He definitely is an attacking spinner, but I think a lot of the turn he gets comes from how much he tosses it up. Tossing it up a lot is fine as long as you're putting enough on it to make it dip due to overspin rather than just gravity, but I don't think he really does put a lot on it so international batsmen who can predict the flight of the ball better from the hand and use their feet better could really put him under some pressure, even when he's not got the yips or whatever he had yesterday. His performances were certainly good enough to deserve a chance to prove me wrong so I had no real issue with his selection as such; I was just really pessimistic about it based on what I'd seen from him. It's particularly unfortunate that he hasn't really given himself a chance to prove me wrong about his bowling style, by not bowling anywhere near as well as he does on a regular basis.
Yeah, I'm fine with him playing for the Lions this winter. I'd just be very worried how he'd cope with test match cricket in Australia at this point.
Haha yeah, definitely shouldn't be picked as a frontline bowler. I was basically just thinking that if Swann's injured, Panesar's a non-starter and you're playing at Brisbane for example, picking four seamers makes a lot more sense than picking a sub-standard finger spinner. Given the sixth batsman seems pretty dispensable at the moment you could then pick a batting allrounder to bat 6 or 7 and bowl some spin. Rashid's had a good season with the bat and Australian pitches suit leggies much more than finger spinners of the same standard. I guess you might as well just give Root a trundle in that situation anyway as you said; not really worth it.
I'm not sure whether Panesar's definitely out of the picture. Let's hope not, because there's lots of daylight between him and our 3rd option.
Yeah was just a hypothetical really; I think he'll be on the plane. We don't really know whatever it is he's going through though.
23 wickets @ 48. Best of 3/40. He's also averaging 34 with the bat but it seems to be littered with failures in that he's only actually passed 50 twice (tonned up both times).
Yeah but four seamers and someone like Patel would probably be a decent balance for Perth and Brisbane if Swann was injured and Patel was at the top of his game. Don't think anyone actually thinks he should come in as a specialist bowler.
OK - just pondering really. No great grounds for optimism, but sounds like he's better than Tredwell though.
You may as well just play Root and 4 seamers in that case. Or Moeen Ali because that would just be great.
Yes it would. He'd get absolutely ****ing belted.
Colville just said on The Verdict that Jordan playing today means he'll have to requalify if he wishes to play for the WI as the Lions count as a 'senior England side'.
