What changes will England make for the second Test?

[Uppercut]

Overton to come in? How's he been bowling lately?

I'd have guessed he's probably better than Wood at home. I like Wood and he's always good to watch but his record is absolutely brutal given how other bowlers have been doing in England during his career.

 

[wpdavid]

Apparently they've called up Mahmood. Rightly or wrongly, I wouldn't be surprised if he leapfrogs Overton.

 

[Jack1]

If Broad is available then I would select the following team:

1. Burns
2. Hameed
3. Sibley
4. Root
5. Bairstow
6. Buttler
7. Ali
8. Curran
9. Robinson
10. Broad
11. Anderson

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Overton to come in? How's he been bowling lately?

I'd have guessed he's probably better than Wood at home. I like Wood and he's always good to watch but his record is absolutely brutal given how other bowlers have been doing in England during his career.

I've hardly watched him for myself but from following scorecards and match reports he's been tearing things up at County level consistently for the past few seasons now. Like, averages ~13 with the ball this year and last.

Not sure he can have played much FC cricket recently though. He's been in the current squad without playing and was an unused squad member in the New Zealand series earlier in the season too.

I think he should play if Anderson and Broad are indeed both out. I sense that the general feeling around him is that he doesn't have a particularly high ceiling at international level but he's always done kind of ok when he plays and I think that's fine when your 4 first choice bowlers are all out and you just need cover for the odd Test. Also brings the Can Bat factor.

 

[wpdavid]

I've hardly watched him for myself but from following scorecards and match reports he's been tearing things up at County level consistently for the past few seasons now. Like, averages ~13 with the ball this year and last.

Not sure he can have played much FC cricket recently though. He's been in the current squad without playing and was an unused squad member in the New Zealand series earlier in the season too.

I think he should play if Anderson and Broad are indeed both out. I sense that the general feeling around him is that he doesn't have a particularly high ceiling at international level but he's always done kind of ok when he plays and I think that's fine when your 4 first choice bowlers are all out and you just need cover for the odd Test. Also brings the Can Bat factor.

I had no idea that his county average was that impressive, even allowing for most of the county games being played in April and May this year. Sounds like he'd have grounds for complaint if he wasn't selected in a home game when we're missing Broad and Anderson. And he'd definitely be our best number 10 for a while, although that shouldn't be the main consideration.

 

[Uppercut]

I've hardly watched him for myself but from following scorecards and match reports he's been tearing things up at County level consistently for the past few seasons now. Like, averages ~13 with the ball this year and last.

Not sure he can have played much FC cricket recently though. He's been in the current squad without playing and was an unused squad member in the New Zealand series earlier in the season too.

I think he should play if Anderson and Broad are indeed both out. I sense that the general feeling around him is that he doesn't have a particularly high ceiling at international level but he's always done kind of ok when he plays and I think that's fine when your 4 first choice bowlers are all out and you just need cover for the odd Test. Also brings the Can Bat factor.

Huh, interesting. Is there any reason why he couldn't be as good as, say, Woakes? I feel like medium-fast county stars tend to go well in home tests.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Huh, interesting. Is there any reason why he couldn't be as good as, say, Woakes? I feel like medium-fast county stars tend to go well in home tests.

Pace is a bit slower than Woakes but gets good bounce due to his height. In my head I think of him as being quite a similar bowler to Robinson, who's obviously going ok just now.

Probably unfortunate that his few Test caps to date have been on mostly flat pitches both home and away vs Steve Smith in cheat mode.

 

[Jack1]

If Broad is available then I would select the following team:

1. Burns
2. Hameed
3. Sibley
4. Root
5. Bairstow
6. Buttler
7. Ali
8. Curran
9. Robinson
10. Broad
11. Anderson

Seems Anderson and Broad might both be out. I need to think a bit, but think I would play Wood and Overton if Anderson and Broad are out. Overton 9, Robinson 10, Wood 11. If just one is out then it is difficult. Perhaps Overton because Wood is much stronger away from home than at home statistically.

