breaking averages

I've been rightly called out for banging on about moeen in the past, so I'll try to keep it brief.

He was apparently told to forget playing longer form cricket by England management, following the winter tours - if he got his head down and proved himself in the shorter form he *might* have a chance there.

Goes and does that and then gets a knee-jerk call up across Leach, Bess after Stokes gets called up.

Nonsense preparation - and leaves him beggared and blamed when things go to pap.

But it's not just Moeen. Look at Malan, look at Stokes, look at Hameed, look at Bairstow, look at Woakes.

They're dropped in out of thin air, shuffled (preparing to play at 3 is different to preparing to open) and then ticked off when things don't come off. Bairstow keeping wicket, not keeping wicket... Leach and Bess left carrying drinks and then shunted. The fast bowlers being bowled into the ground. Stokes being shunted up the order, being asked to bowl injured, not being protected from the pressure.

I think the way the players have been treated is reflected in the deterioration of their averages the longer they play. They have talent and they're not properly prepared, briefed or guided to allow them to maintain those starts.

In every match the opposition's analysts will look for weaknesses, we seem to now be particularly poor at countering that (despite being arguably the best resourced team on this front).

Players wandering out being told to forget it all and 'express themselves' might make sense in a handful of cases, but to me it reeks of a team that is being sent into battle without a gun.

So yep, that's why I think that purely looking at the averages is a bit of a red herring - looking at the trends in those averages and the reasons behind those trends are the only way we'll avoid this merry go round.

Posted By: Cardiff Canary on September 6th 2021 at 17:42:37

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