Wednesday 3 September 2008

Batsman, Captain, Off Spinner?

King Kev is of course the best batsman in the England side - by some considerable margin. He is also the best off spinner, so why is he so infrequently used? It will be interesting to see if he bowls himself in India. I think he should although captains are notoriously reluctant to bowl themselves. This article from the archives makes interesting reading: Hussain impressed with Pieterson
...as well as one amusing comment:

"Vaughan, who was virtually strokeless throughout his tedious 222-minute innings of 45."


That is one thing that has changed, Vaughan is rarely strokeless.

3 comments:

Mahesh said...

Rob -

If KP were to start actively bowling, India would be the *worst* place to start. Slow off spinners? Thank you very much will what the Indian batsmen will say :)

Even Warne didn't get away easily in India, especially ODI's.

We will see what happens!

Rob said...

Oh I don't know... can India play spin any more?

Brian Carpenter said...

Interesting spot, Rob. I agree that Pietersen could be a very useful spin option if he was prepared to develop his bowling and use himself. However, to quote KP from the current issue of The Wisden Cricketer, re his bowling:
'I'm not really interested. I don't bowl in the nets. I bowl whenever I need to bowl, but I just concentrate on my batting. I started as a spin bowler but I'm pretty terrible - I'd love to face myself...'. It doesn't look as though he's bothered.