England players and selection discussion thread

[Blenkinsop]

Remember when Martin Bicknell got a Test and did more to threaten Smith and Gibbs than everyone else had done all summer?

I remember him doing Jacques Rudolph like a kipper. Would love to find footage of that dismissal. Plays and misses at three perfect outswingers, then leaves the next one which goes the other way and cleans him up.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Seems a bit pessimistic considering how many batsmen have done well in the CC this year. Off the top of my head there's Tom Haines, Alex Davies, Lewis Hill, Jordan Cox, the other Ollie Robinson... plus David Bedingham and Ricardo Vasconcelos who will be England qualified at some point.

Or we could just say sod it and select Darren Stevens.

Yeah, I wouldn't expect any of those guys* to cope if they were thrown into a Test series today. I wish them well and hope some go on to great things, but I don't think that doing quite well for half a county season builds much of a case ...and the plight of the Test side right now shows that. Pope has dominated the domestic scene like no one else the past few seasons, Lawrence has been a mainstay of the strongest County side in the country for years now and Sibley at least had a season and a half as the most successful opener in the CC before his call up. On top of that, all 3 had scored decent runs at 'A' team level for the Lions. But all are finding that Test cricket is a pretty hard thing to succeed in. Heck, Bracey has scored runs (and kept wicket!) for the Lions and had a flying start to the county season, and we saw how he sadly fared. I think only Davies of the names you've listed have played Lions cricket yet (forgive me if I'm wrong about that).

Essentially, I think the players we have picked are pretty much the brightest young players in England right now and also have had the best preparation available to step up to the next level. If they are struggling to make it in Test cricket then I have little confidence that players who haven't shone to the degree that they have would somehow fair any better. I also don't think there's an obvious uncapped senior pro around (like Hildreth was for so many years) that I'd fancy could be called upon for a late career run*.


*apart from Darren Stevens of course

 

[Flem274*]

worth remembering the team who has inspired all this doom and gloom contains several players who took 2-4 years to be test standard (williamson, southee, wagner) and guys picked as reliable senior pros who exceeded expectations (cdg, mitchell, ajaz)

ollie pope will come good, it just might be a bumpy ride. the good news is you have plenty of bowlers ready to come in after anderson and broad retire. a team with a good attack is always in the game.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Silverwood was having a whinge about our batting's inexperience costing them in the NZ series.

Couple of thoughts sprang to mind:

1) you ****ing picked the team, sunshine.

2) can't help but notice Conway and Young, who I think we can all agree went ok, have fewer tests combined than Dan Lawrence, the most callow of our top six.

 

[Salamuddin]

Silverwood was having a whinge about our batting's inexperience costing them in the NZ series.

Couple of thoughts sprang to mind:

1) you ****ing picked the team, sunshine.

2) can't help but notice Conway and Young, who I think we can all agree went ok, have fewer tests combined than Dan Lawrence, the most callow of our top six.

On point 2 Conway is six years older than Lawrence and probably at the peak of his career. Him having played less tests is offset by the fact that he has worked out his game and his strengths and weaknesses. Lawrence at 24 still has much more room for development.

 

[vandem]

worth remembering the team who has inspired all this doom and gloom contains several players who took 2-4 years to be test standard (williamson, southee, wagner) and guys picked as reliable senior pros who exceeded expectations (cdg, mitchell, ajaz)

ollie pope will come good, it just might be a bumpy ride. the good news is you have plenty of bowlers ready to come in after anderson and broad retire. a team with a good attack is always in the game.

Where are the English batters age 26 - 30? Apart from Root and Burns the current lineup is aged 23 - 25.

For comparison - "senior pros" de Grandhomme debuted age 30 after 11 seasons in FC cricket, Mitchell debuted aged 28 after 8 seasons in FC cricket, Patel debuted age 30 after 6 seasons in FC cricket. Probably a little older than the usual 24 - 26 debut age (e.g. Nicholls are 24 on debut) as the NZ test team has had a stable lineup in the last decade.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Stone is out for the season with a back injury. We have enough bowling options not to worry too much, but sad for the player himself.

 

[honestbharani]

Think he had the most potential of your younger lot. This sucks.

 

[wpdavid]

Think he had the most potential of your younger lot. This sucks.

Agreed. Plus it gives us one less option in cases of rotation and other players' injuries this summer.

 

[MW1304]

He's had like three of these in as many years, not a great sign.

 

[Starfighter]

Olly Stone out with stress fracture, George Garton drafted in for England's ODIs against Sri Lanka

Ben Stokes set to return to action, for Durham, after being out since April when he picked up a finger injury

www.espncricinfo.com

Garton? Really? I mean, he's sharp but he's a blunderbuss like Mills.

 

[Jack1]

Anderson, Broad and Woakes should be nailed on in England . Stokes as the fourth seamer then Ali or Leach as the spinner. Wood can be back up. Considering this at least we can afford to have an injured bowler. I didn’t count Archer as he’s already injured but I’ll add it

 

[Flem274*]

That sucks about Stone. I rate him, and he would have been good for the upcoming big series.

Mark Wood has gotta stay fit to give England their motorway option.

 

[theegyptian]

Olly Stone out with stress fracture, George Garton drafted in for England's ODIs against Sri Lanka

Ben Stokes set to return to action, for Durham, after being out since April when he picked up a finger injury

www.espncricinfo.com

Garton? Really? I mean, he's sharp but he's a blunderbuss like Mills.

Garton has the advantage of being a really good fielder and an improving batsman who is good enough to bat 6 in T20 for Sussex. From what I've seen he's not that sharp these days anyway (low 80s mph). He's probably just a placeholder anyway.

Mills might have made it imo if he could field and bat a bit to compensate for the erratic nature of his performances with the ball.

 

[Jack1]

I find it ridiculous Alex Hales isn’t nailed on in t20. Don’t give a **** about what happened in the past. If they are picking Stokes then they need to stop *****ing about and pick Hales

 

[BoyBrumby]

Mark Waugh pretty damning on Dom Sibley and England's top order generally in an interview on the Wisen site.

Linky-poo.

Someone like Dom Sibley, he can’t score. You can’t come to Australia with Burns and Sibley opening the batting, because they can’t score. He hasn’t got any shots, Dom Sibley. He’s not a Test player, and quite frankly I don’t know how he got to that level. There’s got to be a shortage of players there.

Saucer of milk for Afghanistan, but there is a kernel of truth in there.

 

[wpdavid]

Mark Waugh pretty damning on Dom Sibley and England's top order generally in an interview on the Wisen site.

Linky-poo.



Saucer of milk for Afghanistan, but there is a kernel of truth in there.

He'd do well to be more damning than most of us on CW. The forgotten Waugh may go slightly further than we do, but not by very much.

 

[MW1304]

Warne saying he doesn't know how Bairstow misses out because he's "performed extremely well" in Tests is pure comedy.

These guys don't actually watch cricket, yet they're paid handsomely to talk about it as if they're the preeminent experts. Forget Sibley, these are the ones stealing a living.

 

[wpdavid]

Ollie Robinson is available for all forms of cricket with immediate effect. I think he's probably competing with Woakes for the number 8 slot at the start of the series, but that could change if our older guys are rotated.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Pope is out injured for at least the rest of this month. Hopes to be fit for the India series.