Group 1 (Afghanistan, Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland)

[CricAddict]

Definitely the group of death. 3 super strong t20 teams Eng, NZ and Aus all in with Afghans no slouch either. SL and Zim also most probably will be in this group. SL is in good form right now and Zim just swatted past all the other qualifiers with Raza in Godly form.

 

[Zinzan]

England's WC to lose. Clearly the strongest squad, especially in Aust conditions

 

[theegyptian]

lol. if you say so.

 

[Burgey]

England's WC to lose. Clearly the strongest squad, especially in Aust conditions

Yes they’ve certainly performed well here over the past decade

 

[Nicky]

I'd like to see England with this team :
Buttler, Salt, Malan, Stokes/Livingstone, Brook, Ali, Curran, Woakes, Rashid, Wood, Topley
That's their best bowling attack I think (you might rotate one of the seamers with Willey).
Hales does not look comfortable at all... And he doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the team... He missed a lot of shots, edged, etc... Salt would be much better & more exciting. In my opinion.
Then, I guess it's nice to give Stokes a go. If he doesn't perform, the best pick would be Duckett but he's not in the squad, so probably Livingstone ?

 

[CricAddict]

I'd like to see England with this team :
Buttler, Salt, Malan, Stokes/Livingstone, Brook, Ali, Curran, Woakes, Rashid, Wood, Topley
That's their best bowling attack I think (you might rotate one of the seamers with Willey).
Hales does not look comfortable at all... And he doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the team... He missed a lot of shots, edged, etc... Salt would be much better & more exciting. In my opinion.
Then, I guess it's nice to give Stokes a go. If he doesn't perform, the best pick would be Duckett but he's not in the squad, so probably Livingstone ?

Both Stokes and Livingstone can play in place of one of the bowlers.

 

[GIMH]

Yes they’ve certainly performed well here over the past decade

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[Nicky]

Here's my new XI, for England, if I may...

Buttler, Malan, Stokes, Brook, Livingstone, Ali, Curran, Woakes, Rashid, Wood, Topley

Malan & Buttler looks like a good opening combination as Malan can stick for a long time while Buttler will want to get going early.
Stokes at 3 will give him a bigger role to play which he'll appreciate.
Then Brook, Livingstone & Ali is an explosive middle order.
And that allows 8 bowling options (3 spinners, 5 seamers)

 

[Socerer 01]

Here's my new XI, for England, if I may...

Buttler, Malan, Stokes, Brook, Livingstone, Ali, Curran, Woakes, Rashid, Wood, Topley

Malan & Buttler looks like a good opening combination as Malan can stick for a long time while Buttler will want to get going early.
Stokes at 3 will give him a bigger role to play which he'll appreciate.
Then Brook, Livingstone & Ali is an explosive middle order.
And that allows 8 bowling options (3 spinners, 5 seamers)

I’d switch Malan and Stokes in that batting order if Hales is to be dropped

Although I wouldn’t drop Hales either when he has the best record for an overseas batsman in BBL recently

 

[Bahnz]

So I guess the XI for NZ will be:

Conway, Allen, Williamson, Phillips, Chapman, Neesham, Bracewell, Santner, Boult and two of Ferguson, Milne and Southee

Ugh, NZ are missing Mitchell badly. Can't see them getting out of the group especially given their miserable form in Australia over the past decade.

 

[Moss]

So I guess the XI for NZ will be:

Conway, Allen, Williamson, Phillips, Chapman, Neesham, Bracewell, Santner, Boult and two of Ferguson, Milne and Southee

Ugh, NZ are missing Mitchell badly. Can't see them getting out of the group especially given their miserable form in Australia over the past decade.

Also Ferguson (who has probably been NZ's best white ball bowler alongside Boult and Santner) hasn't been bowling particularly well of late, and the one legspin option is more rocks than diamonds.

TBF last year not many of us predicted NZ to get past a group with India and Pakistan in it and then beat England in the semis. Though I think the pitches in that WC suited NZ's attack more than expected. Getting past Australia and/or England on Australian soil will take some doing.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Topley injured, potentially out the tournament. Big blow for England, bowling stocks left looking very thin.

I don't mind Willey but his bowling is definitely a downgrade on Topley and we don't really need his extra batting (he'd bat 9). I would mind Jordan, don't think his bowling is close to good enough.

Or they use the injury as an excuse to go full meme #batdeep.

Buttler
Hales
Malan
Stokes
Brook
Moeen
Livingstone
Curran
Woakes
Wood
Rashid

 

[honestbharani]

Stokes did bowl with the new ball and Curran did open the bowling with semi-decent success for CSK.

 

[Socerer 01]

Topley injured, potentially out the tournament. Big blow for England, bowling stocks left looking very thin.

