England Cricket Summer 17 - South Africa & West Indies

paulscholes18 said:
Woakes in for TRJ I reckon
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TRJ has performed really well in this series so this is a difficult call for the selectors. I think they would like to play Woakes in the first Ashes Test and therefore I expect he might get the nod vs. West Indies - TRJ will definitely be on the plane down under though.
As for the batsmen, Hameed is the long term solution but he is a walking wicket at present, he's not even been scoring many runs in the second XI.
Stoneman is an interesting option, he's fairly consistent in First Class cricket but he's turned 30 now and his average is underwhelming.
As a Derbyshire regular, I can tell you that scoring 200+ against our bowling attack (Tahir and Henry are missing the current match through injury as well), even at a S/R of 100 is nothing to write home about. This is a Derbyshire side that didn't win a Championship game all year in 2016. However clearly the lad does have quality but I'm split on Hales. A lot of people want to bring back Hameed, ignoring his woeful FC form (good knock in second innings against Hampshire but only 6 in the first) and going on his Test record where he averages over 40, whereas Hales averages 27 in Tests yet the same people are clambering to get him back in the side because he's scoring runs in Division 2.
 
ChrisNelson said:
TRJ has performed really well in this series so this is a difficult call for the selectors. I think they would like to play Woakes in the first Ashes Test and therefore I expect he might get the nod vs. West Indies - TRJ will definitely be on the plane down under though.
As for the batsmen, Hameed is the long term solution but he is a walking wicket at present, he's not even been scoring many runs in the second XI.
Stoneman is an interesting option, he's fairly consistent in First Class cricket but he's turned 30 now and his average is underwhelming.
As a Derbyshire regular, I can tell you that scoring 200+ against our bowling attack (Tahir and Henry are missing the current match through injury as well), even at a S/R of 100 is nothing to write home about. This is a Derbyshire side that didn't win a Championship game all year in 2016. However clearly the lad does have quality but I'm split on Hales. A lot of people want to bring back Hameed, ignoring his woeful FC form (good knock in second innings against Hampshire but only 6 in the first) and going on his Test record where he averages over 40, whereas Hales averages 27 in Tests yet the same people are clambering to get him back in the side because he's scoring runs in Division 2.
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He has spent most of his career opening the batting at Durham in fairness which is probably the hardest ground to bat on in the country. Has averaged 60 at the more friendly Oval this summer. Only Cook, Chanderpaul, Ballance and Sangakarra have scored runs at a better average (min 5 innings), and he's scored more runs than any of those other than Ballance and Sangakarra. He scored more runs than anyone other than Jennings, Gubbins and Trescothick last year. He's passed 1000 runs every season since 2012 as well.

Not that FC form is always the best indicator, James Hildreth has been overlooked despite his runs because they think he's weak against the short ball, but his weight of runs is better than his average would suggest.
 
NinjaFletch said:
He has spent most of his career opening the batting at Durham in fairness which is probably the hardest ground to bat on in the country. Has averaged 60 at the more friendly Oval this summer. Only Cook, Chanderpaul, Ballance and Sangakarra have scored runs at a better average (min 5 innings), and he's scored more runs than any of those other than Ballance and Sangakarra. He scored more runs than anyone other than Jennings, Gubbins and Trescothick last year. He's passed 1000 runs every season since 2012 as well.

Not that FC form is always the best indicator, James Hildreth has been overlooked despite his runs because they think he's weak against the short ball, but his weight of runs is better than his average would suggest.
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Paul Collingwood, an all-rounder, has a higher first class average than Stoneman, from twice as many games, playing on the same home ground and batting lower down the order. Don't get me wrong I like Stoneman's technique and the way the England selectors work, he's the next cab off the rank, I just think if he needs a road of a wicket (Oval) to double his average then that's not a massive endorsement.
 
ChrisNelson said:
Paul Collingwood, an all-rounder, has a higher first class average than Stoneman, from twice as many games, playing on the same home ground and batting lower down the order. Don't get me wrong I like Stoneman's technique and the way the England selectors work, he's the next cab off the rank, I just think if he needs a road of a wicket (Oval) to double his average then that's not a massive endorsement.
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A bit of a weird comparison that, firstly Collingwood averaged 40 with the bat in test cricket (I also think calling him an all-rounder in test cricket is a touch generous, he did a job with the ball but not much else) so it's hardly like you're comparing him to a complete mug, secondly Collingwood is a middle order batsman batting against a new ball far less frequently than Stoneman would be, and thirdly he has 52 not outs to Stoneman's five in First Class cricket, and averages two runs more with the bat. I don't want to pretend like not outs are worthless (and they're included in averages for a reason) but openers typically average lower than other positions because they simply have to bat for far longer to carry their bat.

