England players and selection discussion thread

[Gremlin]

I'm a massive fan of Moeen.. I hope he gets all the support he needs.

 

[SeamUp]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket...ngland-call-up-new-zealand-tour-test-rebuild/

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I'd rather we picked the coach first and let him have a say in who he wants as part of the squad.

 

[FBU]

Since we don't have a coach, Giles, Root, Smith and Taylor will do the selecting for NZ tour. Would prefer Giles and Strauss to be the selectors with Root having no input.

I read that Bayliss took a back seat and let Root and Smith decide on the batting order and how they should bat. Smith should just give England the squad and have no further input.

 

[theegyptian]

England IT20 squad:

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) captain

Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)

Tom Banton (Somerset)

Sam Billings (Kent)

Pat Brown (Worcestershire)

Sam Curran (Surrey)

Tom Curran (Surrey)

Joe Denly (Kent)

Lewis Gregory (Somerset)

Chris Jordan (Sussex)

Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)

Dawid Malan (Middlesex)

Matt Parkinson (Lancashire)

Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)


England Test squad:

Joe Root (Yorkshire) captain

Jofra Archer (Sussex)

Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)

Rory Burns (Surrey)

Jos Buttler (Lancashire)

Zak Crawley (Kent)

Sam Curran (Surrey)

Joe Denly (Kent)

Jack Leach (Somerset)

Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)

Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire)

Ollie Pope (Surrey)

Dominic Sibley (Warwickshire)

Ben Stokes (Durham)

Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

 

[theegyptian]

Some really surprising names in that test squad.

I was struggling to come up with some fast bowler backups with Anderson, Wood and Stone all injured.
Figured there would be one or two from the Somerset group of Gregory, and C and J Overton. Craig Overton dropped rapidly having played fourth test of ashes - must be hard to take for him.

Can't think Mahmood or Parkinson are really at the standard yet to warrant test selection but they are likely squad players to gain experience, and will play lions later on in the winter. Would guess the likes of Bairstow, Wood, Stone, Anderson will come back into consideration for SA.

Only one WK in the test squad really. Pope hasn't done much wicketkeeping recently.

I'd go Burns, Sibley, Denly, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler, Woakes, Archer, Broad, Leach

Don't really want to pick Woakes but not convinced Curran is good enough for a third seamer. Should give Woakes the new ball if they play him imo.

 

[Jack1]

Not picking Foakes is dumb.

 

[Pup Clarke]

i suppose Pope is a sort of back up, but this is so ill-judged. Foakes has been shafted to accommodate others.

Would have gone for two of Gregory, TRJ or Porter as your seamers. Nonsensical really that they haven't taken even one of them. Also NZ doesn't really spin so Parkinson is odd

 

[SeamUp]

Not picking Foakes is dumb.

Looks like Foakes form this season has persuaded them to not go back to him especially after leaving him out last time on team balance.

Rightly or wrongly - with Bairstow/Buttler in the mix it will always effect Foakes' selection.

 

[91Jmay]

Zak Crawley is such an odd one. I know he looks good but his record is arse.

 

[Jack1]

Looks like Foakes form this season has persuaded them to not go back to him especially after leaving him out last time on team balance.

Rightly or wrongly - with Bairstow/Buttler in the mix it will always effect Foakes' selection.

Not that concerned, Foakes stepped up for England in the past and very good with gloves. He would at least has pressured Buttler to perform if nothing else.

 

[a massive zebra]

I think the dropping of Bairstow is absurd. Yes, he hasn't scored a huge amount of runs recently but he clearly is one of the top 7 batsmen in the country. Just because the players in the side aren't getting runs, this doesn't necessarily imply there are alternatives who could do better. They should have given the gloves to Buttler or Foakes and let him focus on his batting. Only when he failed across a whole series as a pure batsman should he have been dropped.

 

[theegyptian]

i suppose Pope is a sort of back up, but this is so ill-judged. Foakes has been shafted to accommodate others.

