England players and selection discussion thread

[BoyBrumby]

Has the ECB given any rationale for the change in their residency qualification? Does seem a complete volte face at first glance.

No problems with it myself (Yer KPs, Trotts and Archers of this world would have been eligible for the football and union national teams without ever setting foot in England by virtue of their parental qualifications and British passports), but reducing it to three years immediately before a world cup does slightly smack of expediency to get young Jofra into the fold.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Blame Brexit.

 

[Prince EWS]

Has the ECB given any rationale for the change in their residency qualification? Does seem a complete volte face at first glance.

No problems with it myself (Yer KPs, Trotts and Archers of this world would have been eligible for the football and union national teams without ever setting foot in England by virtue of their parental qualifications and British passports), but reducing it to three years immediately before a world cup does slightly smack of expediency to get young Jofra into the fold.

They've literally scrapped it the very first time it would have mattered. I find it hard to criticise them for deciding not to impose a restriction on themselves that other teams aren't, but it makes a complete mockery of the fact that they decided to bring that rule in in the first place.

 

[Howe_zat]

Same squad for the Windies series.

My guess is that they always intended to keep this squad for the whole winter once it was picked.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

May have made changes had we got stuffed in Sri Lanka but seeing as they won they don't need to change it. Think Denly is a lucky boy to still be involved, hardly the future and can't see him playing in the ashes even if we change the team a bit.

 

[Tom Flint]

Listening to ed Smith on talk sport today I think we will be going with Ali + either leach or Rashid in the starting xi.

 

[Beamer]

Listening to ed Smith on talk sport today I think we will be going with Ali + either leach or Rashid in the starting xi.

Interesting. The tests are in Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia. The last test in Barbados was a real seamers wicket (admittedly a day/night fixture). The ball does tend to turn and bounce a bit there too.

Antigua is flat and placid without being too slow and low. The ball does turn there, particularly on day 3 onwards.

St Lucia is usually the best cricket wicket in the Caribbean with good pace and bounce.

I'd say our best chance of winning is to bowl England out with Gabriel, Holder and Roach, therefore they'll prepare more seam friendly wickets. I could be wrong though.

 

[FBU]

Last time in West Indies we only played one spinner -
Cricket Records | Records | The Wisden Trophy, 2015 - England | | Batting and bowling averages | ESPNcricinfo

In the last two years at home 8 Tests Gabriel 16.74, Holder 14.36 and Roach 18.06. Amazing.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

For someone who looked fairly innocuous, James Tredwell has a pretty decent international record.

 

[Tom Flint]

He kept mentioning the lions tour last year where the spinners cleaned up. This is the team I think they will select
Burns
Jennings
Bairstow
Root
Buttler +
Stokes
Curran
Ali
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

 

[Howe_zat]

Rashid seems like our 3rd best spinner so I'd leave him out.

Can't decide whether or not Foakes gets a gig. Despite the allrounders, playing 6 bowlers seems like a luxury we can't really afford given the matches are fairly likely to be low scoring.

 

[Beamer]

He kept mentioning the lions tour last year where the spinners cleaned up. This is the team I think they will select
Burns
Jennings
Bairstow
Root
Buttler +
Stokes
Curran
Ali
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

IMHO these pitches will be nothing like that. At least not based on recent history. So overkill on spin would be a mistake.

 

[Beamer]

Last time in West Indies we only played one spinner -
Cricket Records | Records | The Wisden Trophy, 2015 - England | | Batting and bowling averages | ESPNcricinfo

In the last two years at home 8 Tests Gabriel 16.74, Holder 14.36 and Roach 18.06. Amazing.

Our top 3 seamers are class and will cause problems. Alas our batting is awful and so we wont have enough runs on the board to make it matter.

 

[Tom Flint]

That wasn't the team I would pick. It's just what I think they will select after hearing ed Smith yesterday

 

[Beamer]

That wasn't the team I would pick. It's just what I think they will select after hearing ed Smith yesterday

They need to look at the last few tests, not just that A tour where Cornwall and Warrican bundled England Lions out. The Caribbean has a number of different pitches nowadays, you can't just look at an A tour and decide it's going to turn square.

 

[Woodster]

If a pitch is going to rag I'd imagine Moeen and Leach would get the nod, the flatter it is the more likely Rashid will get the nod over Leach I'd have thought, but would they go with two spinners in those circumstances anyway ?

 

[Essexboi]

I don't think there's anyway Foakes doesn't make the side but becoming difficult to see how we get all the all rounders and wk's in the side. I believe a make up of 5 keepers and 6 all rounders should be about perfect.
I'd go...

Woakes (3rd AR)
Burns (4th WK)
Bairstow (2nd WK)
Root (must learn to keep or drop him for Sam Billings)
Stokes (1st AR)
Buttler (3rd WK)
Foakes (1st WK)
Curran (2nd AR)
Ali (4th AR)
Rashid (5th AR)
Anderson (must learn to bat or drop him for Darren Stevens)

 

[theegyptian]

Archer available from January 1


He's certainly good enough to be in the ODI squad and team.

6 months before a WC in which they are favourites with/ or without Archer it's going to be interesting to see how they fit him in/or not. They've spent the last 3 and 1/2 years planning and building for the WC, all the players know their roles. Backroom staff know all the players temperaments.

It does risk changing the teams equilibrium.

However they have bowlers like Wood, Willey, Curran who will make the WC squad who are average. They've got to try and get him in there imo.

Yes I've come down conclusively on the side of getting Archer in now. In a year in which we've conceeded 371 vs Scotland and lost the game, and 366 to Sri Lanka and lost by 219 runs. Yes we've been consistently very good and we are favourites with/or without Archer, but if by getting archer in we are cutting down the chances of conceeding a massive score that even we can't chase down then yes we should. He's better than Wood, Willey, Curran imo. Plunkett's performances are weakening. Different format but Willey isn't even bowling for his big bash side.

 

[Woodster]

Yes for me Archer has to be a certainty to make the ODI squad at the very least, I think he should make the XI aswell. Consistently quick, decent slower balls, nails the yorkers, while making it all look rather effortless.

He has to start in the T20 side and may be made to wait a little longer to get in the Test side, which I think is fair enough, but he’s a very exciting addition to the selection pool of players.

 

[BSM]

He won't get into the test team right now. With the summer coming up. Woakes, Curran, Broad and Anderson all perform well enough in home conditions. Broad is the only one suspect on form but at home against Australia you'll back him to perform well. Probably doesn't have another 8-15 in him but but he'll hopefully do enough

For odis and t20is though, he should definitely be brought in as soon as possible. England won't want to shake up their WC squad too much so soon before the tournament but he is a massive improvement on the likes of Mark Wood and David Willey surely.