English cricket thread

jojojo said:
BBC confirming that he's withdrawing for family reasons. He's expected to fly to NZ this week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/53712110
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Hope everything is ok. His dad was ill during the South Africa tour.

I reckon Crawley, Curran and Leach will come in for Stokes, Anderson and Bess.

I guess this might have been an unseen factor in him bowling late on Day 3.
 
Hope all is well for his family. Big blow for England.
 
Mcking said:
Buttler has been decent at No.6 with the bat lately, but not good enough with the glove. Anyone fancy having him as a specialist batsman with Foakes in rather than Crawley?

I'd be tempted to do just that, and move Pope to 3. I know a few are going to frown at the prospect of moving Pope up the order, but Root and Stokes at 3 and 4 is just a bit too high for both.

For the second test, I'd be looking to play:

Burns
Sibley
Pope
Root
Stokes
Buttler
Foakes
Woakes
Archer/Curran
Broad
Leach
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Yes definitely. Been saying that myself.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Hope everything is ok. His dad was ill during the South Africa tour.

I reckon Crawley, Curran and Leach will come in for Stokes, Anderson and Bess.

I guess this might have been an unseen factor in him bowling late on Day 3.
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First thought to hearing the news. I guess it would explain why Ollie Robinson was also randomly called up as well.

Stokes being out changes the dynamic so unless England go with a 4 man bowling attack, Woakes will continue at 7 and any thoughts of Foakes coming in for his keeping will be dashed now.
 
England should go the positive route and go with Dan Lawrence
Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Lawrence
Pope
Butter
Woakes
Broad
Archer
Leach

Obviously it’s not going to happen as Root has a massive hard on for bowlers and spinners who can bat better than they can bowl
 
FlawlessThaw said:
First thought to hearing the news. I guess it would explain why Ollie Robinson was also randomly called up as well.

Stokes being out changes the dynamic so unless England go with a 4 man bowling attack, Woakes will continue at 7 and any thoughts of Foakes coming in for his keeping will be dashed now.
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Foakes is a decent batsmen in his own right, so I wouldn't be amazed if they brought him in for Buttler and played Buttler as a specialist batsman.
 
So then, selection time.

Presumably Crawley for Stokes is the obvious selection unless they go left field & give Foakes the mitts.

Bowling wise one of Anderson or Archer to step aside for Curran perhaps & do we make the change in spinner finally...?
 
YAMS49 said:
So then, selection time.

Presumably Crawley for Stokes is the obvious selection unless they go left field & give Foakes the mitts.

Bowling wise one of Anderson or Archer to step aside for Curran perhaps & do we make the change in spinner finally...?
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I think they will stick with Bess for the next two matches, Crawley for Stokes and Curran for Anderson are the changes I’m expecting.
Robinson is coming off from a good game vs Hampshire last week and having Woakes, Broad & Archer would take some of the pressure of his debut, but would be surprised if he got selected.
 
YAMS49 said:
So then, selection time.

Presumably Crawley for Stokes is the obvious selection unless they go left field & give Foakes the mitts.

Bowling wise one of Anderson or Archer to step aside for Curran perhaps & do we make the change in spinner finally...?
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With Stokes being unavailable I'd probably bring Crawley in to strengthen the batting. Would also bring in Curran for Anderson and Wood for Archer, so we've got some real pace to go along with the three seamers.
 
NinjaFletch said:
Foakes is a decent batsmen in his own right, so I wouldn't be amazed if they brought him in for Buttler and played Buttler as a specialist batsman.
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Yeah we had this conversation a few days ago didn't we?

It's definitely an option we should consider for the winter.
 
It's probably going to be:

Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Pope
Buttler
Woakes
Curran
Bess
Broad
Archer

I'd go with Leach over Bess though.
 
Mcking said:
It's probably going to be:

Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Pope
Buttler
Woakes
Curran
Bess
Broad
Archer

I'd go with Leach over Bess though.
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Yes - this is the line-up I expect. I'd agree with Bess being replaced but without Stokes, they'll be a little defensive in picking Bess who can bat, I think.
 
zing said:
Yes - this is the line-up I expect. I'd agree with Bess being replaced but without Stokes, they'll be a little defensive in picking Bess who can bat, I think.
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Curran gives you more leeway in dropping Bess. As does Woakes and Broad finding some form.
 
Something I came across in a Cricinfo article, Root has won his last 6 tests as captain.

He'll draw level with Strauss and Cook on 24 wins with his next victory. Currently he has a better win % than Vaughan but his loss % is far higher than any of the guys you would consider as England's best captains.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Something I came across in a Cricinfo article, Root has won his last 6 tests as captain.

He'll draw level with Strauss and Cook on 24 wins with his next victory. Currently he has a better win % than Vaughan but his loss % is far higher than any of the guys you would consider as England's best captains.
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Far fewer great test nations around now I'd argue. South Africa & Sri Lanka have fallen off the radar, Australia are not as feared as past sides. Sure you can only beat what's out there in front of you but it's a weaker test pool for sure.
 
