So the ECB finally had the balls to tell Kevin Pietersen that they were no longer able to tolerate his divisive behaviour. I must admit I wasn't expecting it, but if there was ever going to be an opportunity, this was it. Straight after an Ashes humiliation and crushing ODI and T20 defeats, with World Cups fast approaching, any decision to close the door on KP could be vindicated by talk of 'going forward' and rebuilding for the future. And that's pretty much what happened this week.
Readers of this blog will know that I am no fan of KP the man. However, the statistics don't lie when they tell the story of a hugely gifted batsman who could win a match, and even a series with just one blistering innings. 277 appearances and almost 14,000 runs for his adopted country speak volumes for his cricketing ability. Like many, his career has in largely been defined by his performances against Australia and they have on the whole been positive ones. Yet, unlike almost every England player in post-war history, it is KP the human being who has made just as many headlines, and they have rarely been glowing.
He has upset people at evey club he represented, abandoning South Africa when he couldn't walk into the national side, Nottinghamshire when he pissed off team-mates and management alike, Hampshire when he declared the drive down the M3 to Southampton was too far from his London home, and England on any number of occasions. Botham and Flintoff often pushed the patience of management to the limit but usually survived. Times have changed and, even after Andy Flower's departure, those remaining at the top, apparently supported by senior players, have bitten the bullet and left him out of the next touring parties. There are other issues to resolve but this was the first, brave step along the road to recovery.
For all his words, the England badge tattoo, there have remained doubts about his true allegiance. I don't mean that 'textgate' suggests he still favoured the land of his birth, but that KP's allegiance has always been, and always will be, to himself. However, he was not to blame for England's disastrous trip Down Under. Not on the pitch, anyway. Maverick characters like his attract the undying affection of diehard cricket fans, who are also quick to blame the 'suits'. No doubt we will have to wait until the autumn ghosted autobiographies to learn the truth, or the different versions of the truth, regarding what happened in the England dressing room, especially the decisive post-Ashes post-mortem led by Cook and Prior.
What is not in doubt is Pietersen's flair, whether his dodgy haircuts, those tattoos, or the flamboyant 'flamingo' shot. For all the brilliance of Cook, Trott, Bell, Anderson, Broad, Swann et al, I can't imagine many people flocking to Lord's, Sydney, Centurion or Mumbai just to see them play. KP was another matter.
Yet despite that I still think Paul Downton, James Whitaker have made the correct decision. Without it, there would have been more years when all questions would have been around accommodating KP's desire for IPL and Other T20 contracts. KP is NOT bigger than England, no matter what he thinks. It's a while since he made a great innings for the side but he does leave a hole in the side.
If England fail to win the World Cup or T20 tournament, KP's absence will be cited as a reason, yet even he cannot win every competition in which he particpates. It's an eleven-a-side game. To be optimistic, his departure leaves the number four position vacant for someone else (Bell, Moeen Ali, Nick Compton, James Taylor?) to make it his own. That would be a great outcome, and well worth the gamble. Fingers crossed...
Showing posts with label Andy Flower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andy Flower. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Sunday, 2 February 2014
England's Nightmare ends at last
A full tour of England really should yield more than two wins against invitation XIs and a solitary ODI. After three months of being comprehensively outplayed in most contests with a team they beat only last summer, the England circus returns home minus a head coach, their best spinner and most reliable batsman and a whole bunch of reputations.
The international results read Australia 12 England 1, and the 1 was slightly tarnished by the weakened opposition. Having established moral and physical supremacy by the end of the Sydney Test, the Aussies could safely rotate their squad throughout their ODI and T20 matches and still come out on top. Pity Joe Root and Ben Stokes. They played in the first game and they were still there at the death. Meanwhile, Andy Flower quit, Graeme Swann retired, Jonathan Trott flew home with a form of depression and Alastair Cook is contemplating his navel on his farm.
Hopefully the new boys from Yorkshire and Durham have time and energy on their side, and can have a little relaxation before the West Indies tour, presuming both are picked. Interestingly, the man with the most runs across the entire tour in all formats was Michael Carberry, accumulating 656 in 10 matches. In all, England fielded 29 players and only Cook, Bel,l and Root joined Carberry with mor ethan 500 runs under their belts. With the ball, only Stuart Broad (36 wickets in 13 games) and Stokes again (26 in 12) emerged with much credit from the whole business.
So what next? There's the Caribbean one-day tour, IPL and thoughts of the T20 World Cup which can only get in the way of England getting their proper cricket back in order. I just hope that the Test certainties and probables don't let the dollar signs blind themselves to restoring their psychological wellbeing and first-class technique and skills. It was reassuring to read of James Anderson's determination to re-establish himself with Lancashire and I would love to think the early Championship fixtures offer ideal opportunities for the likes of Cook, Bell, Finn, Prior and, yes, Onions to produce the sorts of performances that brought them to international recognition in the first place.
As for the next head coach, who knows? Ashle Giles remains the bookies' favourite, despite his dreadful record with the ODI and T20 squads this winter and his allegiance to the set-up which took England to the heights and depths of the past year or two. CricInfo mentions Nottinghamshire coach Mick Newell as his closest rival. Experience as successful Lions tour coach in 2011 is a plus, but he is no fan of Kevin Pietersen, whose total lack of team ethic was first demonstrated at Trent Bridge. Hopefully that won't count against him as KP should not be allowed to choose the coach. If he refuses to play then let him go: leave your England badge and locker key on the desk and please close the door behind you.
Gary Kirsten and Tom Moody have excellent reputations both domestically as well as internationally, as players and coaches. The South African steered Indian to the Test No. 1 position and World Cup then, to cap it all, led his home nation to the top of the tree as well. Top players speak highly of him. However, he has placed family life ahead of cricket and I can't see Paul Downton appointing a part-timer unless he can persuade Kirsten to focus on the essentials of 82-page dietary profiles and ruining the actions of the country's brightest young bowlers.
So there are no obvious candidates for Giles to worry about. If he and his team can remind their charges of the talent and ability they already have and showed in the past three or four seasons, then his job is done. But if Flower wasn't considered the man to do it, why should Giles be any better qualified? Let's see how Downton does in his first test.
The international results read Australia 12 England 1, and the 1 was slightly tarnished by the weakened opposition. Having established moral and physical supremacy by the end of the Sydney Test, the Aussies could safely rotate their squad throughout their ODI and T20 matches and still come out on top. Pity Joe Root and Ben Stokes. They played in the first game and they were still there at the death. Meanwhile, Andy Flower quit, Graeme Swann retired, Jonathan Trott flew home with a form of depression and Alastair Cook is contemplating his navel on his farm.
Hopefully the new boys from Yorkshire and Durham have time and energy on their side, and can have a little relaxation before the West Indies tour, presuming both are picked. Interestingly, the man with the most runs across the entire tour in all formats was Michael Carberry, accumulating 656 in 10 matches. In all, England fielded 29 players and only Cook, Bel,l and Root joined Carberry with mor ethan 500 runs under their belts. With the ball, only Stuart Broad (36 wickets in 13 games) and Stokes again (26 in 12) emerged with much credit from the whole business.
So what next? There's the Caribbean one-day tour, IPL and thoughts of the T20 World Cup which can only get in the way of England getting their proper cricket back in order. I just hope that the Test certainties and probables don't let the dollar signs blind themselves to restoring their psychological wellbeing and first-class technique and skills. It was reassuring to read of James Anderson's determination to re-establish himself with Lancashire and I would love to think the early Championship fixtures offer ideal opportunities for the likes of Cook, Bell, Finn, Prior and, yes, Onions to produce the sorts of performances that brought them to international recognition in the first place.
As for the next head coach, who knows? Ashle Giles remains the bookies' favourite, despite his dreadful record with the ODI and T20 squads this winter and his allegiance to the set-up which took England to the heights and depths of the past year or two. CricInfo mentions Nottinghamshire coach Mick Newell as his closest rival. Experience as successful Lions tour coach in 2011 is a plus, but he is no fan of Kevin Pietersen, whose total lack of team ethic was first demonstrated at Trent Bridge. Hopefully that won't count against him as KP should not be allowed to choose the coach. If he refuses to play then let him go: leave your England badge and locker key on the desk and please close the door behind you.
Gary Kirsten and Tom Moody have excellent reputations both domestically as well as internationally, as players and coaches. The South African steered Indian to the Test No. 1 position and World Cup then, to cap it all, led his home nation to the top of the tree as well. Top players speak highly of him. However, he has placed family life ahead of cricket and I can't see Paul Downton appointing a part-timer unless he can persuade Kirsten to focus on the essentials of 82-page dietary profiles and ruining the actions of the country's brightest young bowlers.
