The International Cricket Thread

[Beard82]

Stokes effort was great but what's disappointing is that at 7 down and only 60 odd required England were totally useless. There has to be more grit in the tail.

Agree with that.

Tongue and Anderson made a decent fist of it for the last wicket.

They did, which makes the way Robinson in particular came out and played look all the more pathetic. The game isn't completely over when Stokes got out and Robinson is capable with the bat. If he was under instruction to do that then the instruction was pathetic

Listening to Stokes after the game - it feels like the instruction is more, "if you feel you can take it on, take it on".  Robinson is better than that.  They were brilliant with the ball yesterday, but Robinson and to some extent Broad lost there wickets too easily.  No disrespect to Broad would had been amazing up until then. 

I think this will help Broad in the next game - but would like to see one of Robinson or Anderson make way for Woods or Woakes

[taylorsworkrate]

And again that runout/stumping (not sure about official status)  of Bairstow was blatant cheating.

More a stumping I should think, as Bairstow was wandering up middle of the wicket, not trying to get a run. It wasn't cheating and I don't even think it was underhand. The ball was still in play and it was a clever bit of play which caught out a batsman behaving sloppily.

Cricketing etiquette was burnt to death on this one. It is normal to recognise certain next steps by all participating with a nod etc. Which means respecting the fact that expected course of action will prevail. When the Keeper is not standing up  it is normal to expect that ball in his gloves is going to be dead when batsmen clearly have no intention of seeking advantage. What Carey did was to violate that understanding. May be not cheating  technically but nevertheless a sneaky underhand act that will always be regarded as cheating on a cricket pitch and pavilions across the world.

It was a fluid movement from Carey and the ball was never at rest in his gloves though. They had noticed how stupid Bairstow was in leaving his crease way too early and took advantage of it. I've got no issue with the aussies on this one. Bairstow is the only one deserving of criticism and he should be getting pelters from his teammates about now.

[taylorsworkrate]

Stokes effort was great but what's disappointing is that at 7 down and only 60 odd required England were totally useless. There has to be more grit in the tail.

Agree with that.

Tongue and Anderson made a decent fist of it for the last wicket.

They did, which makes the way Robinson in particular came out and played look all the more pathetic. The game isn't completely over when Stokes got out and Robinson is capable with the bat. If he was under instruction to do that then the instruction was pathetic

Listening to Stokes after the game - it feels like the instruction is more, "if you feel you can take it on, take it on".  Robinson is better than that.  They were brilliant with the ball yesterday, but Robinson and to some extent Broad lost there wickets too easily.  No disrespect to Broad would had been amazing up until then. 

I think this will help Broad in the next game - but would like to see one of Robinson or Anderson make way for Woods or Woakes

I think Broad can be forgiven as he'd been in the middle for a couple of hours and with just 10 and 11 left he had to take the option of trying to get a few away to the boundary.

I'd pick both Woakes and Wood for the next match in place of Robinson and Anderson. Woakes I think would be more of a threat than Robinson with the ball and would also lengthen the batting a bit. We are desperate for more pace in the attack too. Only concern with Wood is fitness but we are at the point now where we need to try it.

[Beard82]

I think he made it clear he wasn’t running - there was no advantage to be gained by what he was doing.  He was stupid to give them the opportunity - I agree - but on the flip side it was the end of the over. 

To be it’s the same as when bowlers stop and stump someone out - it’s not in the spirit of the game.  Which I get is subjective.

I personally agree with the another poster - they should have flagged it then if he does that again - fair game.

[Beard82]

Stokes effort was great but what's disappointing is that at 7 down and only 60 odd required England were totally useless. There has to be more grit in the tail.

Agree with that.

Tongue and Anderson made a decent fist of it for the last wicket.

