The International Cricket Thread 2018

[Steve67]

A damning statistic quoted on TMS just now. We average more in white ball cricket than test cricket in the last year. We average 287 in tests and 301 in 50 over cricket. Utter shite test batting.

I didn't know that but you can hardly say that it's surprising.

That's an interesting stat. I also wonder what the actual average playing time is these days for 5 day tests, given very few of them involving England seem to last the full five days.  This one won't either.

[UK Redsox]

Looks like a nasty finger injury for Bairstow

[PaulWinch again]

Since yesterday lunchtime this has been one of the poorest England displays I can remember, which is saying something after the Ashes. Dreadful with the bat, poor with the ball and zero intensity in the field. Our catching is woeful.

We’ll be set around 500 and then get knocked over for about 150.

[Drummond]

If we start losing, the mentality seems to be to give in and focus on the next match; as if it is all throw-away and doesn't matter.

[Risso]

It's just the utter lack of consistency that gets me.  A great performance in the last test, especially from the bowlers, then everything goes monumentally tits up in the next.  OK you have to factor in the conditions, but nobody does a complete collapse quite like the England cricket team.  As Drummond says, once things start to go quickly downhill, it's almost like there's a group mentality that things don't matter.  There is of course, the small matter of the crowd who have paid to see a few days of an England team giving their all.

[PaulWinch again]

Indeed, I'm going next week and I'm thankful I'm there on the first day!

It is true that once things go against this team they often fold completely, which is why I am almost certain we'll get bulldozed in our second innings.

[Risso]

19 dropped catches in the series so far, and 14 of them have come from England.

[TheTimVilla]

Looks like a nasty finger injury for Bairstow

He's back from hospital and has his finger in a pint glass of ice. Looks very sore, that.

[tomd2103]

If we start losing, the mentality seems to be to give in and focus on the next match; as if it is all throw-away and doesn't matter.

Yep and has been for sometime.  Once India had put a decent first innings score on the board and we lost a couple of early wickets, it was if they decided that it was game over and as you say time to move on to the next one. 

[Villan For Life]

Looks like a nasty finger injury for Bairstow

He's back from hospital and has his finger in a pint glass of ice. Looks very sore, that.

In a clutching at straws theme, Bairstow’s injury means that butter fingers Buttler is no longer in the slips. For a wicket keeper he’s a poor slip fielder. He dropped one this morning and yesterday he actually ducked under a ball that was heading his way at catchable height. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen that happen before.

[Villan For Life]

If we start losing, the mentality seems to be to give in and focus on the next match; as if it is all throw-away and doesn't matter.

Yep and has been for sometime.  Once India had put a decent first innings score on the board and we lost a couple of early wickets, it was if they decided that it was game over and as you say time to move on to the next one. 

That must come from the captain and coach these the tone on and off the field.

[UK Redsox]

Looks like a nasty finger injury for Bairstow

He's back from hospital and has his finger in a pint glass of ice. Looks very sore, that.

Confirmed as a fracture

[tomd2103]

If we start losing, the mentality seems to be to give in and focus on the next match; as if it is all throw-away and doesn't matter.

Yep and has been for sometime.  Once India had put a decent first innings score on the board and we lost a couple of early wickets, it was if they decided that it was game over and as you say time to move on to the next one. 

That must come from the captain and coach these the tone on and off the field.

Agree and the test team has undoubtedly regressed under Bayliss.  You do have to wonder about the influence of the three most senior players as well (Cook, Broad and Anderson), especially as the ODI side has looked a really cohesive unit without any of those three in it. 

[taylorsworkrate]

There's been so much muddled thinking in selection this summer also. Bringing in Buttler as a specialist batsman at 7 seemed very much like an Ed Smith "Look at me" moment. Give the gloves to Buttler and take the pressure of keeping away from Bairstow who is one of the better players.

Ollie Pope has been excellent for Surrey and looks a top prospect. However, he has been batting at 6 and therefore has the mindset of a 6. For England to bring him straight in as a no 4 is poor thinking. Give him time to bed in at 6 or 5 rather than putting him into a position that most teams have their best batsman playing at.

Cook and Jennings just don't look like succeeding at the moment. Jennings just seems short of quality at this level and Cook seems to have been worked out. His record if you take away the two double centuries over the last couple of years is shockingly poor.

The batting for me has now got to the stage where the question should be: Do we stick with a unit that is consistently failing, or do we try something different, invest in some young players and give that a chance?

[TheTimVilla]

Looks like a nasty finger injury for Bairstow

He's back from hospital and has his finger in a pint glass of ice. Looks very sore, that.

In a clutching at straws theme, Bairstow’s injury means that butter fingers Buttler is no longer in the slips. For a wicket keeper he’s a poor slip fielder. He dropped one this morning and yesterday he actually ducked under a ball that was heading his way at catchable height. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen that happen before.

Another straw - Curran comes back in if Jimmy isn't ready for the next Test.