The Cricket Thread 2016

[villan from luton]

Anderson was very disappointing here as well.

Is he living a bit on reputation?

[cdbearsfan]

That was a fucking disgrace.

[PGW]

I'm very disappointed with this result, just hope that there is something within the coaches and the players that can turn this round.

I'm going to the first 4 days at Edgbaston....will it last that long.

[cdbearsfan]

It better. I have tickets for day four!

[PGW]

England really need to get Bairstow in, why not replace Josh Buttler....he ain't exactly pulling any trees up is he.

[Lastfootstamper]

It better. I have tickets for day four!

And me. Fingers crossed for a repeat of the first Test!

[PaulWinch again]

England really need to get Bairstow in, why not replace Josh Buttler....he ain't exactly pulling any trees up is he.

Buttler isn't pulling up trees, but he's young and talented and has performed in recent times. I think if you were to drop one player it would be Bell.

[aj2k77]

Absolutely shit. Lyth looks terrible.

[Chris Jameson]

Just had a look through some older posts and I'm bloody glad none of you lot are selectors! Root, Ballance, Broad, Cook, Anderson and Bairstow are amongst those who either haven't been up to the job and need dropping or simply aren't good enough for Test cricket!

[PGW]

England really need to get Bairstow in, why not replace Josh Buttler....he ain't exactly pulling any trees up is he.

Buttler isn't pulling up trees, but he's young and talented and has performed in recent times. I think if you were to drop one player it would be Bell.

Bell is the one experienced player among the batters, Cook aside, i know he is struggling currently but i can't see him being dropped before his 'home' test.
If Lyth is retained then leave out Ballance possibly bring Root up to 3 and bring in Bairstow at 5

[paul_e]

Just had a look through some older posts and I'm bloody glad none of you lot are selectors! Root, Ballance, Broad, Cook, Anderson and Bairstow are amongst those who either haven't been up to the job and need dropping or simply aren't good enough for Test cricket!

I still hold that all too often Broad and Anderson don't work as a pair.  I like both of them but we'll always have games where we look toothless because bad conditions for one are bad for the other as well.  Bairstow I like but I think England went a long way towards ruining him by making him carry drinks for 18months without letting him hold a bat.  I don't think I've slated the other 2 but I may have criticised Root a few years back when he had a run of games where his strike rate was 35-40% which for me puts undue pressure on the guy at the other end.

I'll hold my hand up and say I'm far from convinced by Lyth so far, some batsmen take to international cricket and some don't and I think he may be in the latter group, I have no idea how we replace him though.

[spangley1812]

Wood needs to be rested

[PGW]

Wood needs to be rested

Who for, i don't disagree he hasn't had a long first class career 30+ matches so test after test will take its toll. So who do you replace him with
Plunkett/ Woakes, only CW's 2nd game back after injury, Footitt maybe after all they took him to Spain didn't they...took a fifer today i believe.

[PaulWinch again]

Thing is inevitable to post about people being dropped etc during a game as it's emotive, no different from a Vills match thread. However there are two major concerns that are clear. Firstly why our bowlers were so ineffective when the Aussies ripped through us. Secondly the top order is not working, it is consistently getting us into trouble. Of that top order Bell and Ballance have been out of form for a while. One of them needs to be replaced.

[OzVilla]

We'll keep Bairstow at Yorkshire thanks, another century for him today.

Yorkshire look like the type of side that have an excellent team with solid County players who arn't quite good enough at Test level. Lyth, Ballance and Bairstow all fall into this category. A bit like a Worcs were in the late 80's early 90's with Curtis, Radford, Illingworth and Hick.