So there are no obvious candidates for Giles to worry about. If he and his team can remind their charges of the talent and ability they already have and showed in the past three or four seasons, then his job is done. But if Flower wasn't considered the man to do it, why should Giles be any better qualified? Let's see how Downton does in his first test.
Friday, 31 January 2014
Who could bloom brighter than Flower?
I suppose when a team loses 5-0 to its greatest rivals, the manager will usually expect to find his head on the chopping block, the media baying for the blade to fall. It can happen in any sport. Yet England's heavy defeat Down Under followed five years of unprecedented success under the guidance of Andy Flower, a period which should have guaranteed the Zimbabwean coach the keys to the kingdom for the rest of his life. So why the nods of approval from all and sundry when Flower resigned today?
His predecessor Peter Moores got the boot when he, too, fell foul of the walking ego that is Kevin Pietersen. Flower was brought in, alongside new untried national skipper Andrew Strauss in January 2009, and five years later, the same batsman has been the focus of another coach's departure. How active a role KP has played this time, perhaps we'll never know, but at least we won't face the disaster of a Pietersen captaincy; Alastair Cook must surely remain in that job.
With Flower at the helm, taking over less than three years after his last game for Essex, England won 30 and lost only 19 out of 66 Tests, and enjoyed 12 series victories and only four defeats out of nineteen. One of the losses was his first, in the Caribbean, with the skittling of England for 51 all out making an embarrassing start. Things went awry in 2012 when England were thumped by Pakistan and South Africa, but with three Ashes successes and that whitewash of India to go top of the ICC rankings, Andy Flower can leave with head held high. On his watch, England also won the World T20 title and became one of the most consistent 50-over outfits albeit with no trophies, before handing the reins to Ashley Giles.
The Warwickshire man is apparently hot favourite to take Flower's place as the head coach for the Test squad. In some ways, that is a plus for continuity. However, if Flower was forced out because the culture had gone to pot during the winter tour, then why should Giles escape without punishment? I don't recall his one-day charges performing much better! Flower's dogged pursuit of a professional attitude and a host of backroom staff has been cited as the reason for failure but Giles is hardly a man noted for fun, frolics and back to basics.
Will Paul Downton and co bite the bullet and select someone from out of the current regime? Another foreigner? Maybe an Austalian like Shane Warne or Steve Waugh??!! I suspect it'll be a safety first appointment, but he would need to dispense with Gooch and Saker, that's for sure.
A good relationship with Cook is imperative. Pietersen is an irrelevance. I wish the eventual head coach lots of luck!
His predecessor Peter Moores got the boot when he, too, fell foul of the walking ego that is Kevin Pietersen. Flower was brought in, alongside new untried national skipper Andrew Strauss in January 2009, and five years later, the same batsman has been the focus of another coach's departure. How active a role KP has played this time, perhaps we'll never know, but at least we won't face the disaster of a Pietersen captaincy; Alastair Cook must surely remain in that job.
With Flower at the helm, taking over less than three years after his last game for Essex, England won 30 and lost only 19 out of 66 Tests, and enjoyed 12 series victories and only four defeats out of nineteen. One of the losses was his first, in the Caribbean, with the skittling of England for 51 all out making an embarrassing start. Things went awry in 2012 when England were thumped by Pakistan and South Africa, but with three Ashes successes and that whitewash of India to go top of the ICC rankings, Andy Flower can leave with head held high. On his watch, England also won the World T20 title and became one of the most consistent 50-over outfits albeit with no trophies, before handing the reins to Ashley Giles.
The Warwickshire man is apparently hot favourite to take Flower's place as the head coach for the Test squad. In some ways, that is a plus for continuity. However, if Flower was forced out because the culture had gone to pot during the winter tour, then why should Giles escape without punishment? I don't recall his one-day charges performing much better! Flower's dogged pursuit of a professional attitude and a host of backroom staff has been cited as the reason for failure but Giles is hardly a man noted for fun, frolics and back to basics.
Will Paul Downton and co bite the bullet and select someone from out of the current regime? Another foreigner? Maybe an Austalian like Shane Warne or Steve Waugh??!! I suspect it'll be a safety first appointment, but he would need to dispense with Gooch and Saker, that's for sure.
A good relationship with Cook is imperative. Pietersen is an irrelevance. I wish the eventual head coach lots of luck!
Sunday, 5 January 2014
Advance, Australia Fair!
