The International Cricket Thread

[taylorsworkrate]

Excellent piece on cricinfo: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27571263/england-not-good-think-are

Can't disagree with anything said in that article.

Players have been getting away with shit performances due to reputation for way too long.

[paul_e]

For me there needs to be a new broom action once Bayliss is replaced. Of the current side I leave out Denly, Roy and Bairstow. I also wouldn't recall Moeen or Jimmy.

Burns, Sibley and Crawley as openers.
Root, Pope, Foakes, Stokes, Buttler as the middle order.
Leach and Crane as spinners.
Broad, Woakes, Archer, Stone and Curran as the quicks.

That's a 14 man squad with plenty of younger players and a handful of experienced players to bring them along. It's harsh on Jimmy, who has been a fantastic servant but he's the past now. I've tried to avoid adding anyone who hasn't either been around the squad or heavily mentioned as an option with Crane being my wildcard because I really like legspin as a game changer.

[Risso]

For me there needs to be a new broom action once Bayliss is replaced. Of the current side I leave out Denly, Roy and Bairstow. I also would recall Moeen or Jimmy.

Burns, Sibley and Crawley as openers.
Root, Pope, Foakes, Stokes, Buttler as the middle order.
Leach and Crane as spinners.
Broad, Woakes, Archer, Stone and Curran as the quicks.

That's a 14 man squad with plenty of younger players and a handful of experienced players to bring them along. It's harsh on Jimmy, who has been a fantastic servant but he's the past now. I've tried to avoid adding anyone who hasn't either been around the squad or heavily mentioned as an option with Crane being my wildcard because I really like legspin as a game changer.

Did you mean you WOULDN'T recall Moeen or Anderson, as you said you would, then omitted both from your squad!

[paul_e]

For me there needs to be a new broom action once Bayliss is replaced. Of the current side I leave out Denly, Roy and Bairstow. I also would recall Moeen or Jimmy.

Burns, Sibley and Crawley as openers.
Root, Pope, Foakes, Stokes, Buttler as the middle order.
Leach and Crane as spinners.
Broad, Woakes, Archer, Stone and Curran as the quicks.

That's a 14 man squad with plenty of younger players and a handful of experienced players to bring them along. It's harsh on Jimmy, who has been a fantastic servant but he's the past now. I've tried to avoid adding anyone who hasn't either been around the squad or heavily mentioned as an option with Crane being my wildcard because I really like legspin as a game changer.

Did you mean you WOULDN'T recall Moeen or Anderson, as you said you would, then omitted both from your squad!

Ah feck sake, correct, wouldn't. I need to pay more attention rather than typing whilst also reading e-mails, stupid work getting in the way.

[hilts_coolerking]

For me there needs to be a new broom action once Bayliss is replaced. Of the current side I leave out Denly, Roy and Bairstow. I also would recall Moeen or Jimmy.

Burns, Sibley and Crawley as openers.
Root, Pope, Foakes, Stokes, Buttler as the middle order.
Leach and Crane as spinners.
Broad, Woakes, Archer, Stone and Curran as the quicks.

That's a 14 man squad with plenty of younger players and a handful of experienced players to bring them along. It's harsh on Jimmy, who has been a fantastic servant but he's the past now. I've tried to avoid adding anyone who hasn't either been around the squad or heavily mentioned as an option with Crane being my wildcard because I really like legspin as a game changer.

Interesting.  Who bats at 3?

[paul_e]

For me there needs to be a new broom action once Bayliss is replaced. Of the current side I leave out Denly, Roy and Bairstow. I also would recall Moeen or Jimmy.

Burns, Sibley and Crawley as openers.
Root, Pope, Foakes, Stokes, Buttler as the middle order.
Leach and Crane as spinners.
Broad, Woakes, Archer, Stone and Curran as the quicks.

That's a 14 man squad with plenty of younger players and a handful of experienced players to bring them along. It's harsh on Jimmy, who has been a fantastic servant but he's the past now. I've tried to avoid adding anyone who hasn't either been around the squad or heavily mentioned as an option with Crane being my wildcard because I really like legspin as a game changer.

Interesting.  Who bats at 3?

Crawley, Pope or Root but preferably one of the first 2 so Root can go back to 4.

[hilts_coolerking]

Pope's middle order.  Crawley's an opener.  We're going to end up with a square peg in a round hole again.

ETA  Those are the right players but we do need someone with lots of first class experience at 3.  I'd be tempted to have another look at Gary Ballance.  He's still only 29.  5 tons this season, nearly 1000 runs.  Higher Test average than anyone currently in the Test team except Root.

[PaulWinch again]

Bairstow, Roy and Buttler (despite getting some runs in this Test match) must be dropped. Root needs to give up captaincy  for two reasons. He's an atrociously reactive captain and not very good at that and the impact on his batting has been terrible.
However there are two very poor Test teams and one is winning because of one man.

I do think you have a blind spot for the Aussie bowlers, they’re exceptional particularly Cummins and Hazlewood.

[paul_e]

Ideally I'd take 15-16 on tour so there would be room for another middle order batsman and possibly an extra spinner (if Crane isn't fit enough or in form, given he's not played a massive amount of cricket in the last couple of years).

I'm not sure who those players would be though.

[paul_e]

Pope's middle order.  Crawley's an opener.  We're going to end up with a square peg in a round hole again.

ETA  Those are the right players but we do need someone with lots of first class experience at 3.  I'd be tempted to have another look at Gary Ballance.  He's still only 29.  5 tons this season, nearly 1000 runs.  Higher Test average than anyone currently in the Test team except Root.

I'm not sure there is anyone, that's the why Root got moved up.

[PaulWinch again]

I’ve always thought Northeast is a good player, I know he’s a bit older but I’d have him in the squad.

[Risso]

Pope's middle order.  Crawley's an opener.  We're going to end up with a square peg in a round hole again.

ETA  Those are the right players but we do need someone with lots of first class experience at 3.  I'd be tempted to have another look at Gary Ballance.  He's still only 29.  5 tons this season, nearly 1000 runs.  Higher Test average than anyone currently in the Test team except Root.

I'm not sure there is anyone, that's the why Root got moved up.

Exactly.  Ballance has got some experience but then his last 10 test scores were:

8, 17, 1, 9, 9, 5, 20, 34, 27, 4

For an average of 13.

In his last 13 tests, he only got two scores over 50.  Could be worth another go as his early form for England was great, but not the best of squads to be coming back into.

[PaulWinch again]

Ballance’s problem is he was found out at Test level and steadfastly refused to address his weaknesses. To my knowledge same flaws exist in his game.

[PaulWinch again]

Farbrace doing his usual high level of punditry:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49631592

So Root should be captain because he’s the best player and his decline in batting is just the way it is for captains.

Well Paul perhaps you would consider what Root’s value is to the side. Do we get more from him averaging 50+ or from being captain? Think I know the answer.

[hilts_coolerking]

Exactly.  Ballance has got some experience but then his last 10 test scores were:

8, 17, 1, 9, 9, 5, 20, 34, 27, 4

For an average of 13.

In his last 13 tests, he only got two scores over 50.  Could be worth another go as his early form for England was great, but not the best of squads to be coming back into.

Point taken but that was 2 years ago.  I think in the absence of virtually anyone else, he's got to be worth a look at 3.