Even though his name was widely romanised as Muralitharan from the start of his career, he prefers the spelling Muralidaran. The different spellings have arisen because the Tamil letter த can be pronounced as both 't' and 'd' depending on its place in a word.
Thanks - had no idea.
Nope. I think only Wood is a questionable selection in England considering his record here. I love having 4 seamers in a team but I appreciate how long the tail would be in that case. Bess doing his best Rashid impression this test.
Dropped for Wood who averages 45 with the ball in England it made no sense.
Hasn't looked peerless in my POV. Archer has to play.
Im sure its an unintended consequence, but he came back with such motivation and focus.
Nope, Crawley in for Archer is the only change needed for the first test.
I think with Jimmy you play him as much as you can because there isn't much time left.
They just changed it back again - are they on the wind up
?In all honesty, I think he's been really poor aside from that one spell in the first match where he took 3 quick wickets. I know a lot has been said about his pace, but when he's bowling mid-80s I'm not convinced he offers anything that those other three don't offer more of in these conditions. Not because he isn't still a good bowler, but because Woakes, Anderson and Broad are so good in them.
Agreed. I can't believe we will make the same mistake (again) of thinking Broad and Anderson can lead an attack in Australia. Archer and Wood need to play some games together before next November as to have any chance over there they will have to be working well as the lead bowlers.
There's no rush with Archer, he'll lead this attack soon enough. People would do well to recall Broad and Anderson's development and the fact that they are STILL learning right now. I think they felt compelled to play him in this test in as a sign of support.
The key is there is in conditions close to what they will experience. The Dukes ball vs West Indies at the Ageas Bowl is not going to prepare them for the Kookaburra ball vs Australia at the Gabba.
That was the problem in the first test, though. England picked a side to win a test match at Perth not at the Ageas bowl.
For sure, and I'm by no means slagging him off. I just don't think he's currently in England's top 3 best seamers in English conditions because the other three are ludicrously good.
They used the Dukes in Sheffield Shield for a bit and it was interesting to see how they basically dropped Starc for the Ashes here. In a COVID-19 world it's hard to see how England are going to give Wood and Archer enough chances to bowl with the Kookaburra prior to the Ashes.
Those numbers leave you partially tempted to do away with a spinner, but you can only make that judgement depending on the pitch/toss/opposition etc.
The really crazy thing is statsguru has updated since that post so Broad is now at 321 at 25.9 in his career.
Even Sam Curran has a better average and S/R than Archer in England
I reckon that's basically because of this test. Anyway a great problem to have. You can see and develop the future whilst the present is still outrageously good, not many teams get that lucky. England's problem has never generally been bowling at home mind.
Curious - did you google that just now?
In home tests I think most of us would agree. He stands out in the fact that he's the only bowler in this current crop whose away record (26 wickets @ 20.76) is better than their home record (24 wickets @ 44.91).
Had no idea his away record is so good. Surprised. I’ve seen only the home tests barring away v West Indies a bit, and saw a really good spell of his there. Just seems like a pace merchant to me generally.
Yes sorry I googled this.
Could have him, Archer & Wood bowling 90+ mph at the MCG next winter
, all but over already