Yeah, I thought Mo was Pretty much certain to play, but I may have missed a twist or two.Has Mo definitely said he won't play the Test series? I thought the reports earlier in the Summer suggested he was considering it.
I'd expect Leach and Dawson to be the main spinners, then Root bowling the fill-in overs. Parkinson would probably be on the tour but wouldn't be surprised if he was carrying drinks most of the time. I suspect Stokes and two quicks will be selected too.
Our Test Bowlers (14 including Stokes)Yeah, I thought Mo was Pretty much certain to play, but I may have missed a twist or two.
Does look like Fisher, Stone and Wood are fit now, which does give us some options for the Tests. Would suggest they shouldn't rush to pick Fisher again after a long injury, but Wood should be in contention, as he's pretty used to coming back from Injuries, not sure of Stione yet. Topley has said he want's to play Tests too, could be a wildcard, certainly something different.
Spinner doing a lot of heavy lifting there.I wonder if Dom Bess has batted himself into a spinner's spot?
I think this would be my approach of choice, something like:I'd go with the bold option of playing your seven batsmen and getting overs from Stokes, Mo and Livingstone. Then your four best bowlers. Rash, Wood, Topley and either Woakes or Curran.
That would be my starting lineup. I'd want to be flexible with the batting order depending on wickets. If the third wicket falls after the 12th over, say, get Brook/Livingstone/Ali in ahead of Stokes.I think this would be my approach of choice, something like:
Buttler
Salt
Malan
Stokes
Brook
Livingstone
Moeen
Curran/Woakes
Wood
Rashid
Topley
The latest twist being that he isn't unretired after all.Yeah, I thought Mo was Pretty much certain to play, but I may have missed a twist or two.
At over 50 apiece too. I'd blanch at even calling him a useful part-timer.Moeen and Broad seemed to have ruled themselves out of the Pakistan tour now.
Sam Curran to get Test recall for England’s tour of Pakistan
Exclusive: England are keen to take a left-arm quick bowler to Pakistan to help assemble a varied attack and Curran is expected to be pickedwww.telegraph.co.uk
Looks like Sam Curran, Stone, Jacks, Duckett, and likely Keaton Jennings touring.
Don't mind Curran, Duckett, and Jennings. Less enamoured with Stone and Jacks potential selection. Stone just doesn't have the fitness, maybe if he was an elite level bowler when fit you could take him but he's not. Jacks they seem to be hoping is some kind of Moeen Ali regen but that seems an optimistic sentiment - his bowling to me looks extremely basic, and he's spent most of his batting career in the midlower order (6 downwards). Moeen at least gave the ball a rip, and had batted at 3 regularly for Worcestershire when called up. Jacks doesn't even have a fc 5 wicket haul, in fact he has a paltry 21 wickets in 41 games.
Root is a better option than Bess or Jacks, I just don't see them being relevant for this tour.At over 50 apiece too. I'd blanch at even calling him a useful part-timer.
Slightly less dire in T20, but it's a test tour.