England Top Order Needs More Experience
Friday, November 14, 2008 : England, Tests
Inevitably if England continue to lose to India in this 2008 ODI Series then team selection and team strategies will be put under the microscope. The main difference between the teams in the first ODI at Rajkot was what happened in the first 10-20 overs of each innings. The England top order needs more experience.
England have 3 relatively inexperienced players in the top 3. Either they get more experience in situ or you utilise your more experienced players in these roles. There are enough batsmen down the order good enough to work the ball around in the middle overs, to allow Paul Collingwood to be used in the top 3. Having played over 150 matches his experience is being wasted.
Looking at the career records of ODI opening batsmen such as Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist, their batting average is adequate but their success was built on a high scoring rate and the ability to bat through an innings to make match winning hundreds. Ian Bell has a better ODI average than both of these players but has only scored 1 ODI hundred (against India) and 15 fifties. His scoring rate and that of his opening partner, Matt Prior, are considerably lower.
Like all countries, England are looking to forge an opening partnership capable of utilising the early over power plays while achieving a steady start. Most teams go with an aggressive hitter (Gayle,Sehwag, Gilchrist, Jayasuria, McCullum ) and a steady innings builder. The aggressive hitter is usually a confident experienced player prepared to hit over the top and take some chances. Matt Prior is supposed to have this role. He has played almost 30 matches and with 1 fifty has not taken his opportunity. His selection to open is influenced by the Gilchrist factor. It makes lots of sense for a wicket keeper batsman to open especially batting second. They have seen better than anyone how the pitch is playing. Although Prior has many of Gilchrist's attributes, Gilchrist was a one-off.
Also England need to be more flexible with their batting order utilising Pietersen and Flintoff at 3 and 4 if they do get a good start.
ODI Batting Records of the top order batsmen of England and India*
| Batsman | Innings | Average | Hundreds | Fifties | Strike Rate |
|---|
| IR Bell | 72 | 36.34 | 1 | 15 | 71.99 |
| G Gambhir | 60 | 36.79 | 5 | 11 | 81.73 |
| MJ Prior | 27 | 23.60 | 0 | 1 | 76.03 |
| V Sehwag | 176 | 32.73 | 9 | 28 | 99.03 |
| OA Shah | 43 | 27.68 | 1 | 6 | 76.12 |
| SK Raina | 42 | 34.02 | 2 | 7 | 82.47 |
| Batsman | Innings | Average | Hundreds | Fifties | Strike Rate |
|---|
| A Gilchrist | 278 | 35.93 | 16 | 55 | 96.89 |
* As at 13.11.2008
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