The Cricket Thread 2016

[tomd2103]

Vince useless again. DROP HIM!

Think the batting line up needs to be changed going to India.  Hales, Vince and Ballance haven't contributed and I think Ballance could buy himself time with a good score in this innings, but changes are needed.

[Dave Cooper please]

We are two batsman away from a great side here, the bowlers are fine, the all-rounders in Woakes, Stokes and Bairstow are fine, Cook and Root are fine, just need to find a couple of top order batsmen or get Vince, Hales and whoever is in for when Stokes is injured to find some form.

We aren't far away.

[OzVilla]

I don't get to really see or follow County cricket too closely from here but I've really no idea what they see in Hales or Vince.

Both of them look massively out of their depth.  Good bowling will sort them out every time.

[taylorsworkrate]

2-2 at home against Pakistan isn't good in all honesty. We should be beating them comfortably in our conditions.

We've been poor in this match. Batting on the first day simply wasn't good enough. We should have got 450 minimum on that pitch. Bowling was mediocre at best and the fielding has been horrendous.

There is clearly a lot to build on with the nucleus of players we have. I'd agree that we need to find 2 batsmen. We do need to find a top quality spinner. Moeen is a decent second spinner at test level, but no more than that.

I do fear that we will be destroyed in India. They will clearly produce pitches that spin massively

[olaftab]

2-2 at home against Pakistan isn't good in all honesty. We should be beating them comfortably in our conditions.

Errr NO. They are up there amongst the top  two world ranking test sides. There is a reason for that! Their bowling attack is probably the best if not the best in the world at the moment. It's their batting fragility in the middle and tail that has allowed  England to stay in this series so please give a little credit to England. 2-2 would be very good.

[taylorsworkrate]

2-2 at home against Pakistan isn't good in all honesty. We should be beating them comfortably in our conditions.

Errr NO. They are up there amongst the top  two world ranking test sides. There is a reason for that! Their bowling attack is probably the best if not the best in the world at the moment. It's their batting fragility in the middle and tail that has allowed  England to stay in this series so please give a little credit to England. 2-2 would be very good.

I disagree. England drawing a test series at home is not good against anyone.

Pakistan are a decent side, there's no denying that. However, their recent record away from home is poor and their pitches in the UAE are doctored so much in their favour.

England have been mostly below par batting wise apart from the Old Trafford test. Our batsmen far far too often have just thrown their wickets away.

[taylorsworkrate]

Just as I say that, we throw yet another wicket away. Abysmal shot from Ballance

[passitsideways]

Has the line really been drawn under Ian Bell's Test career?

[Villan For Life]

Yet again we have a series where we haven't prepared pitches that suit our attack. Why?

I think these sides are well matched and a 2-2 draw is hardly the end of the world.

The batting is a worry, but it has been for a long while. We constantly lose wickets in clusters and if Cook & Root fail we struggle. The line up for the Bangladesh & India series will be interesting.

[taylorsworkrate]

Has the line really been drawn under Ian Bell's Test career?

He isn't scoring enough runs this summer. One of the journos said on the cricket writers show that it appears Bell is playing this summer like he doesn't really want to get his place back, that it appears he's happy with a comfortable life in county cricket.

I'm a big Bell fan, and for me he is easily within the top 6 batsmen in the country. If he scored some runs then I don't think the selectors would have any choice but to go back to him.

[Villan For Life]

Has the line really been drawn under Ian Bell's Test career?

He is averaging 37.08 off 11 innings and is 48th on the averages list.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/county-championship-division-one/averages

[taylorsworkrate]

Yet again we have a series where we haven't prepared pitches that suit our attack. Why?

The Oval in particular has regularly been an issue with that.

We have a comparatively poor record at the Oval. We really should not play there. It certainly should not be guaranteed a test match each summer

[Villan For Life]

Unfortunately they won't remove the Oval from the test rota.

[taylorsworkrate]

It is wrong that London is guaranteed 3 test matches each summer.

[Villan For Life]

It is wrong that London is guaranteed 3 test matches each summer.

Lords will always get two because touring sides want to play at the home of cricket. The Oval gets good crowds, the attendances at Edgbaston & Old Trafford were poor.