The Cricket Thread 2016

[Villan For Life]

Reports in the Guardian today that Bayliss has sounded Bell out going on the winter tours to Bangladesh and India.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/22/ian-bell-under-consideration-england-test-recall-bangladesh-india-trevor-bayliss

I can see where he's coming from, the batting line up is very inexperienced apart from Cook and Root and Bell's record in Asia is pretty good. However I do question whether he has the hunger to play test cricket again. He's not had the best season in red ball cricket and he needed to score big runs to keep himself in the selector's mind. He hasn't done that. I also think that his selection would go against Bayliss's usual method of going for the young and hungry. Bell is neither young or hungry.

I think there's a chance that Haseem Hameed the Lancashire opener could be fast tracked. I think that if he has the temperament and technique then throw him in. They did the same with Cook and Root and it worked. Others may have failed the test so a tour of Bangladesh might just be the ideal introduction to test cricket for a 19 year old.

[cdbearsfan]

I like Bell but picking him again would be a backwards step, particularly when he hasn't been overly amazing for the Bears.

Bangladesh is a piss easy tour and a chance for a young batsman to score loads of runs and boost his confidence... exactly like Bell himself did when he was just starting out.

I haven't followed domestic cricket closely enough to know who the best candidate would be though.

[UK Redsox]

England should take one (or more) of Bell-Drummond, Malan and Duckett

[paul_e]

Going purely on averages - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/county-championship-division-one/averages - Nick Gubbins and Haseeb Hameed (as mentioned above) should be right at the front of the queue.  From div 2 I suspect Daniel Bell-Drummond is being looked at, his name has been mentioned a few times and Ben Duckett is clearly in the mix.  I'd pick 2-3 of those and take them on the tour, even if they don't play they should be looked alongside the main squad.

[PaulWinch again]

I'm at work, but for anyone with Sky TV England vs Pakistan is on Sky Sports Mix today (407). It's free for all Sky TV customers.

[paul_e]

England: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood

I'm not sure how Willey has missed out there, he'd be one of the first names down for me, probably ahead of Plunkett.  I'd have been tempted to try to find a spot for Bairstow as well but I'm not sure how you fit him in.

[PaulWinch again]

Willey was injured and is making his way back I think, he'll be actively with the squad from tomorrow.

[UK Redsox]

Drinks break taken after 17.1 overs. That's a bit bizarre.

[paul_e]

Willey was injured and is making his way back I think, he'll be actively with the squad from tomorrow.

Ah ok, that makes sense then, for me he's the form white ball player in the country so I want him to play as much as possible.

[Monty]

England: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood

I'm not sure how Willey has missed out there, he'd be one of the first names down for me, probably ahead of Plunkett.  I'd have been tempted to try to find a spot for Bairstow as well but I'm not sure how you fit him in.

I wonderr if Morgan himself might be the problem here? I rate him as a captain, actually, but to end up in a situation where we can't fit in Johnny Bairstow is on the bizarre side.

[paul_e]

England: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood

I'm not sure how Willey has missed out there, he'd be one of the first names down for me, probably ahead of Plunkett.  I'd have been tempted to try to find a spot for Bairstow as well but I'm not sure how you fit him in.

I wonder if Morgan himself might be the problem here? I rate him as a captain, actually, but to end up in a situation where we can't fit in Johnny Bairstow is on the bizarre side.

I agree, but he is a good captain and he does add experience in a fairly inexperienced side.  I think Stokes in as a batsman rather than a bowler/all-rounder would be my point of contention, I'm not sure his white ball batting is good enough to justify that even if it is as part of getting him fit to play a more complete role in the next game.

[Monty]

I agree with that definitely, you get Stokes in to add to both sides of the game because otherwise you're just adding half a player (or at least you run the risk of doing so). I'd rather not be playing people into fitness just to be nice to them - Bairstow should've been playing today.

[Chris Jameson]

If they're not going to play Bairstow I hope they'll release him for he one day semi final at the weekend, it's no wonder they get poor crowds when the all singing and dancing 50 over competition sees the semi finals clashing with an International one day series.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Wicket at a decent time for England.

[AVH87]

Going purely on averages - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/county-championship-division-one/averages - Nick Gubbins and Haseeb Hameed (as mentioned above) should be right at the front of the queue.  From div 2 I suspect Daniel Bell-Drummond is being looked at, his name has been mentioned a few times and Ben Duckett is clearly in the mix.  I'd pick 2-3 of those and take them on the tour, even if they don't play they should be looked alongside the main squad.

I'd like to see DBD as the opener taken on the tour rather than Hameed. I know his runs are in Division 2, but to me it seems too early to take a 19-year-old based on 1 good season.