The Cricket Thread 2013

[PaulWinch again]

I think Finn should be given another go personally, but we'll see. If Harris comes in for the Aussies he'll improve them.

[PaulWinch again]

Khawaja in for Cowan will improve that line up too.

[Dr Butler]

Khawaja in for Cowan will improve that line up too.

indeed and I am suprised he did not play in the first test.

[PaulWinch again]

Batting first, we need to turn up in the first innings this time. Bresnan in, not overly happy about that.

[paul_e]

Bres in for Finn then, very surprised by that, I expected an unchanged side.

[PaulWinch again]

The thing which annoys me about the England set up is we always turn to Bres as the safety option. He's a steady but unremarkable bowler and you can tell we just want to pad out the batting a bit. Still hope it works and we win, need to bat well in the first innings.

[TheTimVilla]

Big mistake bringing Bresnan in here. If it were almost any other ground, I wouldn't object. However, it's Finn's home ground and his Test record is pretty good there. However, Bresnan has been very expensive here.

[TheTimVilla]

The thing which annoys me about the England set up is we always turn to Bres as the safety option. He's a steady but unremarkable bowler and you can tell we just want to pad out the batting a bit. Still hope it works and we win, need to bat well in the first innings.

As I said before the first test, Bresnan's Test batting is pap if you take Bangladesh out of his stats. And yes you can do that. 

[Villan For Life]

Totally agree with Bresnan for Finn. A much better player who offers something extra.

[olaftab]

Big mistake bringing Bresnan in here. If it were almost any other ground, I wouldn't object. However, it's Finn's home ground and his Test record is pretty good there. However, Bresnan has been very expensive here.

I agree.  Finn is a the much  better strike bowler and will do more damage however he does  need to sort  his length.

[paul_e]

I think there's very little between Bresnan and Finn, they offer different things.

It is worth noting that Bresnan vs Australia has 11 with an average of 19.6 and an economy of 2.6

If he can keep his figures against them anywhere near those levels then it's the right decision.

Does seem backwards though as Finn bowls well at lords.

[PaulWinch again]

Totally agree with Bresnan for Finn. A much better player who offers something extra.

Look at their records at Lords and I strongly disagree.

[PaulWinch again]

Finn has 20 odd wickets at Lords at an average of 20.66 and Bresnan has 5 at 66. It's a potentially shocking decision.

[paul_e]

The thing which annoys me about the England set up is we always turn to Bres as the safety option. He's a steady but unremarkable bowler and you can tell we just want to pad out the batting a bit. Still hope it works and we win, need to bat well in the first innings.

As I said before the first test, Bresnan's Test batting is pap if you take Bangladesh out of his stats. And yes you can do that. 

no you can't, they're a test match nation so scores against them count towards your test match figures.  You ca'nt base your opinion on statistics if you pick and choose which statistics you include.  His official test match batting average is currently over 30, if that's higher than it should be then it will come down over time, and it probably will come down to the 26-27 that is his first class average, which is still slightly better than pap.

[PaulWinch again]

Regardless Bresnan is not good enough in a 4 man attack, and I really worry about our bowling. Hopefully he'll turn up, but his record at Lords suggests he won't.