The International Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

India are making a real point here, this is going to be an innings plus 150/200 run defeat.

[tomd2103]

I suppose you have to remember that India haven't lost a home test series in over ten years now, so we were always going to be up against it, and even more so with the squad we travelled with. The probelm with Bazball this series, is that for a couple of sessions it's given the team hope of getting something from it, but mostly it's just led to absolutely dismal batting collapses. If you accept it for it what it is, then it's going to win more than it loses. Could we have done better if we'd applied a bit of common sense at times? Possibly.

Let's be honest, it doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things.  The whole Test Championship idea hasn't really worked, so it's just another series really.  The only time there is meaningful change in English cricket is when we are badly beaten in the Ashes.

I get the impression that there will be a collective shrug of the shoulders in the England camp and they will just move on to the next series.  When I last looked the first two days of the West Indies test at Edgbaston were sold out and the third was well on the way to being so as well.  The train keeps a rollin'.

[Risso]

A terrible end to a rubbish series.

[Richard E]

A terrible end to a rubbish series.

Pathetic brainless batting.

[Risso]

Well done Jimmy though.

[manic-road]

Majority of the series has been poor, brainless batting again today by some who were playing 20/20 game shots. Well done Jimmy on 700 wickets which may well never be reached again by a seamer. Bairstow played a whole series without ever getting into the 40's.

[Risso]

Majority of the series has been poor, brainless batting again today by some who were playing 20/20 game shots. Well done Jimmy on 700 wickets which may well never be reached again by a seamer. Bairstow played a whole series without ever getting into the 40's.

He's got more runs in total than Stokes though, who apart from a couple of half decent scores has been absolutely terrible.

[PaulWinch again]

The stuff Stokes says about them being the best 6 batsmen so they have to play is something he needs to be careful with. I’ve said before that being too comfortable is not a good thing.

[Monty]

We got served an ass-whoopin'. Need more pressure on those places I think! Competition is grown up.

[PaulWinch again]

Yes and a bit of humility. Some of them have got mixed in their messaging and become complacent, even smug in some cases. Pope isn’t smug, but he is complacent. He’s made comments that the frenetic way his starts his innings has been there all his career and he’s got runs, but he should be challenged on that. One stunning innings a series and little to nothing else is not good enough. But a message from the captain basically saying you’re the best just doesn’t make players challenge themselves. As I’ve said it’s tough balance to strike, you don’t want players constantly afraid of making a mistake, but I think the balance has tipped too far.

[Lsvilla]

So the winter season ends with 6 defeats out of 9 in the World Cup, T20 and 50 over series defeats in the Caribbean and a 4-1 mauling in the India test series. Some reflection needed I think.

[tomd2103]

The stuff Stokes says about them being the best 6 batsmen so they have to play is something he needs to be careful with. I’ve said before that being too comfortable is not a good thing.

It's been a very 'cliquey' set up for years, so can't see them really changing anything in the batting department this summer Paul.  Only change I can see is Brook coming back in at 5 and Bairstow moving to keep and bat at 7.

Woakes needs to come back in to bowl in home conditions and to bat at 8 to strengthen the tail.  Guess that might depend on how long they are going to keep going with the sentimentality towards Jimmy Anderson though and which record he wants to try and break next.

[olaftab]

So the winter season ends with 6 defeats out of 9 in the World Cup, T20 and 50 over series defeats in the Caribbean and a 4-1 mauling in the India test series. Some reflection needed I think.

Yup. Can you imagine trying to cheer this lot on in NZ later this year?😥

[PaulWinch again]

So the winter season ends with 6 defeats out of 9 in the World Cup, T20 and 50 over series defeats in the Caribbean and a 4-1 mauling in the India test series. Some reflection needed I think.

Yup. Can you imagine trying to cheer this lot on in NZ later this year?😥

Jealous Aftab, watching test cricket in New Zealand is on the bucket list for me.

[PaulWinch again]

Big positive from this tour is the emergence of the spinners and the consistency of Crawley (who has shown he’s learnt). But there are lies of areas for improvement and hopefully they’re a little more reflective internally than they appear from the outside.