are invaluable. And England do not have a single one.

We all know England have lots of very good players, but do we really have a world-beater? Jimmy Anderson is the closest thing we’ve got to a world-class test performer, but his ODI track record isn’t quite as impressive.

As for the batting, we’re a bit like New Zealand: lots of useful performers but nobody exceptional. And even then, we don’t have anyone with Brendon McCullum’s explosiveness or Kane Williamson’s undoubted potential. Sigh.

Perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into this performance. England fielded an experimental side, rested a couple of form players, and could have used an extra seamer.

On the other hand, winning is a habit, and the last thing we needed was a kick in the pants before the weekend’s big showdown against the canary yellows.

So how are you feeling about this England team heading into the world cup? Does this result change anything?

I suppose our main problem is consistency. The trouble is, I often think ‘lacks consistency’ is a polite way of saying ‘not good enough’.

Over to you folks …

James Morgan

42 comments

  • “I often think ‘lacks consistency’ is a polite way of saying ‘not good enough’.”

    Think you’re absolutely right there, James.

  • To say that you’ve just been extremely unfair to New Zealand, James, is an understatement. McCullum and Williamson are world class ODI batsmen.

    England? Well, not good enough again. But that’s what you get from a pretty hopeless bunch of players.

    And Stokes, Lumb and KP apart, they are probably the best English cricket can produce

    • Hi Mark. I am actually a massive Williamson fan, and when you read my World Cup preview (which I’ll post a link to soon) I’ve really bigged them up. Just for the record, McCullum’s ODI record isn’t actually better than Jos Buttlers ;-) (just fishing!)

  • I’m hoping the young players put in a good performance and that Morgan gets off to a good start and Finn hopefully takes a lot of wickets.

  • Disappointing! A good chance for Englands bowlers to defend the last 25 overs with the opposition 4 wickets down, and 7 an over needed. They didn’t manage it. Many have said the bowling is the big problem. We seem to take top order wickets quite well, but after 20 overs we seem to rely on the opposition giving It away.

    Morgans batting once again is a worry, and the Cook lovers will be out in force. We will just have to hope his big match temperament comes off. Bopara is just not doing it with the bat. The fielding is only average. Still no sign the best coach in England has made any difference in improving skill levels.

    • Cook lover here Mark

      I have a bone to pick with you. I am not about to sally into the fray like Boudicca on a battle charge because Morgan is failing to perform. The side is much better balanced without poor dear Cooky clogging up the works. Standing him down was the correct decision, not least for Cook himself. Everyone was a winner there.

      I never thought it was a good idea to replace one captain who was failing with the bat with another, but Morgan was the selector’s choice and I’m not about to jump off a bridge because their preference was different to mine. The bottom line is, we have got Morgan, that is that, and I hope he comes good. Failing Morgan, should we have sweet talented Jos from Somerset taking up the reins?

      I do wonder for how much longer Ravi will be allowed to keep his place. I have said time and time over that I would like to see Ballance replacing him but he has been sidelined for so long that I wonder. The broken finger didn’t help of course but I did expect to see him take the field against the Windies, but it was not to be. The selectors seem to have their doubts for some reason.

      I don’t expect to see Jordan play in #CWC2015 barring injury, because he just cannot be trusted not to bowl a certain number of shockers. He could give a game away doing that. It’s a shame because he does have innate talent but he is too much of an uncontrolled risk for serious consideration.

      In conclusion there was certainly a hole in our batting bucket and the bowlers need to be able to penetrate and contain in the middle order. We see the game drift in the same way, over and over. It was not a terrible performance but just not good enough. Oh dear.

      • Not a Cook lover myself, but certainly agree wholeheartedly with your paras on the captaincy (and the rest of the post really).

        Miorgan was, unfortunately, the only viable alternative to Cook, but all that does is emphasise the paucity of resources all round. England just do not have many very good cricketers. Or at least, cricketers good enough to make a team competitive at world level.

        Which should be born in mind next summer when the screaming for Cook’s head as Test captain begins. Because Rooty doesn’t tick that many boxes, indeed has been outed in the “Let’s Go, Joss” stuff by Dobell on cricinfo as a poor trainer and a wee bit immature (though the last we’d probably guessed…).

        Not a Moores fan, and his rhetoric is like a never ending suicide note. But even he can only piss with the prick he’s got…

      • You must have a very guilty conscience Jenny because I didn’t even mention you by name.

        You may not be “about to sally into the fray like Boudicca on a battle charge ” (A slightly alarming image if you don’t mind me saying. Would you jump off the bridge in the Charge or get out of your chariot before you jump?) but others will be not so balanced.

