England cricket 2019 (4 Viewers)

Grendel said:

Do you think root needs to drop to number 4 and would you sanction Bairstow for 1 - 10 over spell of accelerating the run rate to 7 an over?

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I think Root would be better at four. He had a great second innings but he does struggle more often at 3, esp with openers that get out quickly. But who else that bats sensibly can come into the top three? As I've said Denly I'd open with - he's far from ideal but he tends to occupy the crease for a while even if he is lucky at times. One thing I will say is that captaining and batting 3 seems to be quite a challenge for Root mentally - at most he can do one or t'other.

A few showed yesterday they're capable of playing sensibly if they put their mind to it, but it does detract from their natural game. Now Ali has been replaced by Leach the option of using him as a buffer in case of early dismissal isn't there either (he used to be an opener) and even the very left field option of asking Woakes/Curran or Leach to be a sort of watchman and leave the other batsman facing most of the strike. All of which is why Root is at 3 in the first place.

The one-day style players like Roy need to be coming in around 6. I'd also think about swapping Curran for Woakes if fit, and definitely for the Oval for his home ground. If Anderson got fit there's a big question over what to do there as well. Wouldn't want to drop Archer but Broad can be devastating. With two keepers in the team in Bairstow and Buttler, neither of whom are in form with the bat, would you drop one, but then weaken the batting even more? If I did it'd have to be Buttler.

Burns
Denly
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Roy
Buttler/Anderson*
Woakes/Curran
Archer
Leach
Broad

Anderson to bat at 11 if selected.

tisza said:

They all need a look. Stokes was about 2 runs from 50 balls. Test cricket still about building an innings.
This is a good enough Aussie pace attack that if you leave the door open they are going to get you out.
their batting has been suspect (particularly when Smith was suspended) but it's still as good a pace attack as there is in Test cricket atm.

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It's the fact their bowling is, on the whole, very disciplined. It puts the pressure on and they don't let you have much at all. With our one-day batting lineup they're used to scoring quickly, patience isn't their virtue and as we've seen before too long they'll be swinging at stuff.

Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

It's the fact their bowling is, on the whole, very disciplined. It puts the pressure on and they don't let you have much at all. With our one-day batting lineup they're used to scoring quickly, patience isn't their virtue and as we've seen before too long they'll be swinging at stuff.

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You clearly are wumming

Explain.

What part of that is untrue? The Aussie bowling is, on the whole, disciplined. Our batters primarily favour limited overs and are used to trying to score of every ball. Just because we had a day or two where the batsmen concentrated and played more conservative cricket (except at the end) and one afternoon where the Aussies got whacked around the park doesn't mean you can ignore the rest of the series and pretty much every other test over the last year or two.

Let's hope all the hoopla over Stokes' innings dies down soon and we start planning how to beat Australia in the two remaining tests.

Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

Explain.

What part of that is untrue? The Aussie bowling is, on the whole, disciplined. Our batters primarily favour limited overs and are used to trying to score of every ball. Just because we had a day or two where the batsmen concentrated and played more conservative cricket (except at the end) and one afternoon where the Aussies got whacked around the park doesn't mean you can ignore the rest of the series and pretty much every other test over the last year or two.

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The notion Joe Denly and Rory Burns are one day specialists is funny.

Stokes in the last few years has a strike rate in 5 day cricket of below 50 and Root is a specialist in the long game and has adapted to the short game

Buttler has a respectable test average but it’s poor against Australia

It’s only Roy and he was an odd selection and high risk

Your even suggesting replacing Buttler with Anderson!

Maybe you've misunderstood me. I didn't mean the ENTIRE line up was one day specialists. Burns, Denly and Root aren', but given how quickly they're getting outt. But apart from that it is heavily limited overs weighted. Roy, Buttler, Bairstow and Stokes all have games that are more favoured to limited overs and all played in the ODI world cup as well as the last T20 game. Stokes can adapt better than most to all forms but his forte is big hitting. Root is a long game specialist who is in the ODI team to provide a bit of stability to the line-up, so even in the ODI's that team is considered a bit 'gung-ho' at times.

They're talented players and we've not got any better 'test' batsmen than them.

I assume you'd drop Roy and you'd have an attack of Anderson, Archer, Broad and Stokes with Woakes dropping out and that's fine and I totally understand that choice.

The Buttler/Anderson thing (as I wrote if you bothered to read it) was a 'thinking aloud' thing because if Anderson is fit and available I want him back in, so it's making space for him. In reality he's going to replace Woakes, but I really think Curran could be a good addition, predominantly with the ball but potentially with the bat as well. If you prefer think of it as Anderson coming in for Woakes and Curran in for Buttler.

I could very easily have said dropping Roy instead but I'd love to see him a bit lower down to see what he could do as an experiment - it may well not work but until it's been tried you can't know - he is a dedicated batsmen after all whereas Buttler is a wicketkeeper/batsmen and as he's not got the gloves he'd be the next logical choice to miss out.