They did, which makes the way Robinson in particular came out and played look all the more pathetic. The game isn't completely over when Stokes got out and Robinson is capable with the bat. If he was under instruction to do that then the instruction was pathetic

Listening to Stokes after the game - it feels like the instruction is more, "if you feel you can take it on, take it on".  Robinson is better than that.  They were brilliant with the ball yesterday, but Robinson and to some extent Broad lost there wickets too easily.  No disrespect to Broad would had been amazing up until then. 

I think this will help Broad in the next game - but would like to see one of Robinson or Anderson make way for Woods or Woakes

I think Broad can be forgiven as he'd been in the middle for a couple of hours and with just 10 and 11 left he had to take the option of trying to get a few away to the boundary.

I'd pick both Woakes and Wood for the next match in place of Robinson and Anderson. Woakes I think would be more of a threat than Robinson with the ball and would also lengthen the batting a bit. We are desperate for more pace in the attack too. Only concern with Wood is fitness but we are at the point now where we need to try it.

I agree with all of that

[PaulWinch again]

On Robinson it depends. If he’s fully fit and bowling at full pace I think he’s a bigger threat than Woakes in most conditions. I think they’ll want a spinner in, so it’ll be interesting.

Crawley’s the odd one for me, more than anyone they go out of their way to defend him on the basis of potential. But he’s played 30+ Tests and hardly ever has a big positive impact.

[taylorsworkrate]

On Robinson it depends. If he’s fully fit and bowling at full pace I think he’s a bigger threat than Woakes in most conditions. I think they’ll want a spinner in, so it’ll be interesting.

Crawley’s the odd one for me, more than anyone they go out of their way to defend him on the basis of potential. But he’s played 30+ Tests and hardly ever has a big positive impact.

They'll stick with Crawley for the series now. In fairness to him he's had a couple of reasonable scores and has batted very nicely on those occasions. The 1st innings in this match was frustrating as he was playing beautifully and then just ran down the pitch at Lyon out of nowhere. I think he's got the talent to be a very good test batsmen, but it's a temperament/mental issue that's stopping him.

[simboy]

Surely Pope won’t play at Headingley. Move Bairstow up to 3, play Foakes at 8, Ali at 7 (if they’re intent on keeping him) or vice versa and your three quicks. As to who that is, personally I’d pick Woakes, Tounge/Wood (if fit) and Broad.

It will be flat at Headingley, I think they said Leach bowled 20 of overs first inning last Ashes.

The comments about Wood ‘s fitness were rather worrying I thought.

[Beard82]

I think foakes is a good shout - the stat about bairstows batting average when he is / isn’t keeper is was pretty shocking

[Gareth]

I think Wood for Anderson for definite, would go as far as to say if Aus win at Headingley could well announce Anderson to retire after Old Trafford.

Also think we are lumbered with Crawley for the summer…other than possibly pushing Bairstow up to open and Foakes in to actually keep properly couldn’t see them dropping Crawley.

Robinson still has to prove that he is fit enough to play quick fire tests, Tongue is in uncharted territory too.

Lots of selection issues before Headingley

[German James]

I think Tongue should keep his place based on his performances up to now.

[taylorsworkrate]

Dan Lawrence was the back up batsman named in the squad so assume he will come in if Pope can't play.

[saint13]

Stokes effort was great but what's disappointing is that at 7 down and only 60 odd required England were totally useless. There has to be more grit in the tail.

I think the bigger problem is that they were 45-4. Stokes innings was superb and made for a great days cricket. However, by that stage it was never really on, the game was gone.

[PaulWinch again]

Dan Lawrence was the back up batsman named in the squad so assume he will come in if Pope can't play.

That looks likely given the squad that’s been confirmed.

[PaulWinch again]

It’s going to be unbelievably hard to turn around now, but they’ve to take it one game at a time. The one thing the first two games have shown is that they absolutely have enough to beat Australia, but they’ve been to casual/weak in the absolute key moments. In the next game they got to spot those moments and also ruthlessly win them. I really hope the bitterness towards the end of the game fuels them now.