How Could It End Up So Boring?

July 16, 2008 · Filed Under England Test Cricket

I was going to post during the first test match after the excitement of the first two days, but the three days that followed were so boring that I lost all the enthusiasm I had built up for this series. After being bloody awesome in our first innings with the bat and then once with the ball, all entertainment after that just died and I’ll be honest, I didn’t even watch a lot of it - and that is coming from someone who was really looking forward to it. Cricket needs to be careful not to give us these snooze fests on benign pitches, it was no wonder that there were tickets available for the fourth and fifth days - who’s going to pay to watch one side just block the crap out of the ball and the other side not have any answer?

Anyway, moving on to the next test (and hopefully some entertainment), we have the delightful debate of what to do with Freddie! He is back in the squad, and will he return as a fourth bowler or as a fifth and a replacement for a batsman? If you replaced Collingwood there probably wouldn’t be too many complaints as Colly has struggled for runs recently. Maybe he could go and do what Bell did and score a double ton for his county and come back stronger. If he replaces a bowler who will it be? Sidebottom, who has done so well for England over the last year has a bit of a dodgy back and was well down on pace at Lords. Anderson has spells of genius but they are in too short supply, and Broad is awesome with the bat a player of the future, but his bowling average is in the 40’s which is too high.

Freddie hasn’t exactly set the world alight with the bat in his recuperation which could be a gamble if he comes in for Colly - and his bowling has been decent without really getting the reward of wickets. I think I’d still bring him in though for Colly, maybe bringing back Prior to bat at six and Freddie seven with Broad eight. That would be a powerful lower middle order and have the extra strength of Freddie with the ball as well. It won’t happen, but that’s the beauty of opinions!