Showing posts with label Should. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Should. Show all posts

New Zealand v England: Alastair Cook and Nick Compton make centuries that should be enough for first Test draw

Posted by Unknown | Posted in , , , , , , , | Posted on 08:15

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Having the famous forebear can also be a burden, but this Compton,29, has already exceeded the highest Test score his grandfather, Denis, made against New Zealand in New Zealand, which was 79.

He still has some way to go to match the 17 hundreds Denis Compton made for England, and he possesses little of his dash, but he is on his way now with the almost certain guarantee of an Ashes series to add lustre to any more he might score.

His hundred here in Dunedin was chanceless, as was Cook’s, though England’s situation was perfectly tailored to his personality and style.

Needing to bat at least five sessions to save the match, after conceding a first innings deficit of 293, it was if the spec had been written specially for him, his strengths being patience and an organised mind used to plotting long innings.

His concentration was so fierce that he did not appear to notice when Brendon McCullum, in an attempt to work a wicket, posted two fielders at short mid-on and then swapped them around just as Tim Southee ran in to bowl.

Here in Dunedin, on a pitch that had gone to sleep and against an attack that had one pace bowler feeling his way back after injury (Southee), two more with 15 Tests between them and a spinner making his debut, he looked in control despite getting bogged down in the nineties.

In fact, the biggest threat seemed to come from the run-out with him and Cook having several close shaves, ones that might have been terminal had New Zealand’s fielders managed to hit the stumps direct.

Apart from those occasional mix ups, having Cook as an opening partner is clearly a solace to Compton.

England’s captain has already given his public support to him as well as extolling the virtues of having a left-right combination at the head of the order, to jog bowlers off their line.

Their stand had reached 231 when Trent Boult dismissed Cook for 116, beating the previous highest opening partnership for England against New Zealand, the 223 made by Graeme Fowler and Chris Tavare at the Oval in 1983.

It was also Cook and Compton's third 100-partnership together from ten attempts, a higher percentage, for now, than Cook and Andrew Strauss, who made 12 century stands from 117 innings.

Cook reached his hundred first, with a swept four off Bruce Martin, but it was a facsimile of so many Cook centuries of late, being based on a watertight defence and a clinical dispatch of the bad ball.

When you see him as resolutely back to business as he was yesterday, you wonder why he appeared so flaky in the first innings when, uncharacteristically for him, he was not in control of his shots striking the ball in the air several times.

Perhaps he felt the need to be positive against New Zealand in the first innings after they had won the toss and put England in to bat and, as senior partner, he had wanted to make the running.

Strauss did something similar when Cook first started and fell foul of it, a lesson the latter appears to have learnt from, given his return to old ways, in the space of an innings.

With his hundred, Cook now draws ahead of the quartet of England batsmen, which includes Kevin Pietersen, on 22 Test hundreds to join Vivian Richards, one of the great cricketers, on 24.

Cook has none of Richards' charisma or virtuosity but he tends to get the job done with a minimum of fuss, which has its attractions.

With two days to go, and a match to be saved, his job here was to see England through to stumps without loss.

He failed, just, but if most would have forgiven him the tired nibble he had at Boult with the second new ball, he was not in the mood, angrily swishing his bat in disappointment as he trudged off, his standards long set higher than everyone else.


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New Zealand v England: Alastair Cook and Nick Compton make centuries that should be enough for first Test draw

Posted by Unknown | Posted in , , , , , , , | Posted on 17:49

0

Having the famous forebear can also be a burden, but this Compton,29, has already exceeded the highest Test score his grandfather, Denis, made against New Zealand in New Zealand, which was 79.

He still has some way to go to match the 17 hundreds Denis Compton made for England, and he possesses little of his dash, but he is on his way now with the almost certain guarantee of an Ashes series to add lustre to any more he might score.

His hundred here in Dunedin was chanceless, as was Cook’s, though England’s situation was perfectly tailored to his personality and style.

Needing to bat at least five sessions to save the match, after conceding a first innings deficit of 293, it was if the spec had been written specially for him, his strengths being patience and an organised mind used to plotting long innings.

His concentration was so fierce that he did not appear to notice when Brendon McCullum, in an attempt to work a wicket, posted two fielders at short mid-on and then swapped them around just as Tim Southee ran in to bowl.

Here in Dunedin, on a pitch that had gone to sleep and against an attack that had one pace bowler feeling his way back after injury (Southee), two more with 15 Tests between them and a spinner making his debut, he looked in control despite getting bogged down in the nineties.

In fact, the biggest threat seemed to come from the run-out with him and Cook having several close shaves, ones that might have been terminal had New Zealand’s fielders managed to hit the stumps direct.

Apart from those occasional mix ups, having Cook as an opening partner is clearly a solace to Compton.

England’s captain has already given his public support to him as well as extolling the virtues of having a left-right combination at the head of the order, to jog bowlers off their line.

Their stand had reached 231 when Trent Boult dismissed Cook for 116, beating the previous highest opening partnership for England against New Zealand, the 223 made by Graeme Fowler and Chris Tavare at the Oval in 1983.

It was also Cook and Compton's third 100-partnership together from ten attempts, a higher percentage, for now, than Cook and Andrew Strauss, who made 12 century stands from 117 innings.

Cook reached his hundred first, with a swept four off Bruce Martin, but it was a facsimile of so many Cook centuries of late, being based on a watertight defence and a clinical dispatch of the bad ball.

When you see him as resolutely back to business as he was yesterday, you wonder why he appeared so flaky in the first innings when, uncharacteristically for him, he was not in control of his shots striking the ball in the air several times.

Perhaps he felt the need to be positive against New Zealand in the first innings after they had won the toss and put England in to bat and, as senior partner, he had wanted to make the running.

Strauss did something similar when Cook first started and fell foul of it, a lesson the latter appears to have learnt from, given his return to old ways, in the space of an innings.

With his hundred, Cook now draws ahead of the quartet of England batsmen, which includes Kevin Pietersen, on 22 Test hundreds to join Vivian Richards, one of the great cricketers, on 24.

Cook has none of Richards' charisma or virtuosity but he tends to get the job done with a minimum of fuss, which has its attractions.

With two days to go, and a match to be saved, his job here was to see England through to stumps without loss.

He failed, just, but if most would have forgiven him the tired nibble he had at Boult with the second new ball, he was not in the mood, angrily swishing his bat in disappointment as he trudged off, his standards long set higher than everyone else.


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Fox Ridicules Obama For Saying We Should Use Less Oil

Posted by Unknown | Posted in , , , | Posted on 19:49

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Fox News is mocking President Barack Obama for saying the U.S. must use less oil in a recent interview, suggesting it was a callous and unfounded idea. But experts across the political spectrum agree that the only way to reduce our vulnerability to gasoline price spikes is to cut our oil dependence.

On Wednesday, the president gave an interview to a local South Carolina news station. Responding to a question on high gasoline prices, President Obama said he was "proud" that oil production during his tenure has been high, but emphasized that the "overall economy [must] use less oil."Obama referenced ways that he has worked toward this goal, including implementing fuel economy standards that a group of retired military officers and business leaders called "the most important energy security accomplishment in decades," and proposing further research into alternative transportation technology.

On Thursday, Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade asked, "really? So I should stop driving to work, I should start jogging? I'm not really sure what that means." Steve Doocy added, "So if you want to save money, use less oil. Just stop driving. Don't go anywhere, stay in your house, watch television." At no point did the co-hosts reference the policies that Obama specifically cited so that we can move toward lower oil use economy-wide:

On Friday, Fox & Friends continued to mock Obama's proposal, suggesting it was useless:

U.S. gasoline prices are a function of the world crude oil market (and the world economy generally), and experts from across the political spectrum have acknowledged that increased drilling won't lower prices at the pump -- no matter who is in the White House. 

Furthermore, drilling has actually been on the rise recently. In the 154-year history of commercial crude oil in the U.S., production has never increased by more in one year than it did between 2011 and 2012 -- about 790,000 barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Despite all this, gasoline prices have gone up. Experts say that the only way to make Americans less vulnerable to these spikes is to, as Obama said, "use less oil."


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