The International Cricket Thread

[manic-road]

Labuschagne looked in good nick in the last match and Smith is quality, we really need to break this partnership soon.

[taylorsworkrate]

Also nice of the Old Trafford groundsman to leave absolutely no grass on the pitch. Lovely to make your guests feel right at home.

[PaulWinch again]

This pitch needs pace, we need Archer to crank it up.

Outside of Broad they’ve been dross.

[PaulWinch again]

I don’t get the Overton selection. He’s weaker with the bat than Woakes and Curran, and offers less with the ball. The bouncy pitch rationale doesn’t hold water.

Have we selected him purely because he showed some spirit in Aus?

[PaulWinch again]

If we’re not taking wickets we need to bowl with control, which we’re not doing.

[hilts_coolerking]

I thought Leach kept it tight but Stokes and Overton were underwhelming.

I just don't understand Archer's first spell.  He'd got a brand new ball, two new batsmen at the crease and he just trundles in.  By the time he ramped it up he'd done 5 overs and was taken off.  That was a criminal waste of the new ball.  Broad, on the other hand, used it brilliantly.

[Risso]

Why Archer has only bowled 5 overs is a mystery. Why Root took him out of the attack after he started getting his pace up is baffling.

It's not that mcuh of a mystery.  Root is a crap captain.

[taylorsworkrate]

Why Archer has only bowled 5 overs is a mystery. Why Root took him out of the attack after he started getting his pace up is baffling.

It's not that mcuh of a mystery.  Root is a crap captain.

Yep. Root got very lucky that Stokes bailed him out at Headingly.

[hilts_coolerking]

It's not so much that he only bowled 5, more that those 5 were bowled so sedately.

[Rory]

Why Archer has only bowled 5 overs is a mystery. Why Root took him out of the attack after he started getting his pace up is baffling.

It's not that mcuh of a mystery.  Root is a crap captain.

I think we need to move beyond the automatic grooming of our best batsman for captaincy. I know it's not necessarily a new thing, but pretty much every one of our 21st century captains has been chosen that way, and then we wonder what went wrong.

Our most successful captain (statistically) of recent years has been Strauss and he only got the job after the KP fiasco.

[PaulWinch again]

They’re going to score 400 here.

[taylorsworkrate]

Its just unthreatening at the moment. Big toss to win for the Aussies. Strong winds aren't good for bowlers.

[PeterWithesShin]

They’re both going to score 400 here.

FTFY

[hilts_coolerking]

I think we need to move beyond the automatic grooming of our best batsman for captaincy. I know it's not necessarily a new thing, but pretty much every one of our 21st century captains has been chosen that way, and then we wonder what went wrong.

Our most successful captain (statistically) of recent years has been Strauss and he only got the job after the KP fiasco.

I agree but the centrally contracted players simply don't play enough red ball cricket to ever learn the art of captaincy.  Of the current county championship captains only Rory Burns is in the Test side.  The only other remotely feasible alternatives are Dawid Malan, James Vince and maybe Sam Northeast.

So if not Root who?

[Rory]

I think we need to move beyond the automatic grooming of our best batsman for captaincy. I know it's not necessarily a new thing, but pretty much every one of our 21st century captains has been chosen that way, and then we wonder what went wrong.

Our most successful captain (statistically) of recent years has been Strauss and he only got the job after the KP fiasco.

I agree but the centrally contracted players simply don't play enough red ball cricket to ever learn the art of captaincy.  Of the current county championship captains only Rory Burns is in the Test side.  The only other remotely feasible alternatives are Dawid Malan, James Vince and maybe Sam Northeast.

So if not Root who?

Yep, absolutely. I'm not clamouring for Root to be binned, but I'd like to see us really work on identifying and developing future captains over a number of years, rather than looking at our top 6 and saying "he's averaging 45, he'll do".

I'd rather have a top captain who averages 25 than pick a guy averaging 60, expect him to do a job, and see his batting suffer anyway (as seems inevitable).

Brearley is an obvious example but I also think about Fleming, who helped to completely transform cricket in NZ.