Would have gone for two of Gregory, TRJ or Porter as your seamers. Nonsensical really that they haven't taken even one of them. Also NZ doesn't really spin so Parkinson is odd

My guess is Foakes is burnout. He was going to take last winter off before his England callup, and he's been poor this summer. Wouldn't be surprised if he was back for Sri Lanka in March.

We could well be getting my WK rotation policy for this winter.

 

[Pup Clarke]

That's a joke surely? Bairstow's done sweet FA for 2 years and averages 19 this year. The leniency England have shown towards him is commendable tbh

 

[BoyBrumby]

I think the dropping of Bairstow is absurd. Yes, he hasn't scored a huge amount of runs recently but he clearly is one of the top 7 batsmen in the country. Just because the players in the side aren't getting runs, this doesn't necessarily imply there are alternatives who could do better. They should have given the gloves to Buttler or Foakes and let him focus on his batting. Only when he failed across a whole series as a pure batsman should he have been dropped.

He's on record as saying he wants to play as a keeper/batsman though. From The Guardian:

if you look at the stats, they suggest I’m better if I keep wicket as well.

You’re kind of entering into uncharted territory and, as I mentioned, I’d like to keep my spot as keeper because I like to think it’s gone well over the last 38 or 39 Tests since I’ve been keeping for England.

I think there’s obviously conversations to be had but I was asked if I was comfortable batting at No 5 and keeping and it’s been successful. I’m still desperate to try to keep my place as the keeper.

Obviously I'm not privy to selectors meetings, but it could be he was offered a spot as a batsman only and nixed it.

 

[wpdavid]

Some really surprising names in that test squad.

I was struggling to come up with some fast bowler backups with Anderson, Wood and Stone all injured.
Figured there would be one or two from the Somerset group of Gregory, and C and J Overton. Craig Overton dropped rapidly having played fourth test of ashes - must be hard to take for him.

Can't think Mahmood or Parkinson are really at the standard yet to warrant test selection but they are likely squad players to gain experience, and will play lions later on in the winter. Would guess the likes of Bairstow, Wood, Stone, Anderson will come back into consideration for SA.

Only one WK in the test squad really. Pope hasn't done much wicketkeeping recently.

I'd go Burns, Sibley, Denly, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler, Woakes, Archer, Broad, Leach

Don't really want to pick Woakes but not convinced Curran is good enough for a third seamer. Should give Woakes the new ball if they play him imo.

Agree with your XI. Curran is less viable if we're playing six batsmen and a WK; as you say, he isn't a 3rd seamer.

And I'm not worried about not taking a reserve keeper. It's not hard to fly one out if Buttler is injured before or between the tests. Foakes' performances this season don't demand selection anyway. And I'm pleased they bit the bullet and dropped Roy, bearing his mind his non-selection in the final ashes test was supposedly to enable another bowler to be picked given Stokes' injury.

 

[BoyBrumby]

TBF NZ is probably the country most conducive to swing bowlers a la Scurran other than England, so if he is to step up he'd likely have the best chance to do it there.

Based on what I saw in the 5th test I also thought he'd maybe gained a mph or two since last year too. Does look barely post-adolescent still, so not too fanciful to think he's still growing and/or filling out.

 

[wpdavid]

It's a real shame that Stokes' bowling hasn't kicked on sufficiently to be our 3rd seamer. Maybe that was never quite going to happen, but then Curran ahead of Woakes is justifiable. Talking of Woakes, if he can't be effective in NZ, it's hard to see him being effective anywhere overseas.

 

[PavlovsDog]

Just saw Lewis Gregory being interviewed and he seemed to suggest he thought it was a surprise he made the T20 squad, but seemed to hint he was hopeful for a Test place.

I think he would have been a decent pick for the Test squad as he would provide competition to the Woakes/Curran position at 8, the spot that seems most vulnerable in the medium term.

As nice as it is to see youngsters picked, there is virtually no chance Mahmood, Parkinson and possibly even Crawley will play, so the final XI seems as good as picked two months in advance, aside from the Woakes v Curran discussion.

 

[Dan]

Rough on COverton imo.