England players and selection discussion thread

[thierry henry]

Woke up this morning and turns out the captain of the England cricket team is still a ginger dimwit from Christchurch who was literally caught on camera king hitting and KOing some poor bloke he easily could have killed. Now I’m sure Richie Benaud did things like that all the time but at least Richie was a proper bowler.

 

[Flem274*]

ginger dimwit from Christchurch

you could have just said 'nazi' and we'd get the picture

 

[honestbharani]

why not make Bairstow the vice captain?

 

[Chubb]

why not make Bairstow the vice captain?

Because he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I for one am pleased a state educated kid (albeit one who enjoyed the advantages of being partly raised in NZ and a sportsman for a father) is now captain of England.

 

[honestbharani]

Because he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

So, wont that be the best foil to Stokes?

But seriously, I think you gotta go with the next best you have and hope they grow into the role. I will give it to Jonny.

 

[Chubb]

So, wont that be the best foil to Stokes?

Arguably Stokes needs a calm, smart guy as his vice captain.

 

[Xix2565]

Yeah but Crawley is that guy?

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Where does the rumour about Zak Crawley originate from? I haven’t seen or heard it anywhere except in this thread yesterday.

 

[ImpatientLime]

i saw that monotonous cretin 'cricket badger' tweet about it. think it might be buried in some daily heil article as that seemed to be what he was quoting.

 

[chris.hinton]

Stokes will be England Captain. TBH he was the only Candidate as the others aren't good enough or consistent enough to stay in the team (Broad and Anderson wouldn't be a good option now either)

 

[Uppercut]

In a difficult situation with no ideal solution, the England selectors will always somehow find the worst possible option. Rule of nature.

 

[trundler]

Flawed logic though, right? Just because other all rounders were bad doesn’t mean he will be. The fact he’s more of a partnership breaker (or should be) than frontline bowler might help.

I dunno, jury is out I guess. I don’t know who else we could have picked.

I don't think it's just about him being an AR but the type of all rounder he is and the workload he's shouldering already.

 

[Gnske]

Congratulations to known thug Ben Stokes on achieving the England captaincy.

What a wonderful moment.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

He's either innately or through pressures in his life known to be fragile mentally away from the cricket field, and I suspect he's likely to become increasingly fragile physically on the field - plus the team is appallingly awful. Good luck mate.

 

[Uppercut]

I think they've overestimated how big a problem it is to have a captain who isn't scoring many runs. England don't have good batsmen, so his replacement wouldn't be scoring many runs either. So it's not like they're actually losing any cricketing ability by fielding an underperforming captain. It just looks a bit embarrassing for the selectors and might give them a difficult decision to make at some stage.

Stokes is a major cricketing asset that needs to be carefully managed. You have a lot more to lose by making him captain, and I'm not convinced there's much upside.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I think it is a good choice, although I'd move him to 6 and Root back to 4.

 

[