Problems for Strauss, Broad
Everyone talks about Kevin Pietersen and his problems against slow left-armers but following Andrew Strauss' dismissal to Welegedara in the second innings at Lord's, Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail reckons the England captain has clearly got an
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
Everyone talks about Kevin Pietersen and his problems against slow left-armers but following Andrew Strauss' dismissal to Welegedara in the second innings at Lord's, Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail reckons the England captain has clearly got an issue against the left-arm quicks.Strauss has been dismissed by left-arm quicks 22 times including four times to Pakistan’s Mohammad Aamer last summer and Zaheer Khan — who did the same in 2007 — will be arriving soon with the India team.
The problem seems to be that Strauss has lost the whereabouts of his off-stump. That might sound like a strange thing to say about a top-class player, but skilful bowlers can move a batsman around the crease so that he loses his bearings. I’ve always believed cricket is all about angles and that is where Strauss is coming unstuck.
Meanwhile, in the Independent David Lloyd observes that despite the potential shown by Stuart Broad when Australia were beaten in 2009, two years on, we are still waiting for him to become the unstoppable force that he looked to become.
Not only waiting, but wondering – after watching him bowl in the first three Sri Lankan innings of this series – whether he should be an absolute shoo-in for Thursday week's third Test at the Rose Bowl.
Akhila Ranganna is assistant editor (Audio) at ESPNcricinfo