Road to the 2017-18 Ashes in Australia

[stephen]

I just hope they don't pick Carey. He gets a lot of catches but doesn't really keep to a spinner of any note. We need someone who is good enough to keep to Lyon.

 

[honestbharani]

So what happens if Stokes is not playing this series? Move Bairstow and Ali and Woakes one spot up and play another seamer? Is Plunkett a chance given he can slot in at 9 and ensure the blow is softer when it comes to the batting?

 

[Black_Warrior]

Or play an extra batsman as Stokes mainly contributed as a batsman.

 

[honestbharani]

They will need 5 bowlers I think...

 

[Groundking]

We need 5 bowlers, Moeen is going to be eh, and just having 3 seam options taking up the bulk of the work is a recipe for an Anderson injury and retirement.

 

[harsh.ag]

Would have been so much easier for England if TRJ hadn't gotten injured.

 

[Howe_zat]

It'll be a Bairstow-Moeen-Woakes 6-8 like it was in the 2016 summer

 

[Woodster]

Yes Stokes' batting probably has been more important to us than his bowling, but we have to go in with five bowlers and I suppose we are well placed to use Moeen and Woakes as bowling all-rounders at seven and eight in order to include another bowler. Not ideal and the value of Stokes is evident when we have to try and replace him.

 

[honestbharani]

I ask again. Will Plunkett be considered?

 

[Riggins]

I just hope they don't pick Carey. He gets a lot of catches but doesn't really keep to a spinner of any note. We need someone who is good enough to keep to Lyon.

I promise you he is more than good enough to keep to Lyon.

If he gets picked, it will be whether he can contribute with the bat that is the issue. He can definitely bat, and has made a truckload of runs (including v big hundreds) at the levels just below first class cricket. He hasn't yet translated that to the first class arena. I'm curious how much of that might be attributed to missing out on those formative years while he was playing footy, where guys really learn how to churn them out day after day. I think once it clicks for him (whether than be in FC or if he's thrown into the deep end with an 'early' test gig) he will be a really solid bat at either level.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I promise you he is more than good enough to keep to Lyon.

If he gets picked, it will be whether he can contribute with the bat that is the issue. He can definitely bat, and has made a truckload of runs (including v big hundreds) at the levels just below first class cricket. He hasn't yet translated that to the first class arena. I'm curious how much of that might be attributed to missing out on those formative years while he was playing footy, where guys really learn how to churn them out day after day. I think once it clicks for him (whether than be in FC or if he's thrown into the deep end with an 'early' test gig) he will be a really solid bat at either level.

Was just about to say this. Never seen him other than playing for SA but he looks a pretty massive step down from Nevill and Wade (despite recent form) batting-wise.

Maybe it won't matter if he's batting 7 and Aus have a strong tail, but I wouldn't expect him to average much more than 20ish and you can imagine casual fans writing him off.

 

[Daemon]

Starc eager to emulate Johnson's Ashes - ESPNcricinfo

"It's a very different Australian team and an opportunity for a few of the younger, less experienced guys to get on top of them much like Mitch did to some of their batsmen through that series [in 2013-14]," Starc said in Sydney. "They've got [Joe] Root and [Alastair] Cook up the top who've played a lot of cricket and probably their main guys with the bat, the guys in the top order around them are pretty inexperienced and hopefully we can exploit that in our conditions and if we can, really get on top of them in the first Test like Mitch did a couple of years ago.

"This time we've got a few guys who can bowl pretty quick and bowl some good bouncers, and we've got a really solid attack who complement each other. If it's not me, you've got Pat Cummins bowling fast bouncers, you've got Josh Hazlewood bowling consistent line and length, so much like that attack did when Jono took all those wickets, I think we complement each other really well. You throw in Jackson Bird, [Nathan] Coulter-Nile's bowling well as well, so five really good guys there, Patto [James Pattinson] if he's fit to go.

"We've got a really good attack there, it's not down to one person, everyone will like to bowl like Jono and terrorise the Poms like he did and take 1000 wickets in a series, but the great thing for us is we've got a young group that complement each other really nicely."

Mental games have begun.

Would be pretty funny if England buy into this bouncer business and then proceed to get pinned in front of the wickets by Starc and nick Hazelwood's medium nippers throughout the series. Unlikely, but one can hope.

Might be a genuine tactic from Cummins though.

 

[harsh.ag]

Best thing would be to see both batting line ups falling to pieces during the series.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah England are ****ed here without Stokes. Ali will anyways get a bouncer barrage and I expect them to use the short ball as the regular ball and then try to get them out with the fuller or good length ones as the variation at least in the initial parts of the innings.

 

[Top_Cat]

I promise you he is more than good enough to keep to Lyon.

If he gets picked, it will be whether he can contribute with the bat that is the issue. He can definitely bat, and has made a truckload of runs (including v big hundreds) at the levels just below first class cricket. He hasn't yet translated that to the first class arena. I'm curious how much of that might be attributed to missing out on those formative years while he was playing footy, where guys really learn how to churn them out day after day. I think once it clicks for him (whether than be in FC or if he's thrown into the deep end with an 'early' test gig) he will be a really solid bat at either level.

This is an interesting point, I think. Bloke definitely looks the part as a bat, can't really see much missing technically. Maybe it'll just be one big knock where he really tees off.

 

[Gnske]

I'd say the short ball is his least favourite delivery. Could see Broad making his life miserable.

 

[stephen]

Carey's batting notwithstanding, he really hasn't kept to a spinner of note. Keeping to a spinner is very different from keeping to quicks.

 

[Spark]

Was just about to say this. Never seen him other than playing for SA but he looks a pretty massive step down from Nevill and Wade (despite recent form) batting-wise.

Maybe it won't matter if he's batting 7 and Aus have a strong tail, but I wouldn't expect him to average much more than 20ish and you can imagine casual fans writing him off.

Unless all of Pattinson, Starc and Cummins play, Aus won't have that strong a tail, though.

 

[Burgey]

Broad and Anderson made the last England touring team here miserable with their dressing room apology bullshit didn’t they?

 

[Riggins]

Carey's batting notwithstanding, he really hasn't kept to a spinner of note. Keeping to a spinner is very different from keeping to quicks.

Zampa* and Botha are pretty decent in terms on non-Lyon Aus spinners.

*jesus christ i feel dirty