**Official** England in Bangladesh 2016

[Gremlin]

Hard to know what they'll go for, there are debates to be had for many slots... which opener, does Ballance get picked, what order do the all rounders go in, how many spinners to play.... I *think* that England will go with the following but it's really open!

Cook
Hameed
Duckett
Root
Ali
Stokes
Bairstow
Woakes
Ansari
Rashid
Broad

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Not sure how good Ansari is but playing a spinner just for the sake of it as the pitch might be spin friendly not going to bode well. BD batsmen play these sort of spinners all their domestic matches. The spinner atleast has to be Rashid/Ali level to cause damage otherwise a proper bowler would be a better bet.

 

[theegyptian]

Ansari is better (at his best) than Ali and Rashid as a spinner imo. He can actually set a batsman up unlike Ali and does turn it a bit, contrary to what some say about him . Problem with Ansari was that he was injured a lot last season. Came into the season with a hand injury that had been with him for 6 months and then had a persistent problem with his back. His bowling was a bit up and down last season so it's a bit of a mystery how he'll go.

Ali the best of the batsman, Ansari and Rashid on similar levels as batsman.

Wouldn't play Ali, Rashid and Ansari together in same team. Batty should play imo if your playing 3 spinners.

 

[91Jmay]

Was reading a piece online earlier about how Bayliss wanted Buttler in for Pakistan series, he will be banging that drum again loud.

 

[theegyptian]

May as well play Buttler and get this over, one way or the other. Every series will be the same otherwise. He isn't going to play any first class cricket in the future to improve/or fail in and he'll continue looking a million dollars in ODI cricket (as he always has) so nothing will change.

Just pick him and either he'll come off and Bayliss will be genius, or he'll fail and get slaughtered by Boycott for not being a test batsman etc and be dropped (untill 18 months later another debate starts up over it).

 

[marc71178]

Surely if you take Batty out there at his age then he's got to be playing?

 

[Scaly piscine]

Ansari is better (at his best) than Ali and Rashid as a spinner imo. He can actually set a batsman up unlike Ali and does turn it a bit, contrary to what some say about him . Problem with Ansari was that he was injured a lot last season. Came into the season with a hand injury that had been with him for 6 months and then had a persistent problem with his back. His bowling was a bit up and down last season so it's a bit of a mystery how he'll go.

Ali the best of the batsman, Ansari and Rashid on similar levels as batsman.

Wouldn't play Ali, Rashid and Ansari together in same team. Batty should play imo if your playing 3 spinners.

Batty bowls off spin though same as Moeen. Ansari provides better balance as he's left arm.

You could say Rashid takes it away from the right arm bats, but he bowls a lot of googlies. So I'm not sure he's markedly more effective to right or left handed batsmen, as opposed to more orthodox finger spinners who would be.

 

[theegyptian]

Batty bowls off spin though same as Moeen. Ansari provides better balance as he's left arm.

You could say Rashid takes it away from the right arm bats, but he bowls a lot of googlies. So I'm not sure he's markedly more effective to right or left handed batsmen, as opposed to more orthodox finger spinners who would be.

I can understand that and I wouldn't be surprised if they went down your route as they did in the last test in Sharjah against Pakistan.

I just think that if you pick 3 spinners you're saying that spin is going to be a deciding factor in the game. In which case you better have the best and most reliable spinner in the team - and I think that's Batty.

Picking Mo, Rashid and Ansari (or Samit) together looks rather like hedging your bets. They aren't sure any of them are good but they all bowl different styles and they hope that at least one of them bowls well- and if they don't, well at least they bat as well.


I wasn't thinking about it at the time of my last post but Bangladesh did have 4 left handers (tamin, kayes, mominul, shakib) in their top 6 in their last test so two offspinners might not be a bad thing.

 

[Scaly piscine]

I can understand that and I wouldn't be surprised if they went down your route as they did in the last test in Sharjah against Pakistan.

I just think that if you pick 3 spinners you're saying that spin is going to be a deciding factor in the game. In which case you better have the best and most reliable spinner in the team - and I think that's Batty.