YAMS49 said:
Far fewer great test nations around now I'd argue. South Africa & Sri Lanka have fallen off the radar, Australia are not as feared as past sides. Sure you can only beat what's out there in front of you but it's a weaker test pool for sure.
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Central contracts have had a huge impact too. It's no coincidence that the most successful English captains all come in the era after it's introduction. Root has been fortunate to inherit two legendary quicks who are solely focused on test cricket and a prime Ben Stokes in an even era but Mike Brearley was pretty fortunate to captain England against an Australian team preoccupied by World Series Cricket and to never have to captain against the West Indies.

The issues with Root as a captain are obvious but he does deserve credit for cultivating a good team environment. It's clear that this group feed off of each others success. And yes, this is mostly me feeling a bit bad for going on about Root's captaincy in a manner not too dissimilar to how Warne used to dig into Cook's captaincy whilst he was winning Ashes series.
 
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Root's due a century soon, this test would be an ideal time for it.
 
Shall we have a sub discussion over the next few days of England vs Pakistan 2nd test. Perhaps like a mini draft?


What is the best test team of your lifetime?
Or the best test team of players playing today
(have to include one player each from Eng, Pak, Aus, W.I, SA, NZ, India, Bang, SL)

Or please suggest any others
 
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zing said:
It’s him for sure. Last week George Dobell wrote something the last paragraph of which was a post by @NinjaFletch who is also often incidentally quoting George Dobell.
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Hah which one?

I bet it was about Woakes. Although I think I might love him even more than Dobell does.

I do think Dobell is one of the better English journos, by virtue of being one of the few that actually watches county cricket, but if you check out our timestamps you'd see I normally get there first. :angel:
 
NinjaFletch said:
Hah which one?

I bet it was about Woakes. Although I think I might love him even more than Dobell does.

I do think Dobell is one of the better English journos, by virtue of being one of the few that actually watches county cricket, but if you check out our timestamps you'd see I normally get there first. :angel:
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https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29623817/england-lucky-chris-woakes
But that modesty may have counted against him. While some of his team-mates might take to their newspaper column or a TV interview to bemoan their lot when they're left out, Woakes has shrugged and kept his disappointments to himself. Maybe that has, at times, made him just a little easier to leave out than others.
 
agree re George Dobell. He wrote a piece on Jack Shantry who I’ve never seen play but is a timeless representation of first class cricket - the story of perseverance. Well worth looking up if you haven’t read.
 
With Root’s comments about Anderson I’m expecting Crawley for Stokes to be the only change
 
I think Archer will be very fired up for this test. 2 very fast speedsters in Pakistan team means he is not the coolest kid on the block, so he will have to raise his game to stand out. Some pressure from Root will inspire him too. That in turn will spur on Shaheen and Naseem, so it could end up being a 90+mph festival.


Root also admitted that he would like to see Jofra Archer bowling at 90mph "for slightly longer periods of time", but said that he and the England management accepted that
"it's not going to happen all the time. He's going to go through phases where he's not always operating up at 90mph. All we can ask of Jofra is he keeps putting it in - keeps showing the desire, the want, the hunger to keep getting better, day in, day out. We know there's more to him than just bowling fast. But obviously it's a great point of difference to have when you've got someone that can bowl at those speeds. If he gets the opportunity to get out there and show everyone what he can do, [bowling fast] is one of his great assets, so it would obviously be good to see him operating there for slightly longer periods of time."
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sammsky1 said:
Shall we have a sub discussion over the next few days of England vs Pakistan 2nd test. Perhaps like a mini draft?


What is the best test team of your lifetime?
Or the best test team of players playing today
(have to include one player each from Eng, Pak, Aus, W.I, SA, NZ, India, Bang, SL)

Or please suggest any others
Click to expand...
 
sammsky1 said:
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Best team of the last 20 years

1. G.Smith
2. Hayden
3. Ponting/Sangakkara
4. Tendulkar
5. Steve Smith
6. Jacques Kallis
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Shane Warne
9. Dale Steyn
10. Glenn McGrath
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

Lara misses out because Kallis can bowl. Tails a bit light but it doesn't matter.
 
Skills said:
Best team of the last 20 years

1. G.Smith
2. Hayden
3. Ponting/Sangakkara
4. Tendulkar
5. Steve Smith
6. Jacques Kallis
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Shane Warne
9. Dale Steyn
10. Glenn McGrath
11. Muttiah Muralitharan

Lara misses out because Kallis can bowl. Tails a bit light but it doesn't matter.
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Alastair Cook for Hayden. Wouldn't have Sanga who didn't play enough overseas in each country to make a case from what I remember.

Don't need a 5th bowler with 2 spinners. AB De Villiers for Kallis because #6 is a slightly specialist position, and Kallis is a top order batsman. That's just my biases getting in the way because I dont like Kallis.

I think if we have this discussion in a few years, Stokes would be that #6 pick.
 
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