I've felt from the start of the series the big difference in this series is going to be Smith v Root, and as Root has moved up the batting order and on the whole not done as well as usual (and certainly not compared to Smith) our hopes rest on getting Smith out ASAP. Now they've got Labuschagne as well who looks like he can bat pretty well in a test situation, so if we can't rely on the batting options (and little over the last year or so has suggested we can) it comes down to the bowling options to keep it varied and the bowlers fresh.

If ever anyone needs cheering up.....

Stokes' winning moment from all angles

Overton is in for woakes - only change

Grendel said:

Overton is in for woakes - only change

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Woakes doesn't seem to be rated, which I find a little harsh.

NorthernWisdom said:

Woakes doesn't seem to be rated, which I find a little harsh.

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He is I think but had a poor game and has now an obvious batting flaw which will be exploited

Grendel said:

He is I think but had a poor game and has now an obvious batting flaw which will be exploited

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His overall batting average in test cricket isn't at all bad though for a tailender, and he does seem to have been underused by Root for his bowling.

In isolation I'd be happier with the decision, if they didn't seem to hand out chance after chance to the top order. Much as I like Buttler, he's due a dropping. Woakes has done better than him as a bat, this series!

There's been whispers of Woakes struggling with a knee injury throughout the series, which may be why Root has been reuctant to bowl him too much.

I feel Sam Curran must feel hard done by, he would be an ideal replacement for Woakes (swing bowler, decent bat) the only reason i can see why Overton would jump above him in the oecking order must be that as a left arm bowler, he would create footmarks for Lyon to bowl into against the right handers

tisza said:

Not convinced swapping Denley and Roy is an answer. Denley finds a few runs at 4 and then gets moved.

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We really, really need at least a couple of changes in the batting lineup. Get a proper opener (Sibley?) in, and drop Buttler for the moment. One of Roy or Bairstow also out, (in favour of Pope if it's Roy? Any other alternatives?). Denley just about earns himself a reprieve for another Test after the lasty one but yes, after waiting god knows how long for him to score some runs, why move him when he does?

Joffra doesn't look right. Slowish run up, bowling at average of 82mph

Saddlebrains said:

Joffra doesn't look right. Slowish run up, bowling at average of 82mph

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But still extremely economical.

So Sibly at 80+ 90+. Let's just get them out there and see if they can deal with it.
Ashes test, come on England xx

They are desperately keeping Buttler in so he can be the next captain.
Woakes has been harshly treated and under bowled but I think he is struggling a bit post World Cup, I would expect him to tour this winter as he is a lovely guy and will be the perfect tourist

The Denly Roy thing is a farce I wouldn’t be picking either of them.

Archer can’t be used to bowling this many overs under this amount of pressure.

What the fuck do we have to do to get Smith out!

Covstu said:

What the fuck do we have to do to get Smith out!

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Not bowl no balls might help

211, that’s won them the ashes

Covstu said:

What the fuck do we have to do to get Smith out!

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Roll over and let him coast to a double century once a match. He isn't a cyborg for fuck's sake

Brighton Sky Blue said:

Roll over and let him coast to a double century once a match. He isn't a cyborg for fuck's sake

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No but he is the best test batsman in the world

Covstu said:

What the fuck do we have to do to get Smith out!

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I think our only option now is to bowl hand grenades at him. But he'd probably smash that for 6 before it exploded.

I think the option now is bowl round the wicket into his body and heavily load the leg side and bore him out

He was dropped by Archer on 65, so all we have to do is take the catches.

Gazolba said:

He was dropped by Archer on 65, so all we have to do is take the catches.

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To be honest I think calling it a drop is harsh

I've said before, we need to disrupt the rhythm of him wandering about and doing all his tics etc. Get back to the run and get bowling at him ASAP. He's supposed to be ready when the bowler is. If the umpire stops us bowling at him there's only so many times he can do that before he has to have a word with the batsmen to get ready. He can't reprimand the bowler for wanting to bowl when half the time they're complaining about slow over rate!

And while we're at it nick all his extra gloves and replace them with ones a bit bigger or smaller.

Terry Gibson's perm said:

I think the option now is bowl round the wicket into his body and heavily load the leg side and bore him out

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He likes to play leg side and with right arm over the wicket he will clip it off his legs all day if its too straight. I'd try right arm over at him as he's then having to try and play against the angle of the ball. Most players comfortable on the leg side aren't as good with the ball going accross them

Covstu said:

No but he is the best test batsman in the world

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It’s similar to cook in Australia in 2010 a player on top of his game and contributing a big percentage of the team runs

And here comes the collapse

It will be an uphill struggle now we lost those last three wickets.
Our hopes now rest on Stokes, Bairstow and Buttler.
At least two of them need centuries to save us.
Or maybe if all three get fifties, the tailenders can chip in with some scores.
Very unlikely.

They just need to call up Moeen Ali as he is smashing rubbish all over Sussex.