My take on the matter is that we're not as good at finding capable test batsmen as we were. Without listing them, from around 2000 to 2010 we managed to introduce 9 or 10 batters who settled into test cricket reasonably quickly. Since the 2010/11 ashes we've only found one, despite needing to replace Collingwood, Strauss, Trott and KP. For whatever reason, the gap between county and test cricket seems to have risen sharply.
I'd just persist with him at 5. Bairstow looks well out of his depth at international level.
He didn't know. They showed his reaction to the replay on the balcony. Second time it's happened to him.
or is it the fact that T20 has taken over and techniques aren't good enough anymore. Not just us having a problem replacing players.
If you're going to give people an extended chance as opposed to the one bad match and your out of the 90s I suppose this is the problem you get
The thing is a lot of them have got a hundred in their first or second games which then gives them a few more games.
But none of the 2000s debuting players - Strauss, Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Prior - were stuck with through a poor start. Prior was dropped after one bad series too
With IPL, BBL, CPL, T20 Blast and various 40/50 over tournaments, players just aren't playing as much four day stuff; and that's before you consider international matches.
Bell was going to be dropped in Pakistan 05 but for Vaughan pulling out last minute.
Quite possibly, especially since we doubled the number of group matches in our domestic 2020 competition about 10 years ago.
In fact the only batsman I can think of to have a poor start around that time was Ravi Bopara, and he was dropped more often than a leaky shampoo bottle
Yeah, he's one of the few exceptions as he really didn't look up to it. Whereas the guys you listed plus Collingwood and Trott, as well as Tresco and Vaughan from slightly earlier, all settled in pretty quickly. Even Bell, once he wasn't facing Warne & McGrath.
Bell was, although injuries probably played a part in that.
For scoring them largely when it didn't matter.
They showed the India one on Sky. Was absolutely blatant.
