Austraia/SL/Pakistan - T20s
Trying to turn Smith into a T20 batter could destroy his Test batting, but of course there is a home T20 WC on the line. (In Tests, he's a flat-track bully grade 1, but that's a topic for another thread.)
His T20 record so far is dismal. "Stability", they politely say. How much stability do you give when you average 22?
His T20 record so far is dismal. "Stability", they politely say. How much stability do you give when you average 22?
The bare average is the only reason people think Smith is good in Tests. There are many reasons for his grossly inflated Test average though.
22 would be an acceptable average in T20 if it came with a SR of 140. But it's not an anchor's average. This isn't media folks picking on Smith. We saw that Root's T20 figures are vastly better than Smith's, and Root is under huge pressure to get a spot in England's T20 side:
http://magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 79#1942779 .
There are so many damning T20 stats for Smith, it's hard to decide which is the most damning, but the snail pace of his scoring in the first 20 balls is a huge problem. It's not just that he has a negative impact if he gets out within 20 balls. It's also that as a coach you know you need to get him in early enough so that he faces much more than 20 balls, because he's going to waste 20 balls getting in.
The other problem is that though Smith is mostly safe as a catcher his general fielding skills are not great, so unless they're going to have a slip for 20 overs...
But I'm not sure all this debate is necessary anyway. Haven't we all realized that T20 is a totally different (and inferior) game? Why must we agonize and do contortions to try to squeeze favoured Test players into the inferior game?
22 would be an acceptable average in T20 if it came with a SR of 140. But it's not an anchor's average. This isn't media folks picking on Smith. We saw that Root's T20 figures are vastly better than Smith's, and Root is under huge pressure to get a spot in England's T20 side:
http://magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 79#1942779 .
There are so many damning T20 stats for Smith, it's hard to decide which is the most damning, but the snail pace of his scoring in the first 20 balls is a huge problem. It's not just that he has a negative impact if he gets out within 20 balls. It's also that as a coach you know you need to get him in early enough so that he faces much more than 20 balls, because he's going to waste 20 balls getting in.
The other problem is that though Smith is mostly safe as a catcher his general fielding skills are not great, so unless they're going to have a slip for 20 overs...
But I'm not sure all this debate is necessary anyway. Haven't we all realized that T20 is a totally different (and inferior) game? Why must we agonize and do contortions to try to squeeze favoured Test players into the inferior game?
Which games are you counting? The games in the Canadian winter?? (Does a ball swing much when it's frozen?)
In the IPL, at one stage, he was dropped by his team. (Not getting a game is a good way of saving your Ponting Score. You can't fail when you aren't playing.) Weird stuff goes on there, though, because then he was captaining, and then they were saying he was captaining even when he wasn't, i.e. secretly setting the field anyway...
Ponting has coached T20 successfully. The Ponting Criterion looks like it works pretty well in the examples in this thread.
Do you truly believe you are objective about this player? Honestly, certain sportsmen can never do any wrong in your eyes.
In the IPL, at one stage, he was dropped by his team. (Not getting a game is a good way of saving your Ponting Score. You can't fail when you aren't playing.) Weird stuff goes on there, though, because then he was captaining, and then they were saying he was captaining even when he wasn't, i.e. secretly setting the field anyway...
Ponting has coached T20 successfully. The Ponting Criterion looks like it works pretty well in the examples in this thread.
Do you truly believe you are objective about this player? Honestly, certain sportsmen can never do any wrong in your eyes.