Why can England's cricket team NEVER learn?

Join Date: 2012-03-19
Post Count: 6255

#177861522Wednesday, November 11, 2015 6:42 PM GMT

James Taylor batted at 5 for the first ODI vs Pakistan. He responded with 60, but the top 3(Hales, Roy, Root) contributed a total of 10 to their total. It's really frustrating to be honest. Just put Taylor at 3 and Root at 4, Morgan 5. Problem solved... Taylor has his ODI hundred at 3, he averages 42 at 3... Why, you say? Read this excerpt from ESPNcricinfo to learn why. James Taylor is out to prove that when it comes to cricket size isn't everything. Players diminutive in stature have had excellent international careers - Shiv Chanderpaul is just one example of that - but when Taylor made his Test debut against South Africa at Headingley in 2012, even his batting partner, Kevin Pietersen, expressed his misgivings. Pietersen twice told England's coach at the time, Andy Flower, that Taylor should not have been selected. "I have nothing against James but at 5ft 6ins he's one of the shortest men currently playing county cricket," Pietersen wrote in his autobiography. His dad was a jockey and James is built for the same gig. We were facing the fiercest attack in world cricket; I didn't think he was up for it."

123yonnd

Top 100 Poster
Join Date: 2008-07-19
Post Count: 66637

#177862421Wednesday, November 11, 2015 7:04 PM GMT

I mean Taylor isn't up there in terms of strike rate. In ODIs and T20s he doesn't have the aggression to bat higher.

eelee345

Join Date: 2012-03-19
Post Count: 6255

#177862467Wednesday, November 11, 2015 7:05 PM GMT

That doesn't even make sense, though. If anything then, it just promotes the reason he should bat at 3. Batting at 5, more often than not, you will need to finish the innings, which means an even higher strike rate.

eelee345

Join Date: 2012-03-19
Post Count: 6255

#177862713Wednesday, November 11, 2015 7:10 PM GMT

And Morgan, who has batted at 4, has a strike rate of 88 versus Taylor's 78. Morgan has batted most of his innings at 5, with 5 hundreds and an average of 40, which is higher than his career average of 38. Root can go back down to 4 where he has scored most of his runs, and Taylor can go back up to 3 where he has got most his runs. It's not rocket science.