England players and selection discussion thread

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Stokes should play. J Overton for Anderson looks like the only change. (Ankle issue for Jimmy.)

 

[Uppercut]

Jamie Overton is rapid right? Pretty exciting for England if he's now found a way to take wickets.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Jamie Overton is rapid right? Pretty exciting for England if he's now found a way to take wickets.

Yeah, he's a lot quicker than his brother*, hits 90mph. Had lots of struggles with both consistency and injury over the years, but supposedly bowling at his best this season.

One silver lining from all the injuries we've had is being able to call up bowlers while they're in peak form, like with Potts beforehand. I think with quicks that can work well.


*other than to say 'Hi' to Azhar Ali of course

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, he's a lot quicker than his brother*, hits 90mph. Had lots of struggles with both consistency and injury over the years, but supposedly bowling at his best this season.

One silver lining from all the injuries we've had is being able to call up bowlers while they're in peak form, like with Potts beforehand. I think with quicks that can work well.


*other than to say 'Hi' to Azhar Ali of course

Yeah I don't think fast bowlers should need to prove themselves over an extended period of time to get selected. Compared to batsmen you get a much better impression of how good they are by watching a few overs.

 

[wpdavid]

Yeah I don't think fast bowlers should need to prove themselves over an extended period of time to get selected. Compared to batsmen you get a much better impression of how good they are by watching a few overs.

Plus, if they do mess up at first, they can come back for a second spell and do better. Which is obviously not the case with batsmen of course. Actually, that's almost exactly what J. Overton did the other day when I watching the live stream. Sprayed it all over the place in his first spell - think a less accurate version of Devon Malcolm and you're pretty much there. But his second spell was excellent. I may be wrong, but I don't think he's at his best with the new ball, so maybe Potts will open with Broad,

 

[grecian]

Yeah, he's a lot quicker than his brother*, hits 90mph. Had lots of struggles with both consistency and injury over the years, but supposedly bowling for Surrey not Somerset this season.

One silver lining from all the injuries we've had is being able to call up bowlers while they're in peak form, like with Potts beforehand. I think with quicks that can work well.


*other than to say 'Hi' to Azhar Ali of course

Corrected

 

[wpdavid]

Corrected

True. But he is bowling better this season than he was for Surrey last season. No idea how this compares to how he used to bowl for Somerset.,

 

[grecian]

True. But he is bowling better this season than he was for Surrey last season. No idea how this compares to how he used to bowl for Somerset.,

He's getting how he was with us near the end, an excellent foil to steadier bowlers, think for two years it's not been good for Jove or Somerset, he went backwards and we missed his pace, De Lange has been poor in County Championship, and has meant that we haven't strengthened were we needed to.

He has improved as a bat though, so there's that.

I am interested to see how he goes though he definitely could be a point of difference, but should be remembered he's ridiculously injury-prone, so not much different to England's other Difference-makers, who tend to worry physios more than batsmen most of the time.

 

[Chubb]

It's interesting that of two identical twins, one is capable of bowling 90+ but the other is 85 at best despite identical genetics eh.

 

[AndrewB]

Alec Bedser (top class RMF) and his twin Eric (useful county batsman/off-spinner) weren’t very similar as players, though it’s said that they tossed a coin to decide which of them got to be the pace bowler.

 

[Chubb]

Alec Bedser (top class RMF) and his twin Eric (useful county batsman/off-spinner) weren’t very similar as players, though it’s said that they tossed a coin to decide which of them got to be the pace bowler.

True I forgot about them. And I guess of Hamish and James Marshall, Hamish was the better batsman.

 

[Starfighter]

From a Reddit quote of a Telegraph article:

Stokes gave full-throated support to Zak Crawley, the only player who has underperformed so far, confirming he will keep his place “regardless” of what happens against India.

“When we picked the squad before we’d even played a Test match the squad was picked on the basis that every player in every position is the best player in England to carry us forward in the way that we want to.

“This team and this squad is going to be given a lot of time to perform. Zak Crawley is still in my plans and Brendon's plans going forward, to make this to make this Test team great again,” he said.

SMFH

 

[BoyBrumby]

This team and this squad is going to be given a lot of time to perform. Zak Crawley is still in my plans and Brendon's plans going forward, to make this to make this Test team great again

There it is; Stokes is a MEGA supporter...

 

[kevinw]

Even if the weather is fair and the pitch dead, I still don't see Crawley getting runs in this Test. TBF I don't see him getting many against Rabada or Nortje either.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Even if the weather is fair and the pitch dead, I still don't see Crawley getting runs in this Test. TBF I don't see him getting many against Rabada or Nortje either.

Aside from Bob Key, Ben Stokes and Baz McCullum (and maybe members of Crawley's immediate family, although I suspect they're on the fence) no one does.

 

[Chubb]

This is just getting ridiculous with Crawley. If only every batsman knew they would keep their place “whatever happens”. What a charmed life he leads.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Yeah those words from Stokes go beyond "showing support for your incumbents" and into "showing contempt for everyone in County Cricket". Taking Stokes at his word, he's saying that no matter how well other openers in the Championship perform, they'll never displace Crawley, even if he's terrible.

 

[ImpatientLime]

bloke ain't good enough for kent nevermind england.

 

[theegyptian]

Stokes was hardly going to say otherwise having selected him.

It's not the easiest of things because Crawley's confidence looks at a very low ebb last test and it's not doing him much good playing at this point.

It's also not that easy to bring someone else in for this one off test too with the next test not coming for 7 weeks after this one, and the very short time period between the last test and this test. I doubt Stokes or Mcullum know who is next in line for the opener spot. They probably want 7 weeks to figure out who it should be, rather than play a random for 1 test and then maybe drop him, or have to give him say 8 tests to try and prove himself - even if they don't rate the newcomer. (they'd clearly like Crawley to be the guy but he isn't that at present).

It was slightly alarming what Stokes said after the last test "It's not necessarily about your stats, or anything like that. It's the manner that you play that is probably going to be first and foremost on selectors' minds". Players coming through are already looking at the short formats adoringly because of the incentives involved. You wonder if somone like Alastair Cook was coming through now whether he'd be overlooked, or forced to play a more aggressive style that didn't suit as much.

Still you can't fault the results so far, especially coming off the previous run of form.

 

[Starfighter]

Stokes was hardly going to say otherwise having selected him.

Bulldust. There's a million other ways to spin it than what he said. What he said implies that he'll be selected indefinitely - or at very least the rest of this season, regardless of results.