Batting with the tail
It's always interesting watching a batsman batting with the tail and the way that they approach it. Clearly they are more likely to score runs than the tail-end batsman, but an overly pessimistic view on the tail being able to face a few balls sometimes leads to some chaotic running. Or often the batsman tends to get themselves out while over-attacking.
Matt Prior batted well in the 1st innings for England to score his 53 not out, but was criticised for allowing the tail to face too many balls: "...his tactics with the tail were odd, as he continually exposed both Harmison and Panesar. The final-wicket stand lasted 37 balls, of which Panesar faced 26."
Last summer at Edgbaston, the final two wickets fell in 2 balls at a time when Flintoff was batting really well - some would say that had a big impact on the eventual result - and the result certainly impacted on Michael Vaughan who resigned afterwards. First Anderson was run out as Flintoff tried to keep the strike, and then Panesar ran himself out trying to get Flintoff on strike.
It wasn't the first time that Flintoff had been involved in some nightmarish tactics with the tail. Although the Ashes had long-since gone, in the 5th Test in Sydney at the start of 2007, he was batting brilliantly and looked on for 100 with England 8 down at the time. But faced with the prospect of batting with the last of the tail, he ran down the wicket at Stuart Clark, got bowled having a wild slog, and England were all out on the same score.
Surely with all the statistical analysis that is done these days, the players can be educated about the best way to bat with the tail so that they eek out what could be crucial runs. Blatant slogging is totally unecessary until the team are 9 down for starters. But someone like Prior or Flintoff should have in their mind things like the average number of balls that Panesar or Anderson faces per innings, whether they are statistically more comfortable facing pace or spin, and then add on top of that their own interpretation of the situation as no two situations will be the same.
As a side that need every run they can get, England could certainly do with focussing on how they can make that 10 or 20 more from the final couple of wickets. Either proper analysis and attention to that part of their game is long overdue, or they are simply picking the wrong tactics despite having done the planning. Either way, they can improve and, as professional sportsmen, I trust they have recognised this and are tackling it....
3 comments:
Sounds fine in theory, but in the middle of the match, when you are not in such fine form yourself, taking all that into consideration must be difficult. Potentially it is even destructive. Prior has hardly been in the form of his life recently and needs to focus on his own game. Had he focussed on the tail he may have succumbed earlier himself, which would have been no use to anyone.
The other argument is that you trust the tailenders to do the job. Steve Waugh mentions this quite extensively in his autobiography, arguing that encouraging tailenders to take responsibility and do the job makes them do just that. If you treat them like sloggers they will act that way. Sure, it didn't work this time, but who is to say that next time this wouldn't work.
Therefore, I think Prior did the right thing by focussing on his own batting and letting the tail do what they should do. Flintoff charging down the wicket, on the other hand, is quite a different story......
Fair comment. I was commenting on journalist's comments rather than from a position of watching Prior's partnerships with Harmison and Panesar, so I don't know how much effort he was making to keep the strike. I'd like to see England take more of the Prior approach than the Flintoff so certainly not going to give Prior a hard time. And it's a long time since we've had a number 7 averaging over 40 in Test cricket so I hope his keeping holds up.
I just hope that they are actually analysing the best approach for batting with the tail and considering their options rather than leaving each batsman to their own devices.
I wonder what Chanderpaul thought when Jerome Taylor came to the wicket at number 8 in their match v NZ. His top score was 31 and he averaged 13 before his latest innings. But those stats have changed a bit after his 106 of 107 balls....
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