The Cricket Thread 2016

[Brend'Watkins]

Maybe not.

[PaulWinch again]

Brilliant innings from Jennings, but two wickets in the space of an over might have changed the game here.

[paul_e]

With the amount of spin here i think 300-350 is a good score and we should be in that region.  I suspect buttler and stokes might open up a little with the new ball and try to push things along.

[paul_e]

Moving forward this innings from Jennings is really interesting.  If he backs this up with good performances in the next innings and the last test then we've got 3 openers who all deserve to start.

I think for next summer we probably won't pick Rashid so I'd be tempted to push root to 4 (where he's at his best), put Moeen back down to 7 and Buttler to 8 (or vice versa).  Then Jennings can move down to 3.

[Brend'Watkins]

370 - 400 should be doable tomorrow with just 5 down.  Important the spinners do their job tomorrow now.

[paul_e]

370 - 400 should be doable tomorrow with just 5 down.  Important the spinners do their job tomorrow now.

I actually think that the variable bounce that we've seen might work well for Stokes, Woakes and Ball as well so I suspect they could play a big part but there might not be much in it for Anderson.

[PaulWinch again]

I think the benefit of this tour is the emergence of Hameed and Jennings. They're going to have to play now.

[olaftab]

Congratulation to young Mr Jennings however he really should be playing for South Africa. But now that he is playing for England I can see Jennings/Hameed opening pair for many years to come.

[PaulWinch again]

I don't have a problem when a player has an English parent. It's if it's purely residency that it's a bit of an issue, mainly because the qualifying period is too short.

[OzVilla]

I don't have a problem when a player has an English parent. It's if it's purely residency that it's a bit of an issue, mainly because the qualifying period is too short.

If the residency started as a child I'm fine with it but not as an adult. Renshaw and Kawaja for instance were born in England and Pakistan with no Aussie heritage but came as kids.

Wagner and Tahir for NZ and SA on the other hand......

[Ads]

Really important knock from Butler and great stuff from Ball.

[Villan For Life]

After a seemingly long period of batting collapses we seem to have stumbled upon a couple of good young players with solid techniques. Now if they can avoid catching the batting-malaise diesese that's infected their new colleagues then we should prosper.

As has been mentioned, assuming Cook continues and I'm beginning to question if he's lost the hunger for international cricket, a line up of Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, Ali, Woakes, Broad & Anderson looks strong.

I think they may well look to develop Rashid as a test player as he offers more wth the ball. I like Ali but he's disappointed on this tour. He doesn't deserve to be dropped but Rashid is improving as a bowler.

In this series I think Buttler deserves huge credit. He's played two innings of patience and maturity which is excellent from a player who had not played red ball cricket for so long.

[UK Redsox]

My Dear Old Thing has just said that the sightscreen is "sexy".

[adrenachrome]

My Dear Old Thing has just said that the sightscreen is "sexy".

Not surprising when you remember that cranes and buses give him a boner.

[PaulWinch again]

We're going to have to come back strong in the morning. All it takes is a couple of wickets.