Gooch not worried about English batting
England may be struggling with the bat in conditions which have assisted swing bowling, but the batting coach of the side, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-c60529 Gooch is hardly perturbed by the turn of events. He has defended the lack of runs from the blades of both Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, who have struggled to score the big runs in recent times, and said that it was only a matter of time before they would get the big ones.
Pietersen has yet to make a century in the last 27 innings, while Strauss hasn’t scored a three-figure mark in the last 23. Both were out very cheaply in the first innings of the fourth Test match against Pakistan – Strauss bowled off an in-swinger, whereas Pietersen nicking one off the first ball he faced off the bowling of Mohammad Aamer. Aamer went on to pick up three more wickets in the first session of the second day to cripple the English side at 47/5.
England has come in for a lot of criticism from the experts and the Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has already sounded out that there are cracks in the English batting. However, Gooch said that the conditions in England at this time of the year made it difficult for everyone to bat, and it was only a matter of trying to adapt to the conditions. He also credited the Pakistani bowling and said, “The ball is moving around and let's be fair, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 attack are decent – they swing it around and get something out of the pitch – so it's a challenge, that's for sure.”
Gooch spoke about Pietersen and praised the work ethics that he possessed. He said that Pietersen was a hard-working cricketer, but it was just that he needed to up the ante as a player now that he was five years old in international cricket. Gooch added, “Obviously he's desperate to make a score, like any player, but he's got to transfer the way he prepares and practices into the middle, and that involves getting the balance between attack and defence right, or what I call how you manage your batting.”
Gooch also blamed the T20 cricket for the lack of technique some of the batsmen have shown in the series so far. He said that with the advent of this latest format of the game, it was necessary to not allow the deficiencies from the T20s to creep into the five-day format, especially if the conditions assist the bowling side.
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