Mistakes in selection on this tour by England

[eempyrean]

1. Not picking a front-line spinner. They didn't take Leach to the sub-continent and once again refused to pick him (or another front-line spinner here)
2. Persisting with Moeen Ali. Let's be honest they are plenty of club bowlers who would be just as effective and the same level of control...pointless selecting a player not good enough with bat or ball for these conditions. He's arguably no better of a bowler than Malan either.
3. Not playing Bairstow as a batsman and picking Foakes as keeper who is a very good batsman himself..
4. Not batting Root 3. Captain doesn't have to be 3, or the best player. He does when the openers and number 3 are all fragile. Especially when he's the best player.
5. Ballance could have been a great option on flat wickets, especially if put at his natural number 4 position.
6. England didn't pick a team to win with. They picked a team to try to avoid getting bashed game after game. And it happened anyway.
7. Aus have 3 seamers and a spinner plus part-timers. England could have used the same balance..

Team I'd have selected pre-series


1. Cook
2. Stoneman
3. Root (c)
4. Ballance
5. Bairstow
6. Malan
7. Foakes (wk)
8. Overton
9. Broad
10. Leach
11. Anderson

I think this team would have had more of a chance. I'm interested what sort of a team you'd have picked pre-series (not in hindsight) and what you'd pick for the 4th test?

Test 4 (using players from the squad England have picked)

1. Cook
2. Stoneman
3. Root (c)
4. Ballance
5. Bairstow
6. Malan
7. Foakes (wk)
8. Overton
9. Curran
10. Crane
11. Anderson

I think for the 4th test I'd drop Broad and play Curran looking at the touring party. Crane would have to play instead of Leach. I'd like to give Ballance a game now the series is dead, Vince did ok though in the 3rd test. I'd rotate Vince for Ballance however just to see what happens, not like England have anything to lose from it.

 

[Furball]

Admittedly I don't follow county cricket, but I don't think England have done much wrong in terms of selection, the team just isn't good enough.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Vince is getting some abuse yet Vince is (marginally) averaging/scored more runs than Joe Root in this series (and massively out-performed the woeful Ali and Cook), and has the third best highest English score. If anything it is your experienced players - Cook, Broad, Ali and (slightly less so) Root - who have been a colossal let down and your Malans, Overtons and to a lesser extent Vince who have proven their critics wrong.

 

[Burgey]

The weird thing about the current side is who could they drop to move Bairstow up and play Foakes? Malan and Vince have done a good job and neither Cook nor Root is going anywhere. The only real solution to me is drop Moeen and run with a four man attack, but that’s awfully sameish.

 

[fredfertang]

The only benefit of playing Mason Crane is that it might mean Simon Kerrigan doesn't feel quite so bad about himself

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Admittedly I don't follow county cricket, but I don't think England have done much wrong in terms of selection, the team just isn't good enough.

This.

I wouldn't have picked Malan last summer but he has been a success, Stoneman has done ok and deserves the NZ trip but there is no way I would have had Vince on this trip and again he deserves the NZ trip. It is the senior players in Cook, Root, Moeen and Broad who have let the side down and the new players have carried the side along with Bairstow and Anderson.

Can't believe the side from the first post, 4 man attack including a rookie spinner?

 

[Burgey]

Yeah i don’t want to sound too negative, but England playing a four man attack including a rookie leg spinner on Boxing Day wouldn’t do much save get Smith closer to bradman’s all time Wisden rating.

 

[morgieb]

Admittedly I don't follow county cricket, but I don't think England have done much wrong in terms of selection, the team just isn't good enough.

Yeah the issue with England have been their senior players, not the guys they've called up. Not sure that the alternatives would've been much better.

 

[Furball]

Yeah the issue with England have been their senior players, not the guys they've called up. Not sure that the alternatives would've been much better.

Even the likes of Stoneman and Vince haven't been brilliant.

Stoneman's hasn't embarrassed himself and has tended to be in for a longish time to his credit.

 

[Gnske]

Stoneman is doing a Carberry but slightly better this tour.

Imo this squad shouldn't change that much for the NZ tests.

 

[stephen]

Yep the difference in the batting has been Smith vs Root. Warner and Stoneman have been in the same ball park and Bancroft has been only a little better than Cook.

But Smith has been incredible while Root has underperformed. And that's been the biggest difference.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I don't think you're right about any of those suggestions tbh.

Moeen was a match winning spinner in the summer, taking bags of wicket for fun. As far as most people were concerned he was the best spinner England had.

 

[stephen]

Yeah I'm not sure you can blame the selectors for this English tour. Ball, Woakes and Broad have all been woeful but that's not exactly the selectors' fault. Root and Cook and Broad and Ali all not stepping up and taking the responsibility that they should has been the problem.

For all the crap I give Anderson (mostly to wind up the poms on the forum itbt) he's been the only senior player who actually looks like the give a damn. Has Broad even beaten the bat once on this tour? Ali would be the GOAT all rounder if his batting and bowling averages were reversed. Root has looked like a rookie trying to cement his place in the side.

What is it with English players being turned to crap by the captaincy? Aussie captains step up when given the role but English captains seem to think that they don't have to bother scoring or taking wickets once they get the (c) next to their name.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Have you never heard of May and Gooch? The last England captain's average is basically the same captaincy or otherwise.

 

[Spark]

The selectors have done fine. With the exception of Ball, all the other players who you'd say they took a punt on have done their jobs.

Stoneman has looked the part, although it has to be a worry that he's looked all kinds of apprehensive against Haze since being hit.

 

[theegyptian]

Two obvious mistakes the management has made on this tour.

Ball is injured in warmup game and barely bowls in match situation, and then they pick him in front of Overton for first test. Which is fine I guess if you think Ball is the much superior bowler. But then they go and drop Ball after the first test and bring in Overton?? Made no sense.
Ali at 6, Bairstow at 7? Lighting money on fire.

Probably didn't matter, but England needed everything going for them to compete from ball 1 and they got it wrong again... like nearly every overseas tour in the last few years.

UAE still the biggest shitpile

Moeen opens the batting, where he hasn't batted before, and when he should be concentrating on his bowling given the importance of spin in the conditions.
Taylor (one of the better players of spin) doesn't get selected until the final test whilst others struggle.
Decide to play 3 mediocre spinners (Patel added to Rashid and Ali) in final test to try and draw level in the series when the fast bowlers were causing the trouble to pakistan.

 

[Tangles]

Drop the non performers then. Guess you need to drop Cook, Ali and Broad. Root saved by the captaincy.

Look when your senior players are the problem that isn't fixed in 2 dead tests.

 

[FBU]

Before the series I think we would have been competitive with

Cook Stoneman Vince Root Malan Stokes Bairstow Ali, Roland-Jones Broad Anderson (was not expecting much from Stoneman and Vince)

For NZ would like Hameed at 2 and Gubbins at 3.

 

[Victor Ian]

@ opening post. Pisses me off when people call wickets flat that have all given a result and caused both teams problems at times.

Rule no1: If you lose 20 wickets per match, it is not because wickets are flat. It is because you are ****.

 

[stephen]

Have you never heard of May and Gooch? The last England captain's average is basically the same captaincy or otherwise.

Vaughn and Flintoff fell off a cliff when picked as captain. Admittedly Strauss and Root didn't. The fact that you have to go back 20 years to find a counter example says it all.