I don't mind Willey but his bowling is definitely a downgrade on Topley and we don't really need his extra batting (he'd bat 9). I would mind Jordan, don't think his bowling is close to good enough.

Or they use the injury as an excuse to go full meme #batdeep.

Buttler
Hales
Malan
Stokes
Brook
Moeen
Livingstone
Curran
Woakes
Wood
Rashid

This should be what they do tbh. Between Ali, Livingstone and Stokes one should get four overs or more if at all needed

They could lose a wicket every 2-3 overs and still have enough batdeep to score more than 200 with everyone just smashing it out of the park

 

[Burgey]

Inglis with a seriously cut hand on the golf course today apparently. Hopefully the boot licker gets the can and Green comes into the squad.

 

[straw man]

Dear NZ,

Please give immediate citizenship and smuggle into current team:
Curtis Camphor
Karthik Meiyappan
Blessing Muzarabani
Jan Frylinck

k thx

 

[theegyptian]

Yes Topley out of the tournament. That boy ain't got no luck.

I dunno how I feel about the stack the batting lineup for England people are now suggesting. Curran at 8, Woakes at 9 seems like overkill tbh. I didn't have any issue with Curran at 7. They did fine in Pakistan with the same setup.

Whichever way it goes now though with team selection it will feel like they have too much batting or bowling. Stokes, Livingstone, Ali are near enough in the team alone as batsman. I don't rate any as frontline bowlers in t20 cricket.

Too much batting? Not enough quality bowling?

Buttler, Hales, Malan, Stokes, Brook, Ali, Livingstone, S Curran, Woakes, Rashid, Wood

Too much bowling? Lighter on batting

Buttler, Hales, Malan, Stokes, Ali, Livingstone, SCurran, Woakes, Jordan, Rashid, Wood.



I think I'd be inclined to go the more bowling route tbh. With guys like Buttler and Malan at the top the number 7 bat is rarely doing much anyway and Curran at 7 and Woakes 8 is still strong. This is contingent on the bowler coming in actually been better a better bowler than Ali/Livingstone/Stokes.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

I think I'd be inclined to go the more bowling route tbh. With guys like Buttler and Malan at the top the number 7 bat is rarely doing much anyway and Curran at 7 and Woakes 8 is still strong. This is contingent on the bowler coming in actually been better a better bowler than Ali/Livingstone/Stokes.

I agree fully with this sentiment, though the bolded part is relevant. Topley's bowling justified playing the extra bowler for sure, but if Jordan is the most likely replacement then I'm not convinced his bowling is actually an improvement on Livingstone/Stokes.

I think that team balance still probably is the way to go though, but hopefully with Willey coming in. The surplus of bowling options with that team structure means they can afford to give Willey/Woakes 2 or 3 overs each early on and not be forced to bowl them out later when they're often expensive.

 

[honestbharani]

Yes Topley out of the tournament. That boy ain't got no luck.

I dunno how I feel about the stack the batting lineup for England people are now suggesting. Curran at 8, Woakes at 9 seems like overkill tbh. I didn't have any issue with Curran at 7. They did fine in Pakistan with the same setup.

Whichever way it goes now though with team selection it will feel like they have too much batting or bowling. Stokes, Livingstone, Ali are near enough in the team alone as batsman. I don't rate any as frontline bowlers in t20 cricket.

Too much batting? Not enough quality bowling?

Buttler, Hales, Malan, Stokes, Brook, Ali, Livingstone, S Curran, Woakes, Rashid, Wood

Too much bowling? Lighter on batting

Buttler, Hales, Malan, Stokes, Ali, Livingstone, SCurran, Woakes, Jordan, Rashid, Wood.



I think I'd be inclined to go the more bowling route tbh. With guys like Buttler and Malan at the top the number 7 bat is rarely doing much anyway and Curran at 7 and Woakes 8 is still strong. This is contingent on the bowler coming in actually been better a better bowler than Ali/Livingstone/Stokes.

Not playing Jordan is always better than playing Jordan though.

 

[kevinw]

Topley out is a huge loss. I don't have any confidence in Gleeson and Mills at this level, and Jordan is very much diminishing returns imo.

Willey could come directly in for Topley, but you've got to bowl him and Woakes mostly out in the PP. Curran and Wood can bowl at the death, and holding back 1-2 overs of Woakes is an option too.

Dawson would be another option but you've got lots of spinners already.

Replacing Topley with (it seems) Brook and ensuring the allrounders bowl at least 4 overs, maybe more, is also a possibility. But it's whether Stokes can bowl four overs potentially more than whether Livingstone/Ali will bowl. Stokes ER is likely to be as good as/if not better than Gleeson/Mills/Jordan.