The Cricket Thread 2013

[PaulWinch again]

I'm the same, hence why our bowling has been so poor.

[PaulWinch again]

In fairness to Trott he's the only batsman with any credit here.

[PaulWinch again]

That'll be Woakes done with international cricket for a long time I expect.

[PaulWinch again]

This has been a desperately poor display and this team needs changing.

[manic-road]

Woakes and Dernbach were woeful today, never seen so many wayward deliveries. Both should be dropped.

[PaulWinch again]

Woakes, Dernbach and Buttler should all go. I'm not sure Buttler has the mental strength for international cricket and Dernbach and Woakes aren't good enough.

[PaulWinch again]

Terrible shot Swann.

[PaulWinch again]

I'd like Cook to come out with some explanation for this now, because since Giles took over we've been pretty bad in ODIs after getting to number 1 in the world. We have been atrocious today.

[PaulWinch again]

100 for Trott, only player with any credit here. Quick enough too, so fair play.

[PaulWinch again]

Before KP comes back the team should be -

- Cook, Trott, Bell, Root, Morgan, Bairstow, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Onions/Bresnan.

[TheTimVilla]

I'd go with that XI. Trott's slow pace would me more palatable as an opener, and Bell slots in anywhere.

[paul_e]

Before KP comes back the team should be -

- Cook, Trott, Bell, Root, Morgan, Bairstow, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Onions/Bresnan.

Not enough bowling there, you'd need Trott and Root bowling 5 each and I don't think either is up to that.

The important thing is we need to identify 6-7 players who play every time.

For me

1. Cook
2. Bell
4. KP
5. Morgan
6. Prior
8. Broad
9. Swann
11. Anderson

So we need to:

- settle on a 3 between trott and root.
- find an all-rounder who can give some big runs in there and bowl well enough as the 5th (sharing some overs with trott/root) - maybe bresnan can fill this.
- find another frontline wicket taker.  Finn is almost there anyway.

Harsh on Bairstow but effectively you're dropping Root or Trott for Morgan and dropping Bairstow for a bowler, which is needed - other than that it's the test team, and rightly so.  I'm with Aftab on this, the best players are great at all forms unless they're very specialised, Morgan being the obvious example in our squad, not patient enough or technically sound enough to play in tests but a highly competent finisher in the shorter forms.

[Richard]

Before KP comes back the team should be -

- Cook, Trott, Bell, Root, Morgan, Bairstow, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Onions/Bresnan.

Not enough bowling there, you'd need Trott and Root bowling 5 each and I don't think either is up to that.

The important thing is we need to identify 6-7 players who play every time.

For me

1. Cook
2. Bell
4. KP
5. Morgan
6. Prior
8. Broad
9. Swann
11. Anderson

So we need to:

- settle on a 3 between trott and root.
- find an all-rounder who can give some big runs in there and bowl well enough as the 5th (sharing some overs with trott/root) - maybe bresnan can fill this.
- find another frontline wicket taker.  Finn is almost there anyway.

Harsh on Bairstow but effectively you're dropping Root or Trott for Morgan and dropping Bairstow for a bowler, which is needed - other than that it's the test team, and rightly so.  I'm with Aftab on this, the best players are great at all forms unless they're very specialised, Morgan being the obvious example in our squad, not patient enough or technically sound enough to play in tests but a highly competent finisher in the shorter forms.

Trott is our best one day batsman at present - he should be one of the guaranteed starters

[PaulWinch again]

I don't think you can rely on Bresnan for runs.

[Steve R]

England's attack as a whole has looked piss poor in all forms of cricket on flat wickets. Not that we'll get too many of those in the forthcoming Ashes series.

What we seem to lack is the ability to vary things when the pitch/conditions aren't helpful. This is true of most bowlers we could pick. Anderson with the new ball apart, it didn't seem to matter who was bowling all deliveries seemed to be of a similar speed line and length.

Finn ought to improve things but I'm not too sure about Broad who seems to pick up clutches of wickets every now and then but gets spanked around the ground fairly regularly.

Dernbach really is just too expensive. Woakes is still a developing player and should not be discarded completely. He certainly has the temperament for this level of cricket.

Interesting ODI career comparison :-

Broad - Batting ave : 12.23, Bowling Econ : 5.19
Woakes  - batting : 23.5 Bowling :  5.66

The numbers aren't that significant given the relative length of their careers, but it would be a mistake to think the return of Broad will make that big a difference.

In ODIs, Woakes' lack of pace shouldn't matter. It seems to be a well accepted principle that scoring becomes more difficult when there is less pace on the ball.

He needs to learn more about the art of bowling rather than look for extra yards of speed.

Paul Collingwood was no Denis Lillee but his ODI bowling economy was 4.96