For us in Sri Lanka it's always useful to follow the way selectors in major cricket playing countries calculate their approaches. We can form our own strategies by critically analyzing them.
With England showing that they have class in them by beating West Indies and Pakistan and then beating Australia in the T20 series, question asked in cricket circles is as to why Eoin Morgan is not being persisted with in the England Test team?
Left handed, stylish and able to hit the covers off the ball when necessary, Morgan will add muscle to the middle order if he is slotted in the longer version of the game.
Morgan is now planted as captain of the T20 and Limited Overs game. He has done a wonderful job as captain showing a calculated strategic approach.. He underlined this by leading England to win the previous World Cup in the history of English cricket beating New Zealand in the final.
Morgan is a batsman with strokes all round the wicket and once he settles down and gets going, bowlers find him difficult to dislodge and he keeps the scoreboard moving rapidly.
England selectors may even try him as an opening batsman. New ball bowlers hate the sight of opening batsmen who begin to make strokes from ball one.
Also watching Aaron Finch, the Aussie T20 and 50-over captain hitting the ball strongly and daring to hitting the ball over the top and keeping the scoreboard moving it is inexplicable why the Aussie selectors are reluctant to make him face the new ball in the established game.
With dashing left hander David Warner who always looks to hit the ball unmercifully if the selectors take the risk and partner him with Finch and if they get going the pair will be the nicest thing that happened to Test cricket and if the pair speeds on, they will build a strong foundation for the Aussie batsmen who follow.
We are certainly not trying to teach the Englnd and Aussie selectors their jobs, but this is the consensus among cricket fans who have watched Morgan, Warner and Finch in the recent series.
Having said that, In the good old days coaches used to tell their opening batsmen, not to make strokes straightaway, but get their eye in till the shine of the ball is gone and then look to making runs.
There were many opening batsmen who followed that rule and rarely did you see an opening pair of batsmen going for runs from the first ball. The first England batsman who the writer remembers to break that rule was the burly Colin Milburn the right hander.
But unfortunately at the height of his career he was unfortunate to meet with a motor accident and lose the sight of one eye that put an end to his career. That was unfortunate.
Then there was Aussie right hander who was a dashing right hand opening batsman in Keith Stackpole. Stackpole used to pole axe opening bowlers showing no regard whether the bowlers were bowling line or length. He was a treat to watch when in full cry and when his playing days were over turned commentator for ABC Radio.
Then came the Windies master blasters who threw caution to the winds and sent fast bowlers of class all around the field and over it from the first ball bowled at them. They took guard and made their bats do the talking hitting boundaries from ball one.
They had based their batting on the fact that the ball is there to be hit, and hit hard and not to be poked or played back to the bowler. Their batting style and approach were ferocious.
With ever ready power, admirable footwork they had Swiss timing as the left fielders watching in amazement the ball sizzling to the boundary or over it like shots from guns.
First to set the ball rolling was that dashing right hand opener Gordon Greenidge who had Desmond Haynes supporting him. Then came that left handed batting sensation in Roy Fredricks to whom there were no good or bad balls. He used his feet cleverly and out of this world timing to dispatch the ball to where ever in the field or over it.
Then hitting the cricketing sky like a meteorite the man mountain Christopher Gayle who all opening bowlers would love to hate and would unwind deliveries on him hoping to have him out early before he could start mauling them.
Standing nearly seven feet, he used the bat to scatter all fast bowlers with ease. Sixer hitting was his forte and he does it with such ease that one wonders from where he finds the power to send the ball out of the park regularly and with ease.
Then India gave to the cricket world the dazzling and dashing right hander Virender Sehwag who showed no respect to opposing fast bowlers. When he was in full cry the scoreboard moved at jet speed.
Then came another Indian right hander in Rohit Sharma who too had penchant to cane opposing fast bowlers. He is the record holder with the highest score of 264 not out against Sri Lanka in 50 over cricket. During that innings he mauled and massacred the Sri Lankan bowlers who went through the motions of bowlers and only watch the ball hitting the boundary boards or sailing over it.
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