Picking Mo, Rashid and Ansari (or Samit) together looks rather like hedging your bets. They aren't sure any of them are good but they all bowl different styles and they hope that at least one of them bowls well- and if they don't, well at least they bat as well.


I wasn't thinking about it at the time of my last post but Bangladesh did have 4 left handers (tamin, kayes, mominul, shakib) in their top 6 in their last test so two offspinners might not be a bad thing.

The thing with Bangladesh pitches, or at least what happened last time, is basically you're just looking to plug away whether batting or bowling. Bresnan was probably England's most effective player last time. So you have more guys who like a lot of Bangladesh's players are more bits and pieces and do a job and do something different rather than out and out high class orthodox bowlers because their extra skill isn't as valuable as it is elsewhere. Basically you're looking for all 6 bowlers to chip in, keep it on a length and do something a little different and grind people out.

 

[Tom Flint]

Hameed
Cook
Root
Duckett
Stokes
Buttler
Bairstow
Woakes
Rashid
Broad
Batty

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

I can understand that and I wouldn't be surprised if they went down your route as they did in the last test in Sharjah against Pakistan.

I just think that if you pick 3 spinners you're saying that spin is going to be a deciding factor in the game. In which case you better have the best and most reliable spinner in the team - and I think that's Batty.

Picking Mo, Rashid and Ansari (or Samit) together looks rather like hedging your bets. They aren't sure any of them are good but they all bowl different styles and they hope that at least one of them bowls well- and if they don't, well at least they bat as well.


I wasn't thinking about it at the time of my last post but Bangladesh did have 4 left handers (tamin, kayes, mominul, shakib) in their top 6 in their last test so two offspinners might not be a bad thing.

This will be the case this test too so going with two offies is not actually a bad idea

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Also was thinking about Mark Wood also should be effective. Cant explain why but just the gut feeling

 

[Furball]

May as well play Buttler and get this over, one way or the other. Every series will be the same otherwise. He isn't going to play any first class cricket in the future to improve/or fail in and he'll continue looking a million dollars in ODI cricket (as he always has) so nothing will change.

Just pick him and either he'll come off and Bayliss will be genius, or he'll fail and get slaughtered by Boycott for not being a test batsman etc and be dropped (untill 18 months later another debate starts up over it).

If Buttler's a better keeper than Bairstow then there's no issue with it.

Cook
Hameed
Duckett
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Moeen
Buttler
Woakes
Rashid
Broad

works for me.

 

[MW1304]

That could work okay but Buttler isn't a significantly better keeper to spin than Bairstow, and I don't think Bairstow's batting against spin will make him a hugely prolific run-scorer in the subcontinent. Batting down at 8 you may as well just find the best keeper who can hold a bat.

 

[Tom Flint]

If Buttler's a better keeper than Bairstow then there's no issue with it.

Cook
Hameed
Duckett
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Moeen
Buttler
Woakes
Rashid
Broad

works for me.

I think with woakes and rash in the tail we can afford to pick the better spinner out of mo and batty, and that is batty all day

 

[Pothas]

Moeen deserves a spot with the bat after the Pakstan series though, I would play him as one which actually means I would be ok with 3 spinners, something I thought was mad in the UAE.

 

[Prince EWS]

Also was thinking about Mark Wood also should be effective. Cant explain why but just the gut feeling

Mark Wood pulled out with injury.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Mark Wood pulled out with injury.

Yes got an ankle injury bowling his heart out for Durham to help keep them up, only for the ECB vermin to render it all meaningless.

 

[grecian]

I think with woakes and rash in the tail we can afford to pick the better spinner out of mo and batty, and that is batty all day

How is it Batty all day, he's geriatric and was bad the last time he played for England. Just shouldn't be there. Not sure about this nonsense from others that if he goes at his age he's got to be picked, if he's bowling better than everyone else in the nets, then fair enough, but just because he's old he should play shouldn't really come into the reckoning.

Anyway as Pothas has said Moeen deserves to play as a bat after the Summer, and as I said before we were rudely interrupted by tedious one-dayers, I think he'll bat up the order, as the England selectors have suggested.

 

[FBU]

County cricket - Batty 42 at 32.31 - Jeetan Patel 69 at 24.02

Patel in India 6 at 48.66 so wonder how Batty will fare