Eng Test tour of NZ, Nov 28 - Dec 18

[Arthur Crabtree]

Still a huge ? over Woakes. Don't the many bowling options really just amount to Atkinson and maybe Carse? Potts hasn't been definitvely brilliant. Wood is still a wheel with a lot of bent spokes.

[Slipstream]

Carse 89.1 overs 18 wickets at 18.61
Atkinson 91.2 overs 12 wickets at 24.92
Woakes 57.0 overs 6 wickets at 29.17
Potts 44.1 overs 5 wickets at 30.80

[Arthur Crabtree]

First two quite new, so fluctuations in form/injury patterns yet to emerge. But good early signs.

[sussexpob]

Still a huge ? over Woakes. Don't the many bowling options really just amount to Atkinson and maybe Carse? Potts hasn't been definitvely brilliant

Personally, I made a lot of comments about my worry with the bowling attack specifically. To get to the end of the year and have two new ball introductions split 80 odd wickets at Ambrose/McGrath level of average, its 10/10 in terms of best possible outcome you could hope for. Yes, its early, etc etc. But we at least have a couple of players step forward and tell us they can fill the void.

[sussexpob]

Wood is still a wheel with a lot of bent spokes.

Mark Wood couldn't of had a more Mark Wood year if you replayed this year an infinite amount of times.

- Didn't get through a single series without being injured.
- Missed 12 test matches
- Was rubbish in test matches were there was something to play - series live, Wood contributed 8 wickets in 5 tests @ nearly 60.
- Dead rubber game vs the lowest ranked batting line up - ah yes, Wood comes alive once again....
- Performance once again proportional to the amount he plays. More matches = decline in output.

All of these are now consistent through his career. The body of evidence spans 10 years. I am not really sure what people expect? Wood has always been poor in live series. He has always took wickets in dead matches. He has always declined with increased workload. He is always injured.

HE shouldn't be anywhere near a fully fit side.

[sussexpob]

My main problem with Wood is, I dont think he even really satisfies his billing as the big paceman in the side - not for any prolonged period. When given ample preparation and rest, he can turn up at isolated tests and crank it up, but after 10 odd overs spread over 2.5 spells the pace then drops. Back to back test matches, and Wood is not express pace anymore.

Look at the India series. Cranked it up at Hyderabad to the 92-94mph range early in the test. By the second innings at Rajkot, he was bowling spells in the high 70s to mid 80s at his quickest. The latter being the exception. I remember one almost medium pace bouncer he served Gill, who had a sandwich, a pint, then when the ball reached him he dispatched it to the International Space Station. Hes also now 35 going on 36, has another 12 matches missed..... so his going to lose pace and endurance to bowl it with each passing match also.

Unless you take him to Australia as a desperation pick for a one of test where he gives it his all, then he has no other use.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe try and squeeze out a limited overs presence by leaving him out of Tests. They may well do given more recent options. Which a couple of years ago seemed to be the programme.

Bound to be some who still see him as an Aussie pitches type bowler though. He actually did ok there last time. Though thanks to a loss in a dead rubber!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Always forget about Robinson. Could be the other pace bowler.

Just read he went to King's School Canterbury! I thought he was some northern bloke.

Beginning to look like the punt has left the riverbank now for Ollie though.

[sussexpob]

Just read he went to King's School Canterbury! I thought he was some northern bloke

He's a Kent lad. Paul Farbrace, another Kent product, married his mother and brought him into the Kent team when he got the job as coach. When Farbrace was sacked and Kent grew tired of Ollie's self-destructive tendencies, Farbrace managed to persuade Yorkshire to give him a second XI chance (when Farbrace was the academy coach) after failed trials at other counties. In a similar fashion, Yorkshire got rid of him when Fabrace moved on again.

Ollie was notorious as a youngster for being unprofessional, sacking off meetings and training, turning up to matches late. I got the impression when we signed him that Yorkshire released him with a heavy heart, but acknowledged he was too much of a problem for them to continue. By memory, he scored a 100 and took bags of wickets on his Sussex debut, and the rest is history.

I get the feeling that old picture of him form his youth haunts him now. Never been any suggestions at Sussex he is unfit, unprofessional or out.