        I believe Morgan is a more dynamic captain than Cook, but he has to score runs, and his form has been poor. The only hope is he does seem to be a big game player. Just hope he can find a few extra gears.

        I think I would prefer to see Stokes in the side ahead of Ravi now. But this is not going to happen. I do hope there has not been another bad management issue with him. Maybe he just had a slump in form.

        I still,believe that outside of Australia & New Zealand, England, on their day can beat anyone. Trouble is , they can also lose to any one as they did today.

        By the way does anyme get this irritating banner add….. “cricscores1 ” coming right across your screen ? I can’t get rid of it.

        • I think I might be the only Cooky lover on this blog! Not the slightest bit guilty about it. After all, he is from the right sort of family, went to a good school, sang in the choir, drop dead gorgeous, What’s not to like?

          I also got that banner thing once and could not get rid of it either. It was on my tablet so I switched to my phone and thank goodness it was not there. On my tablet now and not troubled by it.

          • Hi Guys. We have absolutely no control over these annoying banners. We think it’s happening because this was originally a wordpress.com blog many years ago, and there is still a parallel site (but in much simpler form) somewhere in the blogosphere. WordPress host such sites for free on the condition that they’re allowed to put intrusive banners up at any time without warning. We have no idea why is still happens on this particular iteration of TFT. If it keeps happening we shall have words. Apologies for the inconvenience.

    • On a completely unrelated note, I’m hosting a game of high-stakes poker at my house soon, if you’re interested.

      I’m also selling a bridge…

  • Watching 40-year old Misbah guide Pakistan home showed the importance of experience (when mixed with quality). The RR was over 8 RPO but Misbah kept a cool head and he was restraining Umar Akmal from having a dumb slog.

    When England got the Final in ’91 Gooch and Botham were both the wrong side of 35. When we won the T20 WC captain Colingwood was 34. Dumping your best batsman when he was 33 (or 34 in Selvey-years) just looks crazier and crazier.

    England under Flower and Moores have made a fetish of fitness over cricketing skills. Would Misbah or, say, Herath play for England? Bet their bleep tests are rubbish!

    By the way, Pakistan have been poor at ODIs recently. Their record in their last 4 ODI series (against SL, Australia and NZ) is W3 L10.

  • This only emphasises, for me, that we haven’t got the penetrative bowling, or the skill set. What happened to the Yorkers again? 300+ has got to be the minimum for our batsmen in order to give the attack a chance?

  • ” After all, he is from the right sort of family, went to a good school, sang in the choir, drop dead gorgeous, What’s not to like?”

    Oh come on Wonder Woman,you are not going to be fooled by all that superficial clap trap are you? ;-) You are starting to sound like Pringle.

    You will be telling me you shop at Waitrose next, and are saving the vouchers for a life size cardboard cut out of Cooky pointing to the double chocolate cookie pack.

    Oh God, it’s all going to start up again in the West Indies in a couple of months.

  • Sacking Cook was the right thing to do, just a while too late
    Making a much better ODI player captain was the best decision

    Morgan was good when he had talent around him so he could just concentrate on finishing an innings. Now, we don’t have that talent around and he’s expected to fill their boots.. he just isn’t good enough. He should be dropped like cook was, like Bopara should be etc. No point persisting with players who aren’t producing. I don’t care what he averages in teh past.. it’s not the past, we are looking to the future!

    England can beat anyone on their day, same as most teams. However, if people are honest, Eng will only beat a big team if they perform above their status and the oppos fall below theirs. Pakistan who aren’t a good ODI team, beat Eng very easily.

    Come on NZ :)

    I don’t like wanting England to lose, I really don’t but the ECB have turned me against my home nation and the players are just as to blame as they don’t stand up for cricket.. just themselves and their pay packets

      • I appreciate what you’re getting at, but what KP complained about re: Moores was said by several other senior players first, Vaughan and Swann being two examples.

      • I believe those comments about Moores that KP wrote in his book and Moores is not going to change.KP is not the only person who saw that problem and was affected by it.

      • Always hystericaly funny when a pro ECB person suddenly appears and wants to lecture people about evidence..

        There is a mountain of evidence against the ECB. All you have to do is open your eyes and ears.

        I guess some people would rather stay in the ECB dark.

  • I rather wonder if relying on Broad and Anderson is going to lead to them being worn out for the Ashes.

  • Consistency is something vastly under rated by people for some reason. Consistency is an important skill in good players but is constantly ignored. Avg’s can be maintained with a few large innings when actually, most of the time the player is pretty poor. That’s just because avg is not a good way to judge a player now.

  • This is what happens when you don’t take ODI cricket seriously for decades and then you come up against a team who’ve been taking seriously all the while.

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