The International Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Root gone straightaway.

[PaulWinch again]

Our new young batsmen are not pulling up many trees at the moment. Good luck James.

[PaulWinch again]

Oh dear. Really weak.

[PaulWinch again]

It’s good bowling, but it’s a dreadful batting effort.

[Villan For Life]

Our batting line up even with the addition of Stokes and Buttler is a worry. For too long if Root doesn’t get runs then the rest of them fail miserably. I can’t see a way out of it either.

[PaulWinch again]

Pope frustrates me. He’s clearly really talented but it’s not really clicking. He’s scored one good hundred and got a couple of other scores, but he’s had a fair bit of opportunity now and he needs to start delivering more.

[Steve67]

Pope frustrates me. He’s clearly really talented but it’s not really clicking. He’s scored one good hundred and got a couple of other scores, but he’s had a fair bit of opportunity now and he needs to start delivering more.

Same for Sibley and Crawley too.  They are really going to have to mentally toughen up for Australia later in the year.  We really do have too many holes in the batting line up at the moment.  We need Archer and Stone in for Broad and Jimmy, they can't go on forever.

[PaulWinch again]

Yep Sibley is very much feast or famine and the balance is far too skewed to the latter. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Hameed back soon.

Crawley needs to stop being so loose at the start of his innings. He’s a really talented stroke maker, but he’s not giving himself a chance.

[Rory]

I want Sibley to do well, Warwickshire man and so on. But he is looking extremely limited right now. I'm all for picking based on performance in the County game, but if you can only score on the on-side, you're going to come unstuck against Test bowlers who rarely give you that ball on leg stump.

[dcdavecollett]

Crawley and Pope are highly talented batsmen who currently lack something called nous.

Try building an innings; that might work.

[UK Redsox]

Crawley and Pope are highly talented batsmen who currently lack something called nous.

Try building an innings; that might work.

Crawley's 267 proved that he can do this.

I know that Pope does have a Test hundred, but I'm still not convinced.

[olaftab]

Crawley and Pope are highly talented batsmen who currently lack something called nous.

Try building an innings; that might work.

Crawley's 267 proved that he can do this.

I know that Pope does have a Test hundred, but I'm still not convinced.

Ah opinions. I think Pope is a much better long term prospect than Crawley however there is very little choice at 1,2,and 3  at the moment so England have to persevere with Crawley. On the other hand I think (our Dom) Sibley is on last chance saloon. So far 32 test matches for 877 runs at an average of 29 is simply not the best.

[Rory]

Brilliant declaration by NZ. An attacking move that gives us a sniff and should set up a cracking couple of sessions.

It's said so often that it's become a cliche, but NZ really do play their cricket in the right way.

[LeeB]

Brilliant declaration by NZ. An attacking move that gives us a sniff and should set up a cracking couple of sessions.

It's said so often that it's become a cliche, but NZ really do play their cricket in the right way.

They really are a great bunch of lads, it was pointed out on the Guardian website how their acceptance of the World Cup Final result meant it could be enjoyed properly.

[Rory]

Brilliant declaration by NZ. An attacking move that gives us a sniff and should set up a cracking couple of sessions.

It's said so often that it's become a cliche, but NZ really do play their cricket in the right way.

They really are a great bunch of lads, it was pointed out on the Guardian website how their acceptance of the World Cup Final result meant it could be enjoyed properly.

Definitely. I said before that final and still feel that if scores are level after 50 overs, the side who took most wickets should win. Just my view.

But you're absolutely right, there was no bitching or moaning, they were true gentlemen.

In a way, it's a shame it had to be against NZ - winning in that way against Australia would've been much sweeter.