My summary of what has overall been an excellent tour for England
- Steven Finn is now England’s second best pace bowler. Going into this tour, Stuart Broad would have held this gong, but a string of good performances from Finn and poor ones from Broad mean the almost-title is now Finn’s. Third place, which will become more important in the more pace-favouring conditions of New Zealand, is still contested between Tim Bresnan and Broad.
- Jade Dernbach is not good enough. Anyone deluded enough to think that the tattooed Jade Dernbach can cut it at Test level must surely now, a string of poor performances and subsequent dropping from the ODI squad later, have been put back in their place.
- Alastair Cook is serious captain material. The England captaincy transition from Andrew Strauss to Alastair Cook has been unbelievably smooth, due to fine performances, ‘man of the series’ winning performances, from the latter. He has led England wonderfully, making good decisions, playing well, and saying the right hings in interviews.
- Joe Root can cut it. If you’d asked me before this tour who I thought would be the young player of the tour, I would probably, as most would, have said Virat Kohli. However, despite only one Test appearance, I would give this prize to Joe Root. He has consistently been one of England’s best players, with crafty bowling, patient batting and reliable fielding. That is simply player for a player of just 21 years of age.
- Virat Kohli is not yet the finished article. As I said, many were looking forward to seeing Kohli this tour, but he has not really impressed. He needs a lot of work, maybe in foreign country, before he can deal with the captain role many suggest for him.
Joe
Joe(y) 