Austraia/SL/Pakistan - T20s

[Pies4shaw]

Best player in the World. Of course he plays. The rest is just the media seeking attention.

[K]

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?

[K]

Elsewhere...
NZ 8/176 defeated England 155 (19.5).

[Pies4shaw]

And Bangladesh beat India in Delhi, chasing down a target.

[Pies4shaw]

So, is Steve Bradsmith’s average of 22 in T20 internationals the most misleading stat in all of cricket? His 2019 T20 average is 64.

[Donny]

Averages mean zilch, when you bear in mind batsmen who average over 50 in Tests have all been out without scoring.

Frinstance: Tendulkar had 14 Test ducks, Lara 17, Bradman 7. Kohlj has 9, Williamson 8, Smith 4.

[K]

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.php?p=1942779#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?

[Pies4shaw]

His T20 strike rate in 2019 is 147, so on the Spurious Ponting Criterion he is batting at 211 this year. That (if the Spurious Ponting Criterion has any validity) makes him one of the planet’s dominant T20 players, on form.

[K]

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.

[Pies4shaw]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/oct/08/david-warner-and-steve-smith-to-lead-australias-t20-world-cup-charge

Get used to it.

[Pies4shaw]

Pakistan 1/22 from 3.2. Cummins (of course) has the wicket with his second ball.

[Pies4shaw]

Richardson gets Haris. It’s 2/29 from 5. It’s a very flat wicket but the Pakistan batsmen don’t seem to want to play the balls on their merits.

[Pies4shaw]

Agar gets Rizwan stumped. 3/62 from 10.

[Pies4shaw]

Asif gone. 4/70 from 11.2. Agar gets his second, caught in the top paddock.

[Pies4shaw]

Babar Azam run out for 50 on the last ball of the 16th over. Warner with a direct hit to remove the best Pakistan bat. 5/106.