Just under 12 months ago England came home from South Africa having had a supposed successful series. Paul Collingwood averaged 57.33, Bell 44.71 and Cook 41, the rest are not worth mentioning.
I can remember hearing commentators and reading blogs and newspapers, all were saying that Colly, Bell and Cook had great series with the bat. In my opinion Collingwood had a good, above average series, yes Colly, did I really just write that? And Cook and Bell were average and the rest were crap.
I know we haven’t won this current Ashes series, but this year the England batting averages more reflect a winning team, or at least a team in a position of dominance.
Two blokes are currently averaging over a hundred, Cook has an average of 115.4 and Trott 111.25. As well as those two, Pietersen is on 64.80 and Bell 53.50, four men averaging well above their overall averages.
That is where batsmen win series, when they perform above average, not averagely as they did in South Africa. I am aware that KP and Bell could possibly drop below their career averages in Sydney, but no chance for Cook and Trott.
Bringing me nicely onto Trott. He now has a career average of 64 and is ranked 3rd in the world, just behind Sachin Tendulkar who he could swap places with next week.
If someone told me that could happen after his debut at the Oval, as good as that was, I would have expected to see men in white coats approaching that individual. Just for good measure, he also has a career average of 100.83 against Australia.
The facts are that Trott’s average will come down over time, that is not meant in a negative way, but I can’t see it staying as high as 64. I fully expect to see it come down 10-15 runs over the next 12-18 months, but even then it will still be more than respectable.
The ICC rankings reflect more how a man is playing than his average does. For Trott to be up there alongside, and in with a chance of overtaking Tendulkar and Sangakkara shows just how far he has come.
If ever further proof is needed that the rankings are a more accurate representation of a players form that his average is, then we need look no further than Ricky Ponting. Ponting currently has an average of 53.51, but is unbelievably ranked down in 29th place.
Anonymous
“The ICC rankings reflect more how a man is playing than his average does.”
Absolutely on the money. I just can’t believe how often commentators just talk about career averages…which do show class…but not the batter’s current rating, or his average over the last 1 or 2 years…which more accurately reflect his current standing.
I mean as you rightly pointed out…Ponting averages 53.5 overall…but if you take the last 1, 2 or even 3 years…he’s been scoring at under 40. At a time when over the same period, so many around the world have been going at over 60! (Tendulkar, Sangakarra, AB and Laxman…off the top of my head)
Same with Hussey…the reason his spot was at least questioned before the Ashes was that he had been going at ~33 for the last 2 years. Brilliant comeback…but it was right to ponder about his spot.
And great going by Trott…massive contribution to England. Though I too agree…it’s improbable he’ll maintain that 60+ over the long term. (As Hussey couldn’t…he was 80+!)
-BP