England would surely benefit from a couple of months of nothing-but County Cricket to get over their recent upsets, get back to normality, forget the World Cup and give time for some good domestic players to put up performances and force their way into the England side. Instead they're touring the Windies, then playing us in conditions that should suit our seamers and then the Ashes; there's no let-up. I don't envy them. I also have little feel for how their current tour of WI will turn out and whether it will result in a boost in confidence for them or not. All that said, anyone that thinks NZ are favourites for this series is dreaming imo, purely because England's new ball attack in late May is still every chance of tearing through our batting four innings from four, just like last time. We are definitely a better chance than last time though and I personally would be disappointed with any less than winning one test.
I assume we're going to get 200 v 200 shootouts with the Duke hooping round corners - noone expects anything else right? I have no concerns about our bowling; even if Southee or Boult have a bad day we should still have Henry or Bracewell (probably the latter due to incumbency I imagine) who will suit the conditions.... as long as Durg doesn't bowl short rubbish. However in low scoring matches it's all about which sides' batsmen can perform.
I'm disappointed for Brownlie, pleased for Guptill and still perplexed at the gargantuan faith shown in Rutherford. That said, none of those three nor Latham is a good bet for runs in this series - it will be very tough for openers. I'd be ecstatic with two fifties from our openers' eight innings and wouldn't be surprised if there are zero. I just hope Brownlie's omission isn't because the selectors have found something they don't like and will leave him out of further consideration too.
Like Bahnz said Williamson stemming the flow of wickets at three will be vital - he's scored difficult runs there for Yorkshire, some of them quite ugly I believe, and his crease occupation is huge for us. The bowling is going to push defensive techniques to the limit and Williamson has the best defense of anyone in the side. Some of the rest are fairly shaky. If I remember right Taylor was our only batsman averaging over 30 last tour - we need at least that from him again too.
I also think McCullum batting aggressively at five could be a sneaky trump card - hit bowlers off their length and ride your luck for a quick 70 here or there; would be huge in a low-scoring match. Aside from that, I'd like to see some lower-order runs if, as is quite likely, the top 6 is bundled out just in time for the ball to stop swinging (as appreciably). Watling/Craig/Bracewell at 7-9 is very handy.
I mean, obviously things depend on players form post-WIndies but what would be the ideal fully-fit English XI for this series?