5-0! Even the most patriotic Australian cricket fan could not have predicted such an incredible turnaround in his/her side's fortunes. In England, the home side triumphed 3-0 but the key difference was not overall quality but experience and determination at crucial moments - brilliant sessions by Broad here, Swann there big innings by Bell and Root - together with occasional well-timed weather intervention. There wasn't a chasm between the two nations, but perhaps it was a battle-hardened squad and, yes, home advantage which delivered the Ashes to Cook, Flower et al.
Advance a few months and to the other side of the globe, and that home advantage would again be a factor. Nevertheless, it was still pretty much the same England team which just a short while earlier had been the number one Test side in the world and proud victors over Darren Lehmann's charges. Australia were still relying on thirty-somethings with dodgy knees, shoulders, attitudes and the massive weight of media and fan expectations that sweet revenge would be wrought. It couldn't possibly happen, surely?!
But it did. Commentators, pundits and journalists have pontificated over culpability of the English. Is it Cook's captaincy? Is it just the failure to win tosses? Is it a fractured dressing room? Is it the whole England set-up under Andy Flower? To put it bluntly, Australia were heads, shoulders and moustaches above England in just about every conceivable facet of the game. Their only weakness was arguably in the top five batsmen, so often bailed out by Haddin and the lower order. Yet that top five delivered between them nine centuries. England's top five produced precisely none. Indeed, England's only centurion was the belatedly selected all-rounder Ben Stokes, whose second-innings 120 merely delayed the inevitable defeat at Melbourne.
In six out of ten innings, England failed to muster even 200. No England batsman aggregated 300 runs whereas for the Aussies all bar George Bailey did. So was it all down to the frailties of English batting and/or the illness of Jonathan Trott? I find it hard to accept that recent worldbeaters could all suddenly become useless. No, here the prime factor must be the brilliance of the Australian attack. As skipper Clarke says, it's one thing to have a strategy, but it has to be executed by all team members, and that was carried out to perfection.
Mitchell Johnson was deservedly named Player of the Series, his 37 wickets coming at an average of under 14, but it was the nature of those performances which destroyed English confidence from day one. Fearsome pace, uncompromising attitude and excellent use of the short ball, seam and bounce all did for Cook and co. At first England squealed about the sledging, yet even some of their players admitted that they had done the same thing back in England so 'all's fair....' Australia also had weather on their side and a back-up team able to keep Ryan Harris's body together, David Warner focussed on his job and not extracurricular naughtiness, and everybody's eye on the prize. Johnson and Harris were ably supported by the dependable Peter Siddle, Shane Watson medium-pace and, for once, some accurate spin in the hands of Nathan Lyon. From nowhere, Australia have finally produced possibly the best all-round attack in world cricket!
On the other side of the coin, England's bowlers have slipped from their peak in spectacular fashion. Jimmy Anderson, labelled the world's best exponent of fast-medium swing, captured a measly 14 wickets at more than 40 apiece. Stuart Broad did at least achieve a 'six-for' and series average under 30. Graeme Swann's three-match haul of seven wickets at 80 (80!) not only embarrassed England but also caused the bowler himself to desert the sinking ship and retire immediately. Sydney gave the selectors the opportunity to blood Ballance, Borthwick and Boyd Rankin, as well as restore Bairstow to Matt Prior's once-impregnable wicket-keeper role, but all too little, too late.
The original selection of Rankin, Finn and Tremlett was surely flawed from the outset and the big men were barely used at all, even on pitches supposedly made for their pace and bounce. That alone does not explain the annihilation England suffered in every one of the five Test matches, or should I say mis-matches. It is right that Cook should feel bad about the result, and that a post-mortem should be carried out to cover the whole set-up. I don't agree that Flower and Cook ahould resign straightaway. Nevertheless, the new men at the top must be honest with their appraisal of the situation, from coaching selection and tactics to individual performances.
England will bounce back and have a great chance of maintaining their good record against India this coming summer. Meanwhile, Australia have leapfrogged them into third place and have a real chance of threatening South Africa's current status as top-dogs. Provided the old guard of Harris, Johnson, Haddin and Clarke remain healthy, fit and focussed. Both sides deserve a bit of a rest and it will be fascinating to see how each go forward from what has been an incredible couple of Ashes encounters.
