@KiwiPie said in Other Cricket:
@mariner4life said in Other Cricket:
@KiwiPie said in Other Cricket:
Looks like all test top orders are struggling to make runs these days. To my old fart eyes, the batting techniques are hopeless, the feet go nowhere and most batsmen can't play the moving ball.
They've got more shots, but less "technique" if that makes any sense. The scourge of T20 cricket?
It makes Kohli and Williamson stand out even more (Steve Smith is the outlier there)
Smith's technique is odd but he matches KW in that he plays the ball late - too many Guptills out there, plant the feet and swing the bat at the line of the ball (before it moves off the seam or swings late).
But someone like Moeen Ali ends up as a test batsmen (was batting at 3 until recently) who basically plants his feet and hits through the line. He made 50 today but that's purely due to luck - he gives the bowling side so many chances that he is never in or out of form - it just comes down to chance. He has a great eye, and can score fast .. Bairstow and Buttler are similar in that English side.
I'm not sure what you're including in these day but a decade ago or maybe more we had journalists breathlessly exhorting the declining importance of footwork as Sehwag plundered triple and double tons with a stand and deliver approach. The second coming of Matthew Hayden was similar.
I feel like there was a period from the late nineties until recently where pitches got better for batting, there weren't many elite swing bowlers (as everyone chased express pace bowlers and mystery spinners) and batting averages crept up while technique declined. Perhaps that's what is causing the decline in averages now as some elite bowlers have popped up and there's a reaction to flat decks.
) the West Indies rising again. After growing up on the 86/87 version an onwards, watching their decline was disappointing.
