The Cricket Thread 2016

[spangley1812]

I firmly believe Cook needs to be dropped and have a year in county cricket. If he can regain his form there then he can come back to international cricket. At the moment keeping him in the international arena is ruining his career.

agreed but that means going into successive series v the Kiwi's and the Convicts with 2 new openers............ 

[PaulWinch again]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's not my doing Cook or England any good.

[spangley1812]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

[Villan For Life]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

Ali?

[spangley1812]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

Ali?

Good idea but hasn't he been batting @ no6 for England lately?

[tomd2103]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

I am a big fan of Trott and really hope I am wrong, but I have a feeling this will be a very short comeback.  I think once someone has taken the option of walking away, it just isn't going to be the same when they come back.  I think once that massive step has been taken, it is always there at the back at that person's mind as an option and they are just not the same again.     

[spangley1812]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

I am a big fan of Trott and really hope I am wrong, but I have a feeling this will be a very short comeback.  I think once someone has taken the option of walking away, it just isn't going to be the same when they come back.  I think once that massive step has been taken, it is always there at the back at that person's mind as an option and they are just not the same again.     

You could well be right but I hope not............

[PaulWinch again]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

I'm not sure Trott has shown he deserves a place in the side. Ballance is struggling at the moment but he had an excellent summer.

[spangley1812]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

I'm not sure Trott has shown he deserves a place in the side. Ballance is struggling at the moment but he had an excellent summer.

Ballance has got to 30 so lets hope he can go on and make over a 100

[tomd2103]

Well if your current opener hasn't made runs for two years where's the risk in a change? It's no my doing Cook or England any good.

I agree so Lyth and..............Trott has to go back to no3

I'm not sure Trott has shown he deserves a place in the side. Ballance is struggling at the moment but he had an excellent summer.

I'm hoping it's just a case of Ballance not playing enough cricket and he will find his form.  I think the issues with Trott and Cook are more worrying.  Dropping one of those two will be a big move though and would impact massively on their respective careers.

[Villan For Life]

I think that it's time for us to start planning for the future and invest test match time and experience in young players.

We have a core of excellent young players; Root, Buttler, Ballance, Woakes, Wood, Lyth and Jordan.  Sure they don't always deliver but they should be at the core of our test side for a long time to come.

A few players in the side need to be moved on for the sake of the future of English cricket.

[PaulWinch again]

It was encouraging to hear that Broad was bowling with pace and rhythm again. I'd seriously consider two of Lyth, Lees and Vince as our opening pair at the moment.

[JD]

Let's just see if they can play themselves into form.

Interesting over here in NZ was that everyone was saying that Guptill had to be dropped before the one day WC. He was abysmal leading up to the competition, but look what happened. Sometimes you just need to keep the faith. Cook and Trott are good players, so leave them to sort it out (as long as the team are winning).

[PaulWinch again]

The thing with Cook is that he's been in terrible form for 2 years. I don't know about Guptill, but I guarantee he wasn't playing that badly for that long. I hope he turns it round, but there comes a point where someone has to be dropped.

[paul_e]

I agree, Cook is very lucky not to be under a lot more pressure than he is.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/11728.html?class=1;spanmax1=16+Apr+2015;spanmin1=16+Apr+2013;spanval1=span;template=results;type=allround;view=match

Take away the Southampton test last summer which, in my opinion, saved him from being dropped for the ODIs sooner and you're left with a record that is nothing like good enough and with little evidence that it's improving, ignore stats and watch him bat, he's never been a great technician but now he looks like a village cricketer, his foot movement is particularly ridiculous right now.  Sticking with him for the rest of the summer has just as much chance of ending him as an international as it does of seeing him find some form.