England batsmen must eradicate soft cricket
In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain says England's bowling against New Zealand deserves acclaim but their batsmen could have been more ruthless
29-May-2013
In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain says England's bowling against New Zealand deserves acclaim but their batsmen could have been more ruthless.
Put simply, there has been a bit of soft cricket, and it's something they need to eradicate before they take on the Australians. A lot of the talk will focus on Nick Compton, especially when Kevin Pietersen is fit to reclaim his place.
Personally, as I said at the time, I would have moved Jonathan Trott up to open after Andrew Strauss retired; England have plenty of strength in depth in the middle order.
But now that Compton has been given a few Tests, it would be very harsh to drop him after a few low scores. The last thing we want is for the selectors to go back to the bad old days of 'chop and change'.
Simon Hughes, writing in the Daily Telegraph, says Graeme Swann's revival could spell trouble for the visiting Australians in the Ashes later this summer.
In the Guardian, Vic Marks says Swann is now virtually irreplaceable in the England set-up.