McIntosh and his 100
Have we solved half our opening problem? Well, it’s too early to tell, but McIntosh is looking very exciting. You never know, he may be the saviour of another of our problems, that of scoring centuries.
The last century scored by a New Zealander (I think) was Taylor’s 154 at Manchester in May. To find the last century by an opener (ignoring Bell’s 107 against Bangladesh in January, unfairly perhaps, but it does get in the way of my point) we have to go way back to Nottingham ’04 for Fleming’s 117.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Apart from Oram, I think the next highest score when Bell got his ton was 20 or something so I think it does need to be counted.
Having said that Tim M did well this weekend. Although the obvious frailty against the short stuff worries me.
Nice to see him not get out in 80s / 90s when approaching maiden ton though. We’ve seen too much of that lately.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Apart from Oram, I think the next highest score when Bell got his ton was 20 or something so I think it does need to be counted.
But we won by 9 wickets (and it stuffs up the point I was trying to make).
Having said that Tim M did well this weekend. Although the obvious frailty against the short stuff worries me.
I’m very impressed by the way he tried to minimise his weaknesses. After he was nearly caught yesterday playing that terrible pull, he became much more cautious when playing that shot – he still looked terrible playing it, but at least he was watching the ball.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:38 am
It’s not really a pull shot is it? Not sure how to describe it. A back-foot sweep forward of square?
BTW, credit for twisting the stats to make a point. That’s an admirable skill.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
It’s not really a pull shot is it? Not sure how to describe it. A back-foot sweep forward of square?
Fantastic description. I’m going to call it a “‘tosh shot”.
BTW, credit for twisting the stats to make a point. That’s an admirable skill.
Bangladesh are a boon for twisted stattos – leave them in to push averages up and take them out to drive averages down.
In my defence though, Bangladesh really are statistical outliers, especially for players like Bell, whose record including Bangladesh is merely poor, whereas without them it’s dismal.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Bangladesh, like Zimbabwe and Scotland (or was it Ireland?) are great for including or excluding when looking at Prince Brendan’s career as an international cricketer.