Advance a few months and to the other side of the globe, and that home advantage would again be a factor. Nevertheless, it was still pretty much the same England team which just a short while earlier had been the number one Test side in the world and proud victors over Darren Lehmann's charges. Australia were still relying on thirty-somethings with dodgy knees, shoulders, attitudes and the massive weight of media and fan expectations that sweet revenge would be wrought. It couldn't possibly happen, surely?!
But it did. Commentators, pundits and journalists have pontificated over culpability of the English. Is it Cook's captaincy? Is it just the failure to win tosses? Is it a fractured dressing room? Is it the whole England set-up under Andy Flower? To put it bluntly, Australia were heads, shoulders and moustaches above England in just about every conceivable facet of the game. Their only weakness was arguably in the top five batsmen, so often bailed out by Haddin and the lower order. Yet that top five delivered between them nine centuries. England's top five produced precisely none. Indeed, England's only centurion was the belatedly selected all-rounder Ben Stokes, whose second-innings 120 merely delayed the inevitable defeat at Melbourne.
In six out of ten innings, England failed to muster even 200. No England batsman aggregated 300 runs whereas for the Aussies all bar George Bailey did. So was it all down to the frailties of English batting and/or the illness of Jonathan Trott? I find it hard to accept that recent worldbeaters could all suddenly become useless. No, here the prime factor must be the brilliance of the Australian attack. As skipper Clarke says, it's one thing to have a strategy, but it has to be executed by all team members, and that was carried out to perfection.
Mitchell Johnson was deservedly named Player of the Series, his 37 wickets coming at an average of under 14, but it was the nature of those performances which destroyed English confidence from day one. Fearsome pace, uncompromising attitude and excellent use of the short ball, seam and bounce all did for Cook and co. At first England squealed about the sledging, yet even some of their players admitted that they had done the same thing back in England so 'all's fair....' Australia also had weather on their side and a back-up team able to keep Ryan Harris's body together, David Warner focussed on his job and not extracurricular naughtiness, and everybody's eye on the prize. Johnson and Harris were ably supported by the dependable Peter Siddle, Shane Watson medium-pace and, for once, some accurate spin in the hands of Nathan Lyon. From nowhere, Australia have finally produced possibly the best all-round attack in world cricket!
On the other side of the coin, England's bowlers have slipped from their peak in spectacular fashion. Jimmy Anderson, labelled the world's best exponent of fast-medium swing, captured a measly 14 wickets at more than 40 apiece. Stuart Broad did at least achieve a 'six-for' and series average under 30. Graeme Swann's three-match haul of seven wickets at 80 (80!) not only embarrassed England but also caused the bowler himself to desert the sinking ship and retire immediately. Sydney gave the selectors the opportunity to blood Ballance, Borthwick and Boyd Rankin, as well as restore Bairstow to Matt Prior's once-impregnable wicket-keeper role, but all too little, too late.
The original selection of Rankin, Finn and Tremlett was surely flawed from the outset and the big men were barely used at all, even on pitches supposedly made for their pace and bounce. That alone does not explain the annihilation England suffered in every one of the five Test matches, or should I say mis-matches. It is right that Cook should feel bad about the result, and that a post-mortem should be carried out to cover the whole set-up. I don't agree that Flower and Cook ahould resign straightaway. Nevertheless, the new men at the top must be honest with their appraisal of the situation, from coaching selection and tactics to individual performances.
England will bounce back and have a great chance of maintaining their good record against India this coming summer. Meanwhile, Australia have leapfrogged them into third place and have a real chance of threatening South Africa's current status as top-dogs. Provided the old guard of Harris, Johnson, Haddin and Clarke remain healthy, fit and focussed. Both sides deserve a bit of a rest and it will be fascinating to see how each go forward from what has been an incredible couple of Ashes encounters.
Monday, 18 November 2013
Andy Flower's best bloom - thirteen years on
All this talk about Matt Prior's 'will he, won't he' situation ahead of the First Ashes Test is wrapped up in glowing praise for his dressing room value and batting prowess. As a wicketkeeper usually batting at seven, Prior's average of 42 is undeniably excellent. Nineties England opener Alec Stewart averaged only 35 when playing as designated 'keeper. Kumar Sangakkara has one of the best Test averages of any player in history (just shy of 57) but in games when he donned the gloves, it's actually below that of Prior. Adam Gilchrist was up in the high 40s, but even he is eclipsed by one man.
