Australia isn’t unbeatable.
Even Windies won a test in Gabba recently
2 Likes
Hectic end to the day for England there, but it’s setup to be an intriguing contest tomorrow. Impressed by Atkinson’s bowling again.
It’s not great cricket, but it’s fun
https://x.com/englandcricket/status/1817147787554759078?s=46&t=qjQdwJi2khWQQz87wqB34A
How high can Joe go? Number two I think, surpassing Sachin would be a monumental effort.
2 Likes
Will depend on how long he can keep going.
At 33, can he do a Jimmy Anderson and play for another 6 years? It is possible, but unlikely. Most likely he would play 2 maybe 3 years. So would then depend on who England play in those years, and where.
My gut feeling is I think he will add another 1500 max runs to his career total so looking at somewhere in the lower half 13K career runs so will end up somewhere inbetween Dravid and Ponting.
Going of Wisden.com Englands upcoming test schedule looks to be:
Aug 24 - 3 vs Sri Lanka (h)
Oct 24 - 3 vs Pakistan (a)
Nov/Dec 24 - 3 vs New Zealand (a)
Jun-Aug 25 - 5 vs India (h)
Nov 25-Jan 26 - 5 vs Australia (a)
June 26 - 3 vs New Zealand (h)
Would take him to 35, adding another 2K runs in that collection of games I would say is possible, but tough.
1 Like
England play many more matches. It will not be surprising if he does surpass Tendulkar
It would be surprising. Do the maths.
If he continues as he has up to now, he’ll add around 2,000, which is still 2,000 short of Tendulkar.
He’d have to continue until he’s 40 or average 80 to do it, either of which would be surprising.
1 Like
I do think he can stretch his career till he’s 38-39.
Batsmen are typically the most prolific when they are in their mid 30s.
Looking at that schedule 1500 is a low estimate imo. Sri Lanka aren’t particularly good, Pakistan will throw up some flat pitches, NZ likewise has some of the flattest pitches going. 8 tests at home against India and NZ both of whom he has fantastic records against, the real tester is obviously the away Ashes series where he has still yet to show his absolute best.
1 Like
Lovely partnership from Smith and Woakes, Smith really unlucky not to get to his maiden test century. Healthy lead for England now.
1 Like
Less 5 test series will hurt him a bit … he will pass Pointing but I think he won’t go much further.
1 Like
If he playes most of the tests, he will get close. But the question is will he?
6 tests in July/August then travel to Pakistan for 3 tests in October and 3 more tests in November/December in NZ I think I can see him sitting out a few, possibly 1 of the away series. That then drops to the 5 against India and then the Ashes where he has not been as dominant in Aus as he normally is could be a big hit to his runs.
I see that Washington Freedom won the Major League Cricket overnight, courtesy of a knock of 88 by Steve Smith.
Having the former captain of Australia in your team at that level seems a tad unfair. It’s like playing with a cheat code.
Never even heard of this tournement. Just looked at the different squads, and a few big names scattered around the league but Washington Freedom having Steve Smith, Travis Head and Glen Maxwell does seem a bit OTT in firepower. Disappointingly, there looks to be very few local US/Canadian players as most seem to be foreigners so you would think if it is to be sustainable, they would want to find a way to get more local players into the teams
There are a fair number of players from the Asian diaspora, I believe.
Even if cricket caters to the Asian diaspora , there’s still a fair number of people to choose from.
The US team beat Pakistan in the T20 WC. Every chance they can do that again given more time and investment.
With cricket now becoming an Olympic sport , the investment will improve.
1 Like
Matthew Mott removed as England’s white ball coach.
Not that surprised. Did very well initially with the T20 side winning in Australia, had an awful ODI World Cup and was lucky to get to the semis in the latest tournament. Already a bit of a reset going on with the players in those sides, probably the right time to change the coaching side of it.
Saw this also posted in the RIP thread, but still worth posting in here.
Sad news, always enjoyed watching him bat as he was very eloquent and stylish batsman
4 Likes
A very stylish batsman. RIP