Test Cricket 2023 & Onwards

[DracoM]

Crawley for me.

[antongould]

Crawley for me.

Duckett for me

[burning dog]

Duckett for me

England should get Foakes and Bairstow in the team, like they used to be better with Stewart and Russell. Foakes is good batsman as well! He's a "wicketkeeper-batsman" when the selectors seem to prefer "batsmen-wicketkeepers"

Stewart averaged about 35 as a "batsman-wicketkeeper" , but around 47 as a specialist batter

I think Russell averaged about 27 , despite a limited batting technique

Note: Knott, definitely a better keeper than Stewart and playing as a "wicketkeeper-batsman" averaged about 33, sometimes batting as low as 8.

[Historian]

Duckett for me

Agree that either Duckett or Crawley would be the ones to go, but can't see it happening any time soon. Thank you both for the responses. Hope I didn't sound hectoring.

[vinteuil]

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... from The Times, so it's behind a paywall, but I quite liked Giles Coren today -

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/you-too-can-learn-to-grab-life-by-the-bazballs-k8f3sd9mf

.

[antongould]

Agree that either Duckett or Crawley would be the ones to go, but can't see it happening any time soon. Thank you both for the responses. Hope I didn't sound hectoring.

Not in the slightest

[DracoM]

[Historian]

Good to see England women batting well yesterday, but still a long way to go. Obviously still a good wicket but may break up later.

Australia have such strength in depth: Annabel Sutherland is relatively inexperienced and only 21 yet made an unbeaten 137 playing at number 8.

[Belgrove]

Good to see England women batting well yesterday, but still a long way to go. Obviously still a good wicket but may break up later.

Indeed so. I went to the first day, where Australia dominated with the bat and accumulated runs at a relatively fast pace despite a rain interruption. England’s more stately but solid response leaves them still in contention. Hopefully the pitch will evolve by the second innings.

[Belgrove]

The one thing that Stokes has taught us is to expect the unexpected, so here are some left-of-field thoughts for bowling selections for the upcoming Lord’s Test.

Anderson’s single wicket at Edgbaston rules him out, so replace him with Wood. Dan Lawrence’s off-break action has been compared with an octopus in a blender, and since Smith has counting OCD, this may well keep him distracted! So Lawrence (who can bat) replaces Moeen. Arch sledgers Langer and Ponting have winged that Robinson should keep quiet, ergo he must play! Other than that, as you were…

[DracoM]

Will Ahmed now play?

[Darkbloom]

The one thing that Stokes has taught us is to expect the unexpected, so here are some left-of-field thoughts for bowling selections for the upcoming Lord’s Test.

Anderson’s single wicket at Edgbaston rules him out, so replace him with Wood. Dan Lawrence’s off-break action has been compared with an octopus in a blender, and since Smith has counting OCD, this may well keep him distracted! So Lawrence (who can bat) replaces Moeen. Arch sledgers Langer and Ponting have winged that Robinson should keep quiet, ergo he must play! Other than that, as you were…

Underneath all the Bazballery, this England team are a lot more conventional than they would like us to believe. They aren't going with a specialist spinner so they can pack the batting, and Root is going to be roped in instead. It just shows how we have never replaced Swann. I've never seen this strategy work, it only shows weakness, and it's going to be put even more stress on our already threadbare seam attack if the Aussies put them under pressure. It's probably too much to expect Ahmed to play (Australia would certainly try to break him as soon as possible) but the fact that the best spinner in England now appears to be a part-timer says it all about the way we are (or aren't) producing spin bowlers in this country.

If this team played the England of 2005 they would get wrecked. I think the only player from this team who would get in would be Root, the rest would be carrying the drinks. I don't think even Broad and Anderson would play, because the bowling unit we had then would work in most conditions while this one needs things going in their favour to make a difference. England really need to win three out of the remaining four games (Australia are almost bound to smash us in one of the matches, they are too good not to), and I don't see that happening, unfortunately.


I don't know if anyone has any thoughts about this racism report that has come out, but the tone does remind me rather a lot of the attitudes towards ENO. Cricket (particularly Test cricket) is never going to appeal to more than a small minority of people - not because everyone is racist but because most people aren't interested in investing the time and effort to learn about a complicated sport when there are other pastimes that require less effort. Cricket is dying out in the Caribbean too - that has nothing to do with racism, but more to do with cultural attitudes and the way people want to spend their leisure time. There are going to be endless 'initiatives', we are going to hear the word 'inclusion' repeated so often that we will be sick of it, and a lot of mediocre people are going to make a tidy living out of these findings.

[DracoM]

<<< There are going to be endless 'initiatives', we are going to hear the word 'inclusion' repeated so often that we will be sick of it, and a lot of mediocre people are going to make a tidy living out of these findings. >>>

[Belgrove]

First of all, Bairstow was out. Indeed as a keeper he should have known to remain in his ground before going for a stroll up the pitch. Personally I think Carey should have warned him that he had noted the behaviour, and that there would be consequences if he did it again - I’m sure others will disagree. Stokes was galvanised by what had happened and launched a ferocious attack, coupled with the booing and jeering of the Australians from the crowd. I have never heard such a barracking at any cricket match I have attended. What happened in the Long Room as the Australian’s walked through was unprecedented and regrettable. The atmosphere was febrile, there was booing and it is alleged that Australian players were verbally abused by some members, which is unacceptable. It’s a shame because this bad behaviour has overshadowed the astonishing innings by Stokes. His blistering attack unsettled Australia, they were rattled and started to make errors, with Broad seeming to assume the role played by Jack Leach at Headingley. The previous day saw the bizarre sight of Lyon hobbling to the crease, and England bowling bouncers for far too long in an attempt to dislodge him. England were on the backfoot through failing to take advantage of perfect bowling conditions during the first morning (although Broad clearly gives Warner the heebie geebies), and sloppy batting in the first innings (but Stokes was out to a good ball from Starc). Two wickets from Anderson is not enough. Root has subsequently tried to pour oil onto troubled waters prior to Headingley, but I suspect those on the Western Terrace will have other ideas. The blue touchpaper is lit.

[eighthobstruction]

....I agree about Anderson....does anyone know whether "over" was called prior to stumping....?