2nd Test

[Paul McKeown]

Flat pitch, two batsmen well established, much of the opposing attack looking ragged, only two down, what score should the England team want to set today? Start of the day 259/2, obviously need another 111 to haul in the opposition score, but then? 600 by the end of the day?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Flat pitch, two batsmen well established, much of the opposing attack looking ragged, only two down, what score should the England team want to set today? Start of the day 259/2, obviously need another 111 to haul in the opposition score, but then? 600 by the end of the day?

First question is whether Strauss can improve on his record of adding 6 to his overnight scores when 100+ not out. Then what Pietersen can do and how quickly. BTW, have bookies been taking bets on who of Strauss, Pietersen and Cook will get the new all-time England record for career Test centuries? They've been neck-and-neck for a while, but Strauss seems to be making a push to get there first, though as he openly acknowledges, Cook should end up surpassing both him and Pietersen. I wonder what total of centuries all three may end up getting in their Test careers?

[Paul McKeown]

Cook will get at least 35 centuries, Pietersen at least 30, Strauss at least 25. Strauss admitted in his interview to Sly Sports that he needed to improve on his record regarding scoring after being on a century overnight. He really owes himself a double, his highest score being 177, he certainly is ideally placed to overhaul that. The England team has a surfeit of batting talent, I imagine all the players down to nine are capable of getting a double under the right circumstances. The real target for this talented generation is which will be the first to a triple. Cook has the current mark at 294, but Pietersen, Trott or Bell could all get past that on the right day, I think.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Cook will get at least 35 centuries, Pietersen at least 30, Strauss at least 25. Strauss admitted in his interview to Sly Sports that he needed to improve on his record regarding scoring after being on a century overnight. He really owes himself a double, his highest score being 177, he certainly is ideally placed to overhaul that. The England team has a surfeit of batting talent, I imagine all the players down to nine are capable of getting a double under the right circumstances. The real target for this talented generation is which will be the first to a triple. Cook has the current mark at 294, but Pietersen, Trott or Bell could all get past that on the right day, I think.

Not many triple centuries ever. Good pub quiz question that. Name all the Test triple centurions (I won't point people to the existing lists, as they can be easily found). PS. Did you mean Sky Sports, or is that spelling deliberate?

[Paul McKeown]

Not many triple centuries ever.

Well, exactly. If you want to be remembered make a monumental score. See this list of test triple centurions. It needs a player to really dig in and take his chance on the rare occasion it becomes possible. I imagine Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell all have the potential. They have good averages, good support from their batting partners, are part of a winning team, and are also to some degree in competition with each other. Oh, and the team coach was the last player to score a triple wearing an England shirt. That's a challenge if ever there was one.

[Paul McKeown]

Did you mean Sky Sports, or is that spelling deliberate?

I wouldn't want to advertise that bunch of blood-suckers!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Did you mean Sky Sports, or is that spelling deliberate?

I wouldn't want to advertise that bunch of blood-suckers!

Heh. Times like this I wish I had Sky. Anyway, other stuff to do while following the score on the BBC website.

[Paul McKeown]

Well, that's a good start. Not.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Well, that's a good start. Not.

Is the review verdict in yet? Oh dear...

[Paul McKeown]

And it just gets worse...

[Paul McKeown]

Bairstow never really got started. Now for the biffers.

[Paul McKeown]

Strauss out for 141, seemed to lose patience this over. England still seven runs behind: big responsibility for the tail now to get a lead and make it as big as possible. Any talk of 600+ clearly well wide of the mark! Good day for the Windies in any case.

[Paul McKeown]

England have the lead, at long last. Next target is to get to 400 I suppose.

[David Robertson]

In an idle moment last night - OK, a comatose moment, as women in my household were watching the Eurovision Kitschfest - my thoughts turned for respite and salvation to cricket. Specifically to Strauss's 21 tons, and then to the current crop of England batsmen vis-a-vis all England's batsmen who have ever been (as far as data is recorded). Some surprising (to me anyway) stuff emerges:

* of centurions, four (Strauss (21), Pieterson (20), Cook (19) & Bell (16) ) feature in the top 14 on the all-time list. Even Bell has more Test 100s than Hobbs (15), May (13), Graveney (11), Dexter (9) from not that many more innings. Now I'm a great fan of Ian Bell (not least since I follow Warwickshire). But is he really, already, a greater Test batsman than those I've cited? Is Cook already as good as Hutton (their numbers are identical!)? Strauss, the equal of Wally Hammond in one 100's time? I suspect part of the answer lies, not in how many innings each played in a career to earn their tons, but in the greater number of Test innings now played in prime career.

* at 22 centuries, Strauss will join Hammond, Cowdrey & Boycott at the head of the England list. But it would leave him 4th in India (behind Tendulkar [51], Dravid & Gavaskar); 5th in West Indies (behind Lara [34], Sobers, Chanderpaul & Richards; and merely 8th in Australia (behind Langer [23] & Ponting [41] at the top).

Finally, a quiz on Test match 6-hitters. Records beyond the modern (post-war) period seem incomplete. So scope for injustice is evident. But with that caution in mind; and guess before looking it up!:

* who worldwide can claim the most Test 6s?
* name the top 3 England 6-hitters of all time (as far as I can tell)
* Pieterson, of the current England team, has the most Test 6s. But who lies comfortably 2nd? And which batsman has yet to hit one?

[David Sedgwick]

* of centurions, four (Strauss (21), Pieterson (20), Cook (19) & Bell (16) ) feature in the top 14 on the all-time list. Even Bell has more Test 100s than Hobbs (15), May (13), Graveney (11), Dexter (9) from not that many more innings. Now I'm a great fan of Ian Bell (not least since I follow Warwickshire). But is he really, already, a greater Test batsman than those I've cited? Is Cook already as good as Hutton (their numbers are identical!)? Strauss, the equal of Wally Hammond in one 100's time? I suspect part of the answer lies, not in how many innings each played in a career to earn their tons, but in the greater number of Test innings now played in prime career.

I would have thought that there was also a greater disparity in strength amongst the teams today. In the prime of those you mention, only New Zealand could be regarded as relatively weak opposition. Nowadays Bangladesh, Zimbabwe (when competing), and several other countries at differing times, have been no match for the England side.