- Feb 1, 2005
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England's bowling coach Otis Gibson is leaving to become head coach of South Africa. He is a mentor of Broad's IIRC.
I'd hope Woakes stays in the team purely because with an Ashes tour coming up, we have to have one eye on that and by that I mean play the team we expect to play down under now, or as close to that as possible. Whilst there are flaws in that logic, ie you can't pick a team on paper but who is in good form, I really really really don't want to see TRJ in the team down under. The pitches out there do not suit his bowling one bit and are much better suited to Woakes who has more pace about him.Could be a blessing in disguise in my view. Root has had the rub of the green up until now, and our team still think they are better than they are. I didn't agree with the declaration, we were 1-0 and in no need of chasing anything. Now we are going into a pressure game at Lords to try and win a series against statistically the "worst test playing nation".
I'm not a huge fan of Broad but the comments are a bit unjust to be honest, he had Cook drop a relative sitter and then shelled one of his own bowling, things could have been a bit different. Woakes was horribly undercooked and down on pace from before his injury, I can see why we put him in but it's backfired on us.
Mo bowled pretty poorly, ridiculously from the wrong end for about two hours though, couldn't understand that one.
All to play for at Lords, wouldn't be shocked to see ToRoJo come in for one of the seamers that have played all through the summer. Also be interesting to see what sort of pitch they prepare at Lords, hopefully not the usual featherbed.
Last note, Shai Hope is some player though, what a superstar.
Hopefully the new coach gets them bowling a tad fuller with the new ball and not so scared of getting driven.England's bowling coach Otis Gibson is leaving to become head coach of South Africa. He is a mentor of Broad's IIRC.
Exactly. I'm happy for Windies but gutted this means we'll be subjected to the continuation of epic leads before putting the other team into bat.We're gonna lose.
This will have a safety-first effect on Root's future declarations!
We'll take all of them. Jennings, Malan, Westley, Roland Jones, Ballance, Stoneman, the lot. And act surprised when we get trounced.When we pick this ashes team we really need to think about who will be able to perform in Australian conditions.
Roland Jones. Like many county steamers looks okay on a green wicket here but when the sun is out on the hard pitches over there he will look village green standard.
Eoin Morgan should go. He's an excellent technical batsmen who has faced every top bowler in every conditions imaginable.
He also hasn't played red ball cricket for about 2 years?
I think Malan is the only one out of the load you mentioned who would survive in Oz, he hasn't scored heaps but I like the way he dug in at Headingley in the second innings. The other two, just add them to the long list of players who tried and failed to make the step up to Test cricket.
The only leveller we have is that the Aussies have as many disgusting players in the side as we do at the moment, it's just going to come down to a shootout between which worldies turn up and which don't. I have a fear I'll be seeing us at 120/5 off 18 overs a hell of a lot this winter.
With it being in Australia, i'd say it's heavily weighed in the Aussie's favour. The conditions are perfect for their bowlers whilst ours always struggle in Australian conditions. Cook, Root, Stokes, Bairstow and Ali need to bat long and hard otherwise I think we'll get embarrassed.
Root seems to be a huge fan of Ballance and I wouldnt be at all surprised if he shoehorned him in for the Ashes. Personally, I really, really rate Ballance and I think he's a really gifted cricketer but his technique currently has huge flaws. I'd like to see him bat at 5.
What has become of James Vince? He looked crap for England but he is another who came in with huge potential and looked to be a good stroke maker but he seems to have fallen off the radar.
Stoneman, Westley and Malan (to a lesser extent, dont wanna call him bad whilst he's still in otherwise he'll score a ton and i'll look like an idiot) are all embarrassingly bad.
Are they really the best we have to offer? Is our county cricket that bad?!
Australia are going to destroy us.
I would be shocked if they take Ballance. I think Stoneman has something about him so id stick with himWe'll take all of them. Jennings, Malan, Westley, Roland Jones, Ballance, Stoneman, the lot. And act surprised when we get trounced.
It's what our selectors do.
Neither Hameed or Westley doing themselves any favours in yesterdays round of County matches.
Is there a case for doing something mental like bringing in Foakes to keep and getting Bairstow to bat 3 in Tests??
I don't think Bairstow would be happy having the gloves taken off him.
I'd still take Hameed. It is a big risk, but they talk about playing 'brave cricket'... does that include sticking your neck out on selections? As I've said all summer, he didn't fail in an England shirt which is all I'm concerned with, until he does I'd back him - poor season or not.
Westley might just get in by default, I'm not sure who would be in the running to replace him. If it's Ballance then no thanks. As I've said before I think the England teams should be as separated and simplified as possible so Hales, Buttler and the like should just stick to concentrating on whacking the white ball out of the ground.
Cook, Stoneman, Hameed, Root, Malan, maybe Westley, Bairstow, Spare Keeper, Stokes, Ali, Crane/Rashid, Woakes, TRJ, Wood, Anderson, Broad
Hope they take a leg-spinner at least in the squad. Bowling attack is still far too one-dimensional but what else do we have.