 

[Flem274*]

yeah woakes is actually respectably sharp at full tilt (high 130s), he's just not good away from home at all. quite different to overton who is medium fast but hits the deck hard.

assuming the worst with the injuries, i would pick

burns
sibley
pope
root
hameed
bairstow
buttler
wood
robinson
overton
leach

moeen is a wasted spot nowadays. would consider retaining sam curran at hameed's expense and slide bairstow/buttler up one but i think england need the batting depth without compromising their bowling.

sibley cops a lot of stick because he's ugly but when you have no opener depth you can do a lot worse than use a bloke who usually takes forever to get out for his gruesome 30. every ball builds a partnership and delays india's chances at root.

 

[Uppercut]

Pace is a bit slower than Woakes but gets good bounce due to his height. In my head I think of him as being quite a similar bowler to Robinson, who's obviously going ok just now.

Probably unfortunate that his few Test caps to date have been on mostly flat pitches both home and away vs Steve Smith in cheat mode.

In fairness to the selectors, Robinson looks obviously up to it in a way that Overton doesn't really. But if that's his general style then there's no real excuse for overlooking his stacks of county wickets.

I guess Mahmood is probably pretty good too.

Could be wrong but I remember Woakes being slower when he debuted than he is now. It's common enough for players to add some pace when they start working with the England team, though it usually leads to a lot of injuries.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

It might just be coincidence but ever since they came up with the nonsensical rotation policy for the fast bowlers they've produced a constant stream of cripples.

 

[Uppercut]

Huh, England have a rotation policy? Not enough of one, clearly.

Test cricket is such a nightmare for workload management. The sport mandates exactly what sports science says you shouldn't do, especially when England's batsmen are robbing them of recovery days.

 

[wpdavid]

It might just be coincidence but ever since they came up with the nonsensical rotation policy for the fast bowlers they've produced a constant stream of cripples.

Appealing thought, but Archer hasn't been rotated (I think he was injured after the first test in India maybe?), Stone is regularly crocked, Woakes hasn't been picked for ages, and I don't think that Broad or Anderson has been rotated this summer. Mind you, the last two may be more vulnerable to various strains because they've barely played due to our domestic structure.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

With their rotation policy they appear to decide who's playing where and when well in advance. It hasn't gone to plan with the bowlers because of all the injuries. There's been no opportunity to rotate Broad and Anderson this summer with only two Tests early in the summer and then two months off but I doubt they ever wanted to play Broad and Anderson in 5 Tests in 6 weeks against India, but they ideally would want one or the other.

 

[Uppercut]

With their rotation policy they appear to decide who's playing where and when well in advance. It hasn't gone to plan with the bowlers because of all the injuries. There's been no opportunity to rotate Broad and Anderson this summer with only two Tests early in the summer and then two months off but I doubt they ever wanted to play Broad and Anderson in 5 Tests in 6 weeks against India, but they ideally would want one or the other.

I figured any rotation policy would have had either of them missing one of the first two tests. Expecting them to play all five tests never felt realistic and back-to-back tests at the start of the series was the obvious place to give one of them a rest. But then they had the fourth and fifth days off, and if Woakes might be back for the third test, maybe that's a better one for them to miss.

Assuming they both picked up muscle injuries in training, that's not bad luck. Either the fitness guys have ****ed up or Broad and Anderson overworked themselves in the nets too soon after a game. At their age and with so little long form cricket lately they'll have absolutely disgusting recovery times.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Bang goes being able to say, "Well, at least our bowling attack is test quality in home conditions."

Guessing from the call ups and the noises emanating from the camp I think we'll likely see an XI looking like this:

Burns
Sibley
Hameed
Root*
Bairstow
Buttler+
Moeen
Curran, S
Overton, C
Robinson
Wood

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Is it bad that despite the obvious drop in bowling quality, looking at that prospective line up I'm a bit excited about the potential for lower order troll runs?

 

[wpdavid]

Is it bad that despite the obvious drop in bowling quality, looking at that prospective line up I'm a bit excited about the potential for lower order troll runs?

Steady on mate, even allowing for the 'bit' excited. But there's no denying that it's our least weak tail for many a year. Even if us commenting favourably on it does guarantee that we'll lose our last five wickets for 20. I quite like the amount of variety in our quicks, and I don't think they'll be a disaster.

 

[wpdavid]

Apparently Broad's out for the rest of the series.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

We are so ****ed now we have no bowling as well as a dire batting line up.