The Cricket Thread 2013

[Lsvilla]

Long term woakes is a 6 who bats well and offers something with the ball if we need it and Stokes is an 8 who is there for his bowling but does the Bresnan job of scoring important runs in the tail.

I say this as a Bears fan and a fan Woakes himself, but can you ever see him being a 6 at international level Paul? 

he's actually the current incumbent having batted there at the Oval......although i do agree there should be quite a few above him in the pecking order

[spangley1812]

I am a Bears fan and biased I know but I dont know how Carberry get in ahead of Chopra, Chopra has scored twice as many runs this year than Carberry, at a higher level and is 7 years younger............

[PaulWinch again]

Long term woakes is a 6 who bats well and offers something with the ball if we need it and Stokes is an 8 who is there for his bowling but does the Bresnan job of scoring important runs in the tail.

I think Woakes needs a lot more to be an international number 6 and I think Stokes is a naturally more talented bat than Bres.

[Dave Cooper please]

I am a Bears fan and biased I know but I dont know how Carberry get in ahead of Chopra, Chopra has scored twice as many runs this year than Carberry, at a higher level and is 7 years younger............

Yep, no idea. And I'd put Chopra behind James Taylor.
Carberry is a strange choice, It's not like he's really on form so there goes the "pick the players who are performing despite their age" pick, and he's not young so there goes the "Give youth a chance" pick. Fuck knows what was going on in the selector's heads.

[JD]

Big news over here about Stokes being in the squad, given that he is a local lad from Christchurch. Hope he does well, it could have been worse for him, he could have been picked by The Black Caps.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Keeping an eye on 3 matches today:-

Warks V Derbys, Somerset V Notts and Durham V Sussex.

Hope there's not a draw between the Bears and Derbyshire. If Bears lose then Derbyshire could stay up at the expense of Nottinghamshire or Somerset (Nott's looking more likely at the moment). If Bears win then we could finish above Sussex and Middlesex in 3rd place.

[paul_e]

Long term woakes is a 6 who bats well and offers something with the ball if we need it and Stokes is an 8 who is there for his bowling but does the Bresnan job of scoring important runs in the tail.

I say this as a Bears fan and a fan Woakes himself, but can you ever see him being a 6 at international level Paul? 

He averages nearly 40 in first class which isn't a long way short of Bairstow who has had a lot of chances in there.  I also think Woakes has a strong enough technique to work with, and he's not 25 until the spring so he's still young in international terms.

I guess it's a maybe, but I think he's worth a look.

[paul_e]

Long term woakes is a 6 who bats well and offers something with the ball if we need it and Stokes is an 8 who is there for his bowling but does the Bresnan job of scoring important runs in the tail.

I say this as a Bears fan and a fan Woakes himself, but can you ever see him being a 6 at international level Paul? 

He averages nearly 40 in first class which isn't a long way short of Bairstow who has had a lot of chances in there.  I also think Woakes has a strong enough technique to work with, and he's not 25 until the spring so he's still young in international terms.

I guess it's a maybe, but I think he's worth a look.

Feels quite good to see him get his highest 1st class total 2 days after I wrote that, good on him after being left out by England, this is the right way to respond, take note Mr Compton.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Any idea if Northants are already promoted, or whether Essex are still challenging them?

Northants need 199 runs to win with 7 wickets left.

[TheTimVilla]

Northants are up because Essex didn't get enough bonus points.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Northants are up because Essex didn't get enough bonus points.

Ta muchly - Glad that another home county isn't replacing Surrey.

[JD]

Northants are up because Essex didn't get enough bonus points.

Boo, not fair, my county was robbed.

[UK Redsox]

Tendulkar retires

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/24476273

[ACVilla]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2456351/Tom-Maynard-death-Matthew-Maynard-exclusive-interview.html

So sad. He still sounds absolutely crushed. Can't imagine the pain, just can't imagine it.

[Simon Ward]

Hotting up already for events down under this winter!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/24540413