Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Well done.
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2nd Test at Adelaide - 16 to 20 Dec
- Thread starter Gob
- Start date
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Yeah If Woakes was going to average 30 with the bat I'd definitely pick him in the pink ball Tests.
He's not though.
I really love him as a cricketer but Australia is the last place in the world he should be playing.
Absolutely he is - if Marcus Harris is the option before the next bloke, I can only imagine Rolf Harris is next off the ranks. Potentially not available for selection though
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Will still score more runs and face more balls than Harris tbf.
Burgey
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The fact this is even a metric for an Australian opening batsman says a lot.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Yeah I mean... Harris is playing. If you're also playing then it gives you an airgap.
Son Of Coco
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It appears Woakes is the new Ashley Giles.
Red_Ink_Squid
Global Moderator
I'm not enjoying the anti-Woakes chatter recently. I was surprised he was picked ahead of Broad but reading some of the talk over the past week (not just from this board) you'd think that was the decision which threw away the first Test. It wasn't as if Woakes was the reason our batting line up is a shambles nor that we chose to give the Aus attack the best bowling conditions of the match, nor that our fielding is also a shambles. Broad would probably have done a bit better than him with the ball, but I don't think by all that much.
Hopefully Broad and Anderson go well with the pink ball in the next Test, but if they do it hardly proves that they would've gone great at the Gabba had they played.
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Yeah, the old 'we didn't score runs so let's make a bowler or two a scapegoat' theory.
Having said that, Woakes isn't a guy who you'd particularly worry about in Australian conditions. I get that they're trying to manage their bowlers and their loads across five Tests, but Broad was suited more to the conditions. Unfortunately, their batting sucks and they probably felt they needed 20 more runs from Woakes.
Having said that, Woakes isn't a guy who you'd particularly worry about in Australian conditions. I get that they're trying to manage their bowlers and their loads across five Tests, but Broad was suited more to the conditions. Unfortunately, their batting sucks and they probably felt they needed 20 more runs from Woakes.
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
Woakes has done **** all out of England. He hasn't even been a regular at home across his career even where his record is really strong. That's why England's selection for the first test was so out of the blue.
It's not so much that I'm anti Woakes though, as pro Broad/Anderson in this situation.
The only credible reason I see why at least one of Broad or Anderson didn't play that first test was that they were severely lacking in match practice, so much so that if they were to play there was a significant chance they would pull up during the test, or after the test and be ruled out of the series. Any other reason and Root and Silverwood have gone loco.
And yes the decision almost certainly had no impact on the match result.
It's not so much that I'm anti Woakes though, as pro Broad/Anderson in this situation.
The only credible reason I see why at least one of Broad or Anderson didn't play that first test was that they were severely lacking in match practice, so much so that if they were to play there was a significant chance they would pull up during the test, or after the test and be ruled out of the series. Any other reason and Root and Silverwood have gone loco.
And yes the decision almost certainly had no impact on the match result.
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Red_Ink_Squid
Global Moderator
Yeah I agree that's the weirdest part. He's had to sit out of home Tests recently in deference to SCurran and Wood when he would have clearly been the better option then selected at the Gabba ahead of Broad when he wasn't. So there's definitely been some muddled thinking. I just get annoyed at the arguments of 'Player X didn't do well so Player Y who didn't play would obviously have done way better if picked'.
I think it's ok to say that Woakes was likely to struggle without needing hindsight to tell us but that doesn't mean that it was outrageous to pick him ahead of a post-prime and short of match fitness Broad, even though most of us here probably wouldn't have done it.
Burgey
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But they haven't had any match practice since last week either. The reports going around were Anderson bowled in the nets for about 45 minutes the day after he was ruled out. One of them should definitely have played. They seem to have put all their eggs into winning Adelaide under lights, but then what? It's a gamble there as well because it isn't as though Aus's record there is junk. And if they do it's 1-1 with two of the flattest decks in world cricket ahead. Will they not play Sydney and Melbourne either?
I thought one of them playing in Brisbane was a lock tbh. There was something in that deck for the quicks until day three. Really think they missed a major trick there.