The Cricket Thread 2016

[PaulWinch again]

That's frustrating he deserved a century. It's important that Ali and Root carry on the work now, because we still need a lot of runs.

[Villan For Life]

I'm getting very worried about Bell now, it sounds like he was beaten by an absolute doozy today so as a standalone wicket I'm not concerned but he's getting out for very little too often, and it almost always happens after a bit of collapse which is the point where you want a guy who's one of our most experienced batsmen to stand up.

Wonder if he's got a cup final ticket and is hoping to be dropped for the Headingley Test?

Time for a look at Taylor instead of Bell?

[PaulWinch again]

I'm getting very worried about Bell now, it sounds like he was beaten by an absolute doozy today so as a standalone wicket I'm not concerned but he's getting out for very little too often, and it almost always happens after a bit of collapse which is the point where you want a guy who's one of our most experienced batsmen to stand up.

Wonder if he's got a cup final ticket and is hoping to be dropped for the Headingley Test?

Time for a look at Taylor instead of Bell?

I wouldn't mind that I like Taylor. Strange that Ali drops down the order again.

[Villan For Life]

I'm getting very worried about Bell now, it sounds like he was beaten by an absolute doozy today so as a standalone wicket I'm not concerned but he's getting out for very little too often, and it almost always happens after a bit of collapse which is the point where you want a guy who's one of our most experienced batsmen to stand up.

Wonder if he's got a cup final ticket and is hoping to be dropped for the Headingley Test?

Time for a look at Taylor instead of Bell?

I wouldn't mind that I like Taylor. Strange that Ali drops down the order again.

I wonder if it's because of the position of the game. A batsman at the other end looking comfortable; a flat pitch, new ball 30+ overs away and a tiring attack. It's an ideal opportunity for Buttler.

He's often compared with Gilchrist and this is exactly the kind of circumstances where he would have taken the game away from you.

Hopefully it hints at a new-found tactical flexibility too.

[PaulWinch again]

Quite possibly.

[PaulWinch again]

Excellent session. That partnership from Stokes and Root shows the value of scoring quickly over just occupying the crease. If they'd stayed together for a couple of hours and only scored 50 we'd still be in the mire. Whereas now we have a chance of getting a good first innings total. Being proactive and scoring runs puts the opposition back under pressure.

[Villan For Life]

Root did not need to play that one! Out for 98.

Still a marvellous innings. Got us out of trouble.

[Bully2345]

Moeen was rumoured to be moving down to 8 anyway so I don't think he was breaking any rules by netting or that it's a sign that the whole team is a shambles

[tomd2103]

I'm getting very worried about Bell now, it sounds like he was beaten by an absolute doozy today so as a standalone wicket I'm not concerned but he's getting out for very little too often, and it almost always happens after a bit of collapse which is the point where you want a guy who's one of our most experienced batsmen to stand up.

Wonder if he's got a cup final ticket and is hoping to be dropped for the Headingley Test?

Time for a look at Taylor instead of Bell?

Bell's natural successor is at Warwickshire, though currently has a dislocated shoulder. 

Very good recovery today from a pretty dire situation.  I hope the new regime make it clear that players will not be selected on reputation and past achievements like they have been previously. 

[Villan For Life]

I'm getting very worried about Bell now, it sounds like he was beaten by an absolute doozy today so as a standalone wicket I'm not concerned but he's getting out for very little too often, and it almost always happens after a bit of collapse which is the point where you want a guy who's one of our most experienced batsmen to stand up.

Wonder if he's got a cup final ticket and is hoping to be dropped for the Headingley Test?

Time for a look at Taylor instead of Bell?

Bell's natural successor is at Warwickshire, though currently has a dislocated shoulder. 

I don't think Sam Hain qualifies for England until 2016. As good as he looks I reckon he needs a couple of seasons in county cricket under his belt before he gets an England call.

[paul_e]

I'm getting very worried about Bell now, it sounds like he was beaten by an absolute doozy today so as a standalone wicket I'm not concerned but he's getting out for very little too often, and it almost always happens after a bit of collapse which is the point where you want a guy who's one of our most experienced batsmen to stand up.

Wonder if he's got a cup final ticket and is hoping to be dropped for the Headingley Test?

Time for a look at Taylor instead of Bell?

Bell's natural successor is at Warwickshire, though currently has a dislocated shoulder. 

I don't think Sam Hain qualifies for England until 2016. As good as he looks I reckon he needs a couple of seasons in county cricket under his belt before he gets an England call.

That's the good thing with him, he automatically gets the 3 years of uninterrupted (by international call ups) county game time that young players need.  We've damaged the careers of some good young players (Finn, Bairstow, Stokes to an extent) by calling them up far too soon when their game isn't ready for international cricket.  If he has another 2 seasons like last year he'd have to be looked at for the winter 2016 tour even if only as a drinks carrier to get used to the squad.

[paul_e]

On the current match, great knocks from Root and Stokes and Buttler and Moeen are also looking in good form, you wouldn't put 400 beyond us, which will be a huge turnaround after that start.


Don't want to create a new post but they've been having an interesting discussion about where Moeen and Stokes fit, I wonder if the solution might be, if Bell doesn't improve, to push Moeen up to 4 and bring in a specialist spinner at 8 (such as Rashid).

[Villan For Life]

I've just turned TMS off and put Sky on. Both mediums have been having a similar discussion.

It does give us added depth but we really do need the top order to start scoring to give us the platform that we need.

[paul_e]

damn shame to see Buttler go with the last ball but it's still a good day at the end.  We need the bowlers to offer a bit of support for Moeen before lunch and try to push up towards 400-450.  The good thing is we'll have got to a solid competitive target much faster than usual so we're not eating into our time to take wickets ourselves too much.

The top order needs to, as a unit, have a good look at itself, we can't have so many of the top order in single figures so often, it means the brilliance in the middle order is saving an innings rather than winning a game. I'll give Bell a pass for this innings, the ball that got him was a beauty, but he really needs to stop getting low scores when we're already losing wickets, it's become a really bad habit.  Cook was back to his scratchy uncomfortable self that we saw before the West Indies and holed out with a very poor shot, I really think opening and being captain is too much for him, I just wish someone would take the captaincy away so we can stand a chance of seeing England's all-time top run scorer change, a dismal ashes could see him out completely.

[Villan For Life]

I think we'll struggle to get anywhere near 400 now. That said, at 30-4 you'd settle for anything 350+