Cricket - England averages

[cinelli]

What an understatement to say that this series ended disappointingly.

England Players in Tests in India 2016/17

Batting
                 M'ch Inn NO  H'est  Runs  Av'ge 100s 50s Ct  St

J.E. Root          5  10   0   124    491  49.10   1   4   5
J.M. Bairstow      5   9   1    89    352  44.00       3  11   2
H. Hameeb          3   6   1    82    219  43.80       2   4
Moeen M. Ali       5   9   0   146    381  42.33   2   1   3
K.K. Jennings      2   4   0   112    167  41.75   1   1   2
J.C. Buttler       3   6   2    76    154  38.50       1   5
B.A. Stokes        5  10   1   128    345  38.33   1   1   5
A.N. Cook          5  10   0   130    369  36.90   1   1   3
A.U. Rashid        5   9   1    60    113  14.12       1   2
C.R. Woakes        3   5   0    30     70  14.00           3
Z.S. Ansari        2   3   0    32     36  12.00           1
J.T. Ball          2   4   0    31     45  11.25           1
S.C.J. Broad       3   5   1    19     44  11.00
B.M. Duckett       2   3   0    13     18   6.00
J.M. Anderson      3   6   2    13*    20   5.00           2
--also--
L.A. Dawson        1   2   1    66*    66   ----       1
G.J. Batty         1   2   0     1      1   ----

Bowling
                 Overs  Mdns  Runs  Wkts   Best   Av'ge 5wI 10wM

S.C.J. Broad      89     24    248    8   4- 33   31.00
A.U. Rashid      232.2   19    861   23   4- 82   37.43
B.A. Stokes      106.2   16    357    8   5- 73   44.62   1
Moeen M. Ali     188.1   21    649   10   3- 98   64.90
--also--
J.E. Root         16      2     57    2   2- 31    ---
J.M. Anderson     79     17    214    4   3- 62    ---
Z.S. Ansari       43      3    163    3   2- 77    ---
L.A. Dawson       43      4    129    2   2-129    ---
C.R. Woakes       77     16    244    3   1-  6    ---
J.T. Ball         41      7    140    1   1- 47    ---
K.K. Jennings      5      1     20    0            ---
G.J. Batty        19.2    0     65    0            ---

CRAVE 3.0

Cinelli

[didds]

On an individual basis that's fair enough. Five batsmen with averages over 40, and two more fairly close.

The issues however are deep - after the first test, England posted only two innings scores in excess of 255. That in itself demonstrates that the batting exploits were mostly achieved in isolation, and following the thumping 2nd test defeat England seemed to lose all spine/mental toughness. Shades of the Australian tour 2013/14. Take out the 4 centuries from that 1st test, and the remaining four tests/eight innings saw only 2 more, from Jennings and Ali.. The problems are collective, not individual.

Meanwhile however, England have potentially found two openers alongside Cook - though he himself had a poor series and is Jadeja's rabbit. Cook averaged just 12.50 runs in the series v Jadeja.

The tour highlighted bowling issues - that the English system doesn't create world class spinners. NOt that this is anything knew - I've heard the same said since the mid 1970s. In that time post Underwood (and its arguable he wasn't a spinner), Emburey, Edmonds, Swann are arguably the only spinners coming close in this era, and possibly only Swann really shines as a destroyer of sides. Maybe centrally contracted spinners should just be sent to play in Aus and India and forget county cricket?

The side was also hampered by selection... picking sides with four seamers on a spinning wicket etc...

However, the last team to beat India in India was England four years ago, so its only par for the course.

Summary : individual batting was generally positive. The series result was no worse than other sides have recently ended with.
bowling issues identified/underlined, and the collective will has many question marks.
overall, four thumping losses can't be totally glossed over.

didds