Ashes 2013/14

[taylorsworkrate]

I think Stokes long term could give us a better balance as a side.

Stokes has a hell of a lot of potential. I think he's a couple of years away in his development at the moment though.

[cheltenhamlion]

I will try the first post with vitriol. As long as we beat the dirty convict bastards again I dont care who we pick.

[TheTimVilla]

England team v WA Chairman's XI: Root, Carberry, Trott, Bell, Ballance, Stokes, Prior (capt & wk), Rankin, Tremlett, Finn, Anderson.

I'd like to think they agree with my Stokes idea, but I'm not kidding myself. Five quicks and one part time spinner, it's a statement of intent - thanks for preparing strips our bowlers love!

[PaulWinch again]

England team v WA Chairman's XI: Root, Carberry, Trott, Bell, Ballance, Stokes, Prior (capt & wk), Rankin, Tremlett, Finn, Anderson.

I'd like to think they agree with my Stokes idea, but I'm not kidding myself. Five quicks and one part time spinner, it's a statement of intent - thanks for preparing strips our bowlers love!

Interesting team especially as I'm hoping to see Stokes involved in the Tests.

[adrenachrome]

England team v WA Chairman's XI: Root, Carberry, Trott, Bell, Ballance, Stokes, Prior (capt & wk), Rankin, Tremlett, Finn, Anderson.

I'd like to think they agree with my Stokes idea, but I'm not kidding myself. Five quicks and one part time spinner, it's a statement of intent - thanks for preparing strips our bowlers love!

After 90 overs:

    Bowling    O    M    R    W    Econ       
JM Anderson    16    7    31    1    1.93       
CT Tremlett    17    4    71    0    4.17    (2nb)   
WB Rankin    18    1    87    1    4.83    (1nb)   
ST Finn    18    0    87    0    4.83       
JE Root    11    2    32    1    2.90       
BA Stokes    10    0    56    1    5.60    (1nb, 1w)   

[TheTimVilla]

I look forward to comparing with their bowling figures after 90 overs...

[Concrete John]

England team v WA Chairman's XI: Root, Carberry, Trott, Bell, Ballance, Stokes, Prior (capt & wk), Rankin, Tremlett, Finn, Anderson.

Are the playing 4-3-3 or going with two up front?

[paul_e]

I'm not overly worried by those bowling figures, only Jimmy of those is a genuine frontline bowler for us and his figures are good on a slow pitch.  Swann and Broad will be in when the games matter so really the others are competing for the last spot in our 4 man attack.  These are the type of games where you want the fringe bowlers to earn a spot in the tests, none of them has done that today which is a shame but it's also nothing to be concerned about.

[Villan For Life]

I'm not overly worried by those bowling figures, only Jimmy of those is a genuine frontline bowler for us and his figures are good on a slow pitch.  Swann and Broad will be in when the games matter so really the others are competing for the last spot in our 4 man attack.  These are the type of games where you want the fringe bowlers to earn a spot in the tests, none of them has done that today which is a shame but it's also nothing to be concerned about.

Same here. This match is the cricket equivalent of the first pre season friendly 3 days after the players have reported back.

[paul_e]

Nice to see Bell carry his form over from the summer today, from the very brief footage I've seen he looked excellent.  This has also shown that there's very little in the pitch for the bowlers, which was expected after yesterday.

[OCD]

I wasn't expecting much from this or the other warm-up matches as we're always shit at the start of a tour. I just hope we're ready for when the first test comes along.

Good to see Root take a wicket. I thought he could have been used more in the summer and he's a good option as the second spinner. I do wonder whether we should change Bell and Root round in the batting line-up though. It seems odd that Bell opens in the one-dayers with Root at 5 and then we do the reverse for the 5 dayers. I know he opens for his club side but it's asking a lot of a young player to expect them to open at international level.

[adrenachrome]

Well done Boyd Rankin for taking the.first 2 wickets in their 2nd innings.

[Dave Cooper please]

Decent game for all the England Bears.

[Ads]

Shane Warne flapping his gums about Cook and his best buddy Clarke in the media today. He says Clarke is the best captain in the world, which is a tough sell at the moment given their record.

[paul_e]

Shane Warne flapping his gums about Cook and his best buddy Clarke in the media today. He says Clarke is the best captain in the world, which is a tough sell at the moment given their record.

Clarke is very bold in his captaincy which is giving this impression that he's a great captain, the issue is, it's a hell of a lot easier to be bold when you don't stand much chance of winning otherwise but when you've performed very well despite being a little conservative it's not so easy to convince yourself that the bold move is worth the risk.