He obviously shouldn't be dropped for another unproven batsman; that'd be silly. If the balance of the team would be better served by having one less batsman than it currently does though because his bowling is proving to be a liability then it would not be unreasonable to drop him. You don't consciously pick a team you think won't work as well as another combination would just because someone you didn't even select as a specialist batsman scored some runs.
He's been selected as an allrounder -- a batting allrounder yes, but his bowling partly got him into the side. If his bowling becomes a non-factor then they'll have to re-think their balance, which means his place will come under threat. If he bats so well that he leapfrogs another specialist batsman in the side and puts their position under threat instead, then fine, but if they just wanted a sixth specialist bat they wouldn't have picked him in the first place IMO, so he can't hide behind that. You obviously can't ignore the fact that he batted well in his primary role but by the same token you can't just dogmatically ignore the balance of the side and how his under-performance with the ball changes it.
I live in New South Wales. Stuff like that happens remarkably often
Absolutely nothing. Well, apart from the complete lack of spin option and the removal of England's saving grace at the moment -- a ridiculously deep batting line-up.
This is the key though. While Ali is a theoretically functioning spin option, his place isn't in question. If he bowls like this all the time then he won't be though, meaning England will need to re-think their balance and his place will rightly come under threat unless he bats well enough to leapfrog Ballance or Root in the pecking order.
Against India. Not against decent test bowling attacks.
When playing against Romans, don't plan for Spartans. Get Ali out of the side. Stokes at 6 or 7, and a proper spinner like Kerrigan.
No, Prior would shift to #6. Ali did great in the last test but him not providing good rest for the strike bowlers and also not keeping the runs down outweighs the 20-30 runs more he might get over Jordan.
The pitch is what it is and these two have applied themselves really really well, but England seem to have decided that their plan to get him out is (a) bouncer, which clearly hasn't worked as it's taken about six years for the ball to get to the batsman and (b) leg stump half volleys trying to get them caught at one of three (!) short midwickets. You can guess how that's going.
Not sure what Prior's doing because he clearly has heard it, but it's easy to understand the umpire not giving it when he hasn't heard or seen a thing and a grand total of one person has appealed
