The Cricket Thread 2016

[paul_e]

I like Hales, but he's got to be careful with the spinner. He's played some pretty loose shots to get out to Herath several times.

I agree, he can be a bit inexperienced (and rash) at times but he has the ability, I find it strange that people are so willing to question that, seemingly because he's good in T20 and ODI

[Villan For Life]

Compton will be praying that he gets the opportunity to bat in the second innings. Somehow I doubt that we will need significant runs in the third innings so his chance has now gone.

He seems to have been beaten by his own mental preparation and the pressure that he appears to put himself under.

[Villan For Life]

Did anyone hear McCullum delivering the Cowdrey Spirit of Cricket Lecture on Monday? They replayed it today on TMS during the lunch interval.

He spoke very openly about his own battles with the spirit of the game before moving on to talk about the death of Phil Hughes and also his role in the Cairns match fixing trial. Pretty impressive stuff and he was less than complimentary about the ICC and their treatment of Lou Vincent.

Worth finding it on the BBC I-Player or on You Tube.

[Chris Jameson]

Maybe time to swap Vince and Bairstow?

No, remember when they kept moving Root up and down the order, that didn't go well. Leave Bairstow exactly where he is, he's in the form of his life batting at five or six for Yorkshire and England, why bother moving him?

[paul_e]

Maybe time to swap Vince and Bairstow?

No, remember when they kept moving Root up and down the order, that didn't go well. Leave Bairstow exactly where he is, he's in the form of his life batting at five or six for Yorkshire and England, why bother moving him?

but the suggestion is to move him from 6/7 up to 5 so it's not moving him out the positions you've suggested.  I'd support it, Vince to 3, Bairstow to 5 and either Buttler or Borthwick in at 6/7

[Chris Jameson]

Must admit I confused Vince with Compyon as I'm so used to seeing peter having a go at Compton, he wasn't a fan of Bairstow either if I remember correctly! Anyway, leave him where he is for now, why not move Ali back up the order?

[paul_e]

Must admit I confused Vince with Compyon as I'm so used to seeing peter having a go at Compton, he wasn't a fan of Bairstow either if I remember correctly! Anyway, leave him where he is for now, why not move Ali back up the order?

That is another option, depends if we feel we need another dedicated bowler though.  With Stokes, Ali and Woakes already in as genuine all-rounders and Borthwick the sensible addition who is yet another we could quite easily end up with Broad batting at 10 as part of a 6 man bowling attack when he has atest century (and 10 50s) to his name.

[paul_e]

Bairstow has had a bit of luck today but this is a hell of a knock and Ali/Woakes have done a really good job to build partnerships with him and push us towards a decent score here, given their form with the bat I think 300 is competitive and I'd back us to get there now.

[PaulWinch again]

Bairstow is superb at the moment.

[Chris Jameson]

Bairstow is superb at the moment.

He was superb all last season too.

[Villan For Life]

Bairstow is superb at the moment.

He was superb all last season too.

His keeping has improved but still needs work. He is a better keeper than he was but he's still a work in progress.

That said he's worth his place in the side as a batsman alone and it's a while since we've been in that position. The last keeper/batsman who would have got in the side based upon his batting alone was probably Alec Stewart.

[Villan For Life]

As an update, since the 1at January 2016, Bairstow averages 97.00

Awesome

[Chris Jameson]

An average of 88.83 in the Championship last year isn't too shabby either.

[peter w]

He's definitely had a year to remember but I'm still in the out jury in terms of him long-term as I think he is just having a golden period. I don't think he has the technique to get himself out of the inevitable difficult patch that he will face at some point. If he's still playing for England in 3 years he'll be probably breaking records, but I also doubt that it'd be as wicket-keeper. Given the frailty around our batting I'd be tempted to bring Buttler in, yes I know he has had his problems and go with something like:

Cook
Hales
Vince
Root
Bairstow
Buttler
Stokes
Ali

with 3 bowlers to follow. If Stokes is out Woakes comes in after Ali. I like Vince. I just think he needs to settle down a bit and try and work hard for some runs and then play his attacking game. Hales will get the Pakistan series and we'll see from there. his dismissal yesterday was ugly but is what we'll get from Hales every now and then. If he comes off, and again I doubt it, then that batting line-up could have the potential to match the Aussies of the late 80s and early 90s and the West Indies of a decade or so before that. Powerful and destructive.

[PaulWinch again]

Borthwick is a better option than Buttler at the moment, especially given our tours in the winter.