So who's the best wicketkeeper-batsman of the past forty years or so? Look no further than the aforementioned England dressing room: it's Andy Flower. Had he represented one of the major cricketing nations, instead of Zimbabwe, he'd have been a true world superstar. Thirteen years ago, he started a 13-month sequence of eleven Tests in which he accumulated a whopping 1,466 runs with a staggering average of 133.27!! Beat that, Tendulkar!
In that run, Zimbabwe won just four - three against Bangladesh - lost three and drew four. However, even in defeat, Andy Flower, often well supported by brother Grant, usually shone brightly, dominating his side's scorecard. In the first match in November 2000, the wicketkeeper struck 183 not out and 70 in Delhi, yet was on the receiving end of a seven wicket drubbing. Thank you, Rahul Dravid, whose unbeaten 200 and 70 eclipsed even the 32 year-old Zimbabwean's stunning performance.
A week later, Dravid compiled another big hundred but Tendulkar's 201 not out took India to 600. Zimbabwe followed on, and Andy Flower's undefeated 232 saved the match. Two more half-centuries followed in New Zealand then against Bangladesh before a feeble 23 in Harare. He passed fifty twice in the defeat by India then his side claimed a rare success against Ganguly's men althiough this time it was brother Grant who top-scored.
In September 2001 Gibbs, Kirsten and Kallis smashed Zimbabwe's attack all over the shop and it was another follow-on situation. Andy F just got on with the job and contributed 341 runs all by himself. Sadly for him, all it achieved was to take the game into a fifth day which became one of the most infamous dates in history: 11th September 2001, aka 9/11. 67, 14 not out and 28 came from the next two fixtures, against SA and Bangladesh, before another unbeaten hundred, in Chittagong, took his sequence to five centuries, 7 fifties and that massive aggregate of runs. Oh, and 30-odd dismissals, too.
Let's not forget Andy Flower is still only 45. If the selectors are really so scared of handing the gloves to Jonny Bairstow they could do no worse than turning to the coach. Like Prior, he was even born in South Africa, always a plus on the CV of an England hopeful! Well, maybe it wouldn't be allowed, but we should place the impressive stats of the incumbent in the context of his coach, possibly the greatest Test 'keeper-batsmen since the Second World War.
So who's the best wicketkeeper-batsman of the past forty years or so? Look no further than the aforementioned England dressing room: it's Andy Flower. Had he represented one of the major cricketing nations, instead of Zimbabwe, he'd have been a true world superstar. Thirteen years ago, he started a 13-month sequence of eleven Tests in which he accumulated a whopping 1,466 runs with a staggering average of 133.27!! Beat that, Tendulkar!
In that run, Zimbabwe won just four - three against Bangladesh - lost three and drew four. However, even in defeat, Andy Flower, often well supported by brother Grant, usually shone brightly, dominating his side's scorecard. In the first match in November 2000, the wicketkeeper struck 183 not out and 70 in Delhi, yet was on the receiving end of a seven wicket drubbing. Thank you, Rahul Dravid, whose unbeaten 200 and 70 eclipsed even the 32 year-old Zimbabwean's stunning performance.
A week later, Dravid compiled another big hundred but Tendulkar's 201 not out took India to 600. Zimbabwe followed on, and Andy Flower's undefeated 232 saved the match. Two more half-centuries followed in New Zealand then against Bangladesh before a feeble 23 in Harare. He passed fifty twice in the defeat by India then his side claimed a rare success against Ganguly's men althiough this time it was brother Grant who top-scored.
In September 2001 Gibbs, Kirsten and Kallis smashed Zimbabwe's attack all over the shop and it was another follow-on situation. Andy F just got on with the job and contributed 341 runs all by himself. Sadly for him, all it achieved was to take the game into a fifth day which became one of the most infamous dates in history: 11th September 2001, aka 9/11. 67, 14 not out and 28 came from the next two fixtures, against SA and Bangladesh, before another unbeaten hundred, in Chittagong, took his sequence to five centuries, 7 fifties and that massive aggregate of runs. Oh, and 30-odd dismissals, too.
Let's not forget Andy Flower is still only 45. If the selectors are really so scared of handing the gloves to Jonny Bairstow they could do no worse than turning to the coach. Like Prior, he was even born in South Africa, always a plus on the CV of an England hopeful! Well, maybe it wouldn't be allowed, but we should place the impressive stats of the incumbent in the context of his coach, possibly the greatest Test 'keeper-batsmen since the Second World War.
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