The Cricket Thread 2016

[Lsvilla]

Great comeback by England after NZ went off like a train. The spirit amongst that group of players seems to be very strong and they seem to delight in each others success.

A different game against the snarling Aussies rather than the hard but fair Kiwis obviously, but be interesting to see if Cook feels that he has lost a bit of the dressing room in the same way that Hussain did when he split the captaincy with Vaughan - especially if 'his' picks (Broad / Anderson / Ballance / Bell) don't perform to the standards being set by Root / Stokes / Buttler - and even more so as I see the first two as very strong characters who won't be shrinking violets in there.

[paul_e]

Can we ease off on the criticism of Ballance, it's about as unwarranted as it's possible to get.  He averages over 52 and got a century and 2 50s in the West Indies, 3 tests is a bit soon to be talking about replacing him.  If you want to replace someone from the top order Bell is the one who hasn't got runs (I'm not going to say hasn't shown form because he has, he just can't catch a break for England right now).

I do agree about Morgan though, I'm not sure he's right for test cricket I'd keep him as the ODI and T20 captain and let him work with the selectors to build a squad to challenge at world cups and then leave the test side to Root who i think is the clear choice for captain, Cook the batsman has a lot to offer, Cook the captain is a dead duck and has been for 18months, he never should've survived the last ashes.

[Villan For Life]

Great comeback by England after NZ went off like a train. The spirit amongst that group of players seems to be very strong and they seem to delight in each others success.

A different game against the snarling Aussies rather than the hard but fair Kiwis obviously, but be interesting to see if Cook feels that he has lost a bit of the dressing room in the same way that Hussain did when he split the captaincy with Vaughan - especially if 'his' picks (Broad / Anderson / Ballance / Bell) don't perform to the standards being set by Root / Stokes / Buttler - and even more so as I see the first two as very strong characters who won't be shrinking violets in there.

I think the main difference here is that at the moment Morgan will not be in the dressing room and Cook has the respect of the test side. Hussein was a captain coming towards the end of his tenure, whereas Cook for the moment is secure in his post. I expect he will make way for Root soon though.

I watched highlights of a couple of ODI's from the Vaughan and Hussein eras last night. The one day teams and test teams were 80% the same, whereas today the reverse is true.

[Chris Jameson]

Can we ease off on the criticism of Ballance, it's about as unwarranted as it's possible to get.  He averages over 52 and got a century and 2 50s in the West Indies, 3 tests is a bit soon to be talking about replacing him.  If you want to replace someone from the top order Bell is the one who hasn't got runs (I'm not going to say hasn't shown form because he has, he just can't catch a break for England right now).

Didn't want to be accused of bias so haven't bothered to defend him, but paul says what I was thinking. Think people are too quick to want to see players dropped or replaced and are getting a bit carried away with the ODI series, if we take that into the Ashes we'll be 125/8 at lunch on the first day.

[PaulWinch again]

I like Ballance and think long term he'll be a great player, but it's important we carry form into the Ashes. Hopefully he'll hit the ground running, but he's just not looked right of late.

[Chris Jameson]

Broad had a good couple of days with the ball and bat at Headingley, I would say it's a shame about his team mates but...

[taylorsworkrate]

Can we ease off on the criticism of Ballance, it's about as unwarranted as it's possible to get.  He averages over 52 and got a century and 2 50s in the West Indies, 3 tests is a bit soon to be talking about replacing him.  If you want to replace someone from the top order Bell is the one who hasn't got runs (I'm not going to say hasn't shown form because he has, he just can't catch a break for England right now).

Didn't want to be accused of bias so haven't bothered to defend him, but paul says what I was thinking. Think people are too quick to want to see players dropped or replaced and are getting a bit carried away with the ODI series, if we take that into the Ashes we'll be 125/8 at lunch on the first day.

It's more the positive intent that people want to see in the ashes. In Australia last time, we couldn't have been more negative if we tried. That constantly led us to being 30-2 after 15 overs.

No one wants us to be reckless, but we have to put pressure onto them, rather than just meekly allowing them to do what they like. Which is what we did last time

[tomd2103]

Can we ease off on the criticism of Ballance, it's about as unwarranted as it's possible to get.  He averages over 52 and got a century and 2 50s in the West Indies, 3 tests is a bit soon to be talking about replacing him.  If you want to replace someone from the top order Bell is the one who hasn't got runs (I'm not going to say hasn't shown form because he has, he just can't catch a break for England right now).

Didn't want to be accused of bias so haven't bothered to defend him, but paul says what I was thinking. Think people are too quick to want to see players dropped or replaced

Yep and as the ODI series against the Kiwis showed, taking away the fear of being dropped after one or two failures pays dividends.  I have no doubt that Jason Roy would have been dropped in the past after his performances in the first couple of games, but he was given a chance and by the end of the series he looked to have found his feet. 

[taylorsworkrate]

Kumar Sangakkara has today announced his retirement from Test Cricket (effective in August).

A brilliant batsman who has been a joy to watch.

More importantly, he is an absolute gem of a human being. Anyone who loves cricket, should watch the 2011 Cowdrey Lecture he gave. It is breathtaking.

[PaulWinch again]

Sanga is one of the best ever.

[cdbearsfan]

Great player. I'd say he's overtaken Gilchrist as best wicket-keeper/batsman ever. I'm assuming he'll still carry on with Twenty20 cricket.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

I see Australia will play New Zealand in a day-night Test, using a pink ball.

[PaulWinch again]

I like the idea of trying to broaden the appeal of cricket, although maybe they should focus on building up developing nations rather than knocking them down. The problem with day/night Tests is that at night lots of cricket playing nations get a dew forming, which makes it impossible to bowl.

[passitsideways]

Great player. I'd say he's overtaken Gilchrist as best wicket-keeper/batsman ever. I'm assuming he'll still carry on with Twenty20 cricket.

It's a pretty fascinating debate to have, given all the different factors involved. Gilchrist has a better average as a wicket keeper (47.6 v 40.5) but Sanga's average of 68 when not keeping is utterly absurd, and makes you wonder if he might've kicked that up over time, keeping in mind how he's seemingly gotten even better as time has progressed. Then you have to account for Sanga coming in at no. 3 against the new ball vs Gilchrist coming in at no. 7, often after Langer/Hayden/Ponting/Waugh had finished dismantling the other team, which made it easier for him but also probably limited his opportunities in terms of amassing big scores as opposed to being aggressive to help the team.

[simon ward 50]

England squad to face Australia in first Test: Alastair Cook (Essex), Moeen Ali (Wors), James Anderson (Lancs), Gary Balance (York), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Notts), Jos Buttler (Lancs), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham).