The Cricket Thread 2016

[Dave Cooper please]

Yes but Root isn't an opener, he's the fast run scorer you need at 4 or 5 to put impetus into an innings, and he's bloody good at it. How many 50's so far in a short career?
Openers to see off the new ball and maybe anchor the innings with a daddy 100 (so Ali no good there), your number 3 to be able to hang in there if one of your openers is dismissed early (so Bell, for all his great career so far is now out). 4, 5 & 6 to move the score on to allow the wicket keeper and bowlers to wag a bit and set an intimidating score.
Simple this cricket stuff!

[spangley1812]

Drop Buttler and give Bairstow the gloves and move him down the order

Bring in Hales to open and move Moeen to 5/6/7/8

Drop Belly and say thanks for the memories and bring in Taylor to bat @ 3

[Dave Cooper please]

Drop Buttler and give Bairstow the gloves and move him down the order

Bring in Hales to open and move Moeen to 5/6/7/8

Drop Belly and say thanks for the memories and bring in Taylor to bat @ 3

Pretty much sums it up for me, only other question for SA is do we keep Rashid in or have Ali as the only spinner and bring in another seamer. Harsh in a way on Rashid if we do but SA pitches tend to be more seamer friendly and more like those in England.

[dcdavecollett]

If you choose to drop Bell, then to be consistent you have to drop everyone except Cook and Root, as Bell is currently third in the averages for this tour!

[Dave Cooper please]

He may be, but it's only been two games and his scratchy 60 in the first test did nothing to inspire me that he's our no.3 for South Africa.
Okay so Bairstow and Stokes have also failed so far in this series but both of them have time on their side and are worth persevering with, especially Stokes who I reckon is going to be a very good all-rounder.

[PaulWinch again]

He may be, but it's only been two games and his scratchy 60 in the first test did nothing to inspire me that he's our no.3 for South Africa.
Okay so Bairstow and Stokes have also failed so far in this series but both of them have time on their side and are worth persevering with, especially Stokes who I reckon is going to be a very good all-rounder.

I agree. I'm not entirely convinced on Bairstow, but he has to be given time and a chance. I think Taylor in for Bell makes sense, over the last year or 18 months his form has been really poor. He's always been a class player, but his mentality has always been a bit of a problem. It's probably time to move on.

[paul_e]

Cook's still the only batsman I have faith in.  If he's there at the crease we can score big, if he gets out I don't trust any of the other batters to take us onto big totals.  Including Root, talented though he is.  He just lacks a bit of the aura of obdurateness that Cook has that when he's in and set you know he's in for the long haul.

Root is officially the number 1 batsman in the world, what more do you want him to do?

[PaulWinch again]

Root is an incredible bat. His only slight issue sometimes is converting those 70s, 80s and 90s into centuries. But it's a pretty good problem to have and it's not like he never gets centuries.

[aj2k77]

If the series was played in England I think we'd beat them 3-0. The seamers are producing some decent spells and keeping them under control but as soon as the spinners come in to the equation they get milked for 4/5 an over and aren't threating them at all. It's what we all expected though, we don't have quality spinners.

[Villan For Life]

Bell played with more fluency in the 2nd innings of the last test than he has for several tests so I think they will stick with him for the time being. Taylor isn't a natural number 3 and you wouldn't move Root up the order, so IMHO Taylor misses out again.

The opening partner for Cook is more of an issue, particularly when you consider that we have to face Steyn and Morkel on fast South African pitches in a few weeks time. Ali is not a natural opener and you can guarantee they will exploit that, getting him cheaply in all tests. I'd give Hales a go at the top of the order, allowing Bairstow to keep wicket instead of Buttler and Ali coming in at 7.

I'd also consider playing 3 spinners, bringing in Patel who isn't a bad batsman instead of either Broad or Stokes.

[DaveD]

I'd give Hales a go at the top of the order, allowing Bairstow to keep wicket instead of Buttler and Ali coming in at 7.

I said exactly the same to my brother yesterday...

[adrenachrome]

Sounds like Moeen will stay as opener for now.

Further up the order, Moeen has not been flush with runs either, making 48 runs in four innings during the series, but it appears unlikely that Alex Hales will be brought in at this stage and will instead have to wait for South Africa in late December where England's opening merry-go-round is set to continue.

"You have to give some of these things a try and make a decision down the line about whether it has been a success or not," Bayliss said. "My philosophy has always been I would like to give somebody one too many goes rather than one too few then you find out one way or another."

[olaftab]

If the series was played in England I think we'd beat them 3-0. The seamers are producing some decent spells and keeping them under control but as soon as the spinners come in to the equation they get milked for 4/5 an over and aren't threating them at all. It's what we all expected though, we don't have quality spinners.

Possibly 3-0 if  played in early summer. Your argument would suggest it should have been 4 seamer out there as well and I am not sure if that would have worked in taking wickets may be helped in slowing down the run rate? Fact is that they have better bowlers for the conditions.

[aj2k77]

4 seamers wouldn't have made any difference to the match results no, we just don't have the attack to beat Pakistan over there. I have no idea what the depth like is of English spinners but surely these two aren't the best we have at the moment are they?

[olaftab]

I agree that Rashid and Ali are OK and possibly the best but not world class. This has been the rule in England for the last, I don't raelly know how many,  30 years? There was the ray of sunshine  when Swann came along but mostly nothing to shout about.