Their runs per innings actually favour Stoneman: 32.6 for Collingwood vs 33.8 for Stoneman

At any rate, whilst no one is under any illusions that Collingwood was one of England's best players, he undoubtably did a job, if Stoneman came in and did a job of the same quality at the top of the order he'd be England's best opening partner for Cook since Strauss.
 
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I'm being deadly serious here, if De Villiers had hit Mason Cranes wicket ball into the crowd rather than to deep midwicket would he be in the test team?
 
Glad Stoneman has been given the call. Nothing wrong with being 30, you don't have to pick young players all the time. Not sure about Mason Crane, is he ready for test cricket? I can see him perhaps going to Sri Lanka after the Ashes tour so perhaps they want him to work with the spinning coach so nothing wrong with that. No need for 2 spinners in the team in these conditions though.
 
NinjaFletch said:
I'm being deadly serious here, if De Villiers had hit Mason Cranes wicket ball into the crowd rather than to deep midwicket would he be in the test team?
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Probably yes, think England want to have a proper look at him before they go to Australia where he's already faired well. Reckon Rashid's got to be close to playing the highest number of tests from debut without playing at home.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Probably yes, think England want to have a proper look at him before they go to Australia where he's already faired well. Reckon Rashid's got to be close to playing the highest number of tests from debut without playing at home.
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Maybe, he impressed in the North/South series which is, I think I'm right in saying, the only domestic cricket Bayliss has seen this season. But lets be honest about what they've selected here, a young, yes talented, leg spinner who averages 40 with the ball this season and 41 over his career.

I hope he's just being picked so he can be around the squad and won't play, but I'm not hopeful.
 
NinjaFletch said:
Maybe, he impressed in the North/South series which is, I think I'm right in saying, the only domestic cricket Bayliss has seen this season. But lets be honest about what they've selected here, a young, yes talented, leg spinner who averages 40 with the ball this season and 41 over his career.

I hope he's just being picked so he can be around the squad and won't play, but I'm not hopeful.
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Yeah the age thing doesn't hold true with spinners so you can't even argue it's building for the future, Rashid should be at the right age and Crane has loads of time yet so does not need rushing.
 
England's squad
Cook
Stoneman
Westley
Root
Malan
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Woakes
Broad
Anderson
TRJ
Crane
 
Some people in this thread obviously are ignorant about Mason Crane, because Crane is no Rashid. Crane is a seriously talented leg spinner who’s going to be an absolute star of test cricket. Watch this space!
 
England win the toss and bat in first day night test in England.

Pink ball. We can theoretically play until 10. I think I'm going to find this very strange.
 
Ah... not a good start to Stoneman's Test career then! Out for 8, England 14/1.
 
Yet another fail from England batsman no 2 and 3, not expecting much from no 5 either. Really needs sorting out!
 
England scoring at a very good rate 4 an over, be interesting what happens when the lights come on, but so far so good for England
 
If cricket was a 9 aside sport, and we didn't have to worry about the two lads between Cook & Root, then we'd possibly be the best team in the world :lol:
 
DiseaseOfTheAge said:
No, I've always been good with colours.

Not sure if it's just a case of getting used to it, as my brain's used to looking for a red thing.
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Maybe.

Definitely some work needs doing on the ball. It's not a very convincing leap in to the future if people can't see it, and it's disappointing that concerns that people who are colour blind can't see the ball (including some players) have just been completely ignored.

Wonder if the real solution is to change from whites and play Test cricket in colours with a White ball?
 
Centuries for Cook and Root. Nice to see Root convert, almost always makes 50 but doesn't often convert to 100.
 
This series could become embarrassing for West Indies. Gulf in class in so big.
Stokes and Ali would have a smash-a-thon if they were given a chance to bat.
England will post 550+ declared and win by an innings within 3 days.
 
It already is embarrassing. Pretty sure I could score 50 vs this attack :D
 
Wtf are they doing bowling spinners now?!
 
I like this day/night lark. The crowd got so boozed up they sung the same song for an hour and a half.
 
Easiest 150 of Cook's career.
 
The level of Test Cricket is a joke. WI, SL, Pakistan, and SA (partially) are beyond awful at this moment. Whilst India have been brilliant for the past year, the real test comes this winter and next year. England, Australia and NZ, too, have question marks.
 
Di Maria's angel said:
The level of Test Cricket is a joke. WI, SL, Pakistan, and SA (partially) are beyond awful at this moment. Whilst India have been brilliant for the past year, the real test comes this winter and next year. England, Australia and NZ, too, have question marks.
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Strange you rate Aus and NZ ahead of SA when the Proteas won their last 2 series away against both. India are clearly the class of the Test scene at the moment but they will be tested when they tour SA.
 
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