23-08-2019, 13:17
Michael Vaughan is so old-fashioned. He keeps harping on about Joe Root not being a No 3. Apparently he's our best batsman so he should be at No 4 because Kohli and Smith bat there. Then apparently he wouldn't be out for a duck. OLLOCKS! At the moment he has the potential to fail anywhere in the order.
He IS potentially our best batsman ....... at his best. But he's way below it at the moment. BUT best batsmen don't necessarily bat at four. Plenty of best batsmen open and that's exactly what Joe Root should do. Bairstow should bat at four because he's got the shots ....... and they should burn his wicket-keeping gloves so he doesn't injure his hands trying to take Archer. Foakes is the best wicketkeeper so he should be doing the job and Joss Buttler, who is a wonderful bat should be told he's a specialist No 6 and allowed to get on with it or whatever he wants, until he succeeds more often than he fails.
Moeen Khan is a good batsman. He NEEDS several good kicks up the arse and to be informed that he is going to bat No 3 until he gets it right ....... which he is well-capable of doing. It is a huge waste having to play a spinner like Leech who is a No 11 batsman. With Moeen up the order we could slide in Curran for his youth and aggression in place of Leech and put some enthusiasm back into our Test team.
At the moment the team is adopting its demeanour from Joe Root, who looks like a 16 year old serial truant going to collect his GCSE results. We might even consider making Stokes captain as he at least looks as though he wants to be there even more than outside a Bristol nightclub.
He IS potentially our best batsman ....... at his best. But he's way below it at the moment. BUT best batsmen don't necessarily bat at four. Plenty of best batsmen open and that's exactly what Joe Root should do. Bairstow should bat at four because he's got the shots ....... and they should burn his wicket-keeping gloves so he doesn't injure his hands trying to take Archer. Foakes is the best wicketkeeper so he should be doing the job and Joss Buttler, who is a wonderful bat should be told he's a specialist No 6 and allowed to get on with it or whatever he wants, until he succeeds more often than he fails.
Moeen Khan is a good batsman. He NEEDS several good kicks up the arse and to be informed that he is going to bat No 3 until he gets it right ....... which he is well-capable of doing. It is a huge waste having to play a spinner like Leech who is a No 11 batsman. With Moeen up the order we could slide in Curran for his youth and aggression in place of Leech and put some enthusiasm back into our Test team.
At the moment the team is adopting its demeanour from Joe Root, who looks like a 16 year old serial truant going to collect his GCSE results. We might even consider making Stokes captain as he at least looks as though he wants to be there even more than outside a Bristol nightclub.