Sorry, Trott's a better player of spin than Ian Bell? Are you having a laugh?
Bell also has a good record in ODi's, averaging over 35 with an ok strike rate. He's also played magnificently for Warwickshire in the last 2 years, and was striking at over 100 this season in 40 over cricket (just dipped below 100, down to 99). Bell's a hugely under-rated OD player, and is out-playing Trott this season for Warwickshire. Trott looked terrible against the turn of Herath against Hampshire, whereas Bell was just skipping down the track and lofting him over cover with ease. There is no way on earth Trott is a better player of spin than Bell.
Herath isn't exaclty a big turner of the ball. He is one of those spinners that relies mostly an accuracy.
Trott in his short career to date has indeed looked a bit patchy vs good spin. While Bell has for the majority of his career although he played well vs BANG 2010 & in SRI 07/08). But given that Trott will be opening or batting @ 3 if he plays for England in ODIs, he will be facing pace the majority of the time. His problems againts spin thus wont be exposed much. Plus of course after Trott was ridicuolusly nto picked by the ENG selectors for years & ODI failures like Cook, Bell, Maddy picked in front of him - by rightsany future opening in the top order Trott has to have first prefence over any one else.
On Bell again. He aint underated as an ODI player at all. Him averaging 35 as ODI cricketer was always a suprise - since it was fairly obvious he struggled for the majority of his ODI career. He needs to put in alot more performances in our average List A cricket to make up for 5 years of mediocre performances @ international level, especially when as i said clealry guys like Lumb & Trott have emerged. Plus youngsters like Alex Hales also around who can open.
He was rightly dropped. Plus coincidentally he was dropped during a ODI series in India 08/09. Where he struggled opening & playing spin & you want to recall him to open to play such a role in India next year
Pitches might not turn big, but they're still going to be slow. Trott is not good at rotating the strike against spin. He doesn't appear to have a go-to boundary option either. He seems to just sit on spin and block. That simply won't work in a WC held in the subcontinent. It's baffling to me how you can say that Trott is a better player of spin than a guy who is England's 2nd best player of spin at Test level. Bell is very good against spin. Good at rotating the strike, tends to read spin well, and is excellent at using his feet down the pitch. Bell is so far ahead of Trott as a player of spin it's not even funny.
How is Bell is better player of spin than Strauss or Collingwood?. I see you have forgotten how Bell struggled againts Warne in the 2005 Ashes. Plus that embarassing leave alove againts the wiles of Paul Harris in the recent 1st test vs South Africa?. Easy now
Plus no i dont expect to see low slow pitches in India next year based on watching numerous Australia ODI series wins in 03/04, 07/08, 09. Along with England series their in 2008 & the last 3 IPL tournaments. Flat batting beauties is what im expecting for the majority of pitches in India. We may even get a greentop.
Strauss doesn't play spin too well in ODi cricket, and I see him getting stuck and not advancing the scoring rate too quickly. He's excellent at getting pace away, but on slow tracks I think he could struggle. Davies has done the hard work in County Cricket, and has been the best County wicket-keeper batsman on the circuit in the last 3 years in OD cricket. I'm a huge Michael Lumb fan, but there is no way he should be ahead of Steven Davies, nor should Trott, or Strauss.
As for waiting for Strauss to flop. How long are we going to give him? He played well against the West Indies in 1 series, but he's done very little in the last year. 16 matches, 443 runs at 27.68, top score of 63 and a strike rate of 74. Time for him to move aside, give Collingwood the captaincy in ODi's and T20i's, and time for the selectors to give Steven Davies a chance. How can you argue against these statistics:
Code:
Season Runs Avg S.R
2007 457 38.08
2008 689 49.21 112.39
2009 658 50.61 117.50
2010 140 70.00 142.85
They're exceptional statistics, and he really should be given a go in the ODi side. He's a better batsman than Strauss, and a better keeper than Kieswetter. Give Davies the gloves and allow Kieswetter to focus on his batting, and work on his keeping ahead of future T20's. Davies is also a better player of spin/slow bowling than Lumb and Trott too. It's a no-brainer of a selection for me.
You place wayy to emphasis on stats yo.
Firstly on Strauss. Yes he did not maintain that very high standard he had during that 2009 tour to WI. During the ODI series @ home vs AUS & the ODI series & CT in SA. But you cannot seriously tell me that Strauss didn't look good opening in those series after the windies tour?. He got a lot a very impressive starts, but didn't convert many of his innings - a bit like Kieswetter in this T20 WC up until the final.
Plus like Trott. If Strauss is opening he wont have to be tested againts the spin. So thats a none issue. Plus i have not seen much strong evidence that Strauss plays spin too well in ODIs as you claim. We already know he plays them well in tests, so i'd say if he gets a good start during the power-play overs againts the pace. He then would be in a very good position to handle the spinners through the middle-overs.
Overall Strauss definately deserves to start the summer opening & his progress thus can be monitored between now & the ODI series in Australia 2010/11 before the world cup.
Plus we don't know yet if Collingwood wants to take the ODI captaincy back long-term. He gave it up in 2008 because he said at the time it was affecting his batting. Its a totally different thing for him, if he knows he just has to captain in T20s which is a short format for 1 or 2 games a series. So that needs to be considered as well.
On Davies now. regardless of all these fantastic stats in the last few years. The selectors have still manged to pick Kieswetter as the keeper bat & Lumb to open ahead of him in the ODI & T20 teams recently. Why do you think that is?. Because like me the selectors probably watched him bat in county cricket & well probably wasn't sure if he couldn't dominate international new-ball bowlers as a limted overs opener. (This is my view on Davies based on watching him bat - i obviously cant say if the selectors feel that way).
I like Davies, but that has always been my worry about Davies as a potential international ODI opener regardless of his stats. Even someone like Phil Mustard would be a better hitter than Davies as international opener i'd say. But of course Mustard due to his technical issues was never likely to have long term success as an opener in international cricket - thus was dropped.
So again i dont see the need to relieve Kieswetter with the gloves @ international cricket. I'd rather him continue to keep wicket while at the same time behind the scenes work on his keeping with Bruce French.
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