by sussexpob » Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:51 am
Alfie/AC,
I think further defence of my point will give the impression that my views are much stronger than they are. I respectfully take note of your valid counter points, I just think in this instance that on the balance of things, I would personally see some positive value in geting time at the middle, however small that positive might be. And some benefits are less obvious than others; Pope for instance brought his career average from the low to mid 30s with that 200 - if times get hard in the Ashes, its harder to drop a player with a better average, and I think that must reduce pressure on him to perform. He can fall back on a few failures with a cushion, while a few failures without that would make his average start to look horrendous.
But on the other side, I also have to confess that I look at Tongue's contribution second innings with some skeptism, based on the circumstances. Late on day 2, while he did enough to put the ball into areas that Ireland's rather poor batters could make errors from, I don't think any of the balls he served up will dismiss an Aussie, and really it was a lot of rather lame areas England targeted without building pressure, Ireland got out to isolated mistakes. Tector being the finest example, because it was a wide buffet ball he tapped to backwards cover in the air. Of course, its worth noting the pitch looked very good for batting at that stage, and there was no lateral movement in the air or off the seam; I'd imagine with even a hint of swing, most of these irish techniques would flop. Either way, 5 for 50 odd felt generous for the quality of bowling on offer.
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And a hat and bra to you too, my good sirs!