I mean, you gotta make a call. I would go with Stokes. And even if you wanna retain Root on the basis of him being the only certainty in the test XI, I would at least change Silverwood. Surely there is no excuse when you have a fast bowler as a coach and he oversees the breakdown of some of your best assets?
Let us all be totally honest, is there anyone who didn't expect this to happen?
Stokes is no doubt a better tactician - Root is hopeless. I just don't know how that would sit on Stokes' shoulders.
v good this
What I don't get is why Root seems to be being made to do all these things and make all these decisions on his own? Like where is the support from the backroom staff and the senior players in these bowling plans, fielding changes, etc? We can already see in this series, and Cummins has admitted, that Smith is basically the one setting the fields half the time anyway, and it's abundantly clear that he's getting a lot of help from the backroom staff based on how often they change tactics or drastically improve their bowling plans immediately after a break, so why can't England do similar and bring in much more input in from Stokes etc for the tactical and leadership stuff? But at least as far as I can see, apart from Anderson and Broad more or less setting their own fields, it's mostly Root doing it on his own.
Absolutely right. The fact that it took Root until after the 2nd Test to actually say to his bowlers they were bowling too short, and to the batsmen that they weren't leaving well enough...both were obvious on the first day of the series. He's clearly getting **** all good help from that group. As much as we say his tactics for Leach were dire when he first came on in this Test (and they were), surely that's not just something that Joe Root has thought of on the spot or by themselves. Surely that is a directive as part of the coaching staff etc? Because it was utterly ****, and everyone has to wear that.
If the support staff aren't doing that, then there's no reason for them to be there. You'd think it'd be a massive part of the job, so if they're opting out, the ECB might as well save themselves some money and piss them off. Maybe Root wants to be completely in charge, but I'd doubt it given he's also shouldering the burden of doing 90% of the team's batting. I have to admit though, I was surprised when Anderson said they needed to be told their lengths are wrong during the tests rather than after them. I would have thought a bowler would be able to work this out themselves during the match anyway. Grade cricketers do it, so why wouldn't professionals? Yes, support staff should chime in, but something like bowling lengths I thought would be an each way bet between players and staff.
Haha what was the original reference to this?
36 for 9. they didn't bowl us out at all
Ffs you know sunilz and hb will take this seriously
Nah they’re trash. Not real cricket.
There’s always a million helpers when you’re winning. They all **** off and leave you to it when it goes bad.
Fortunately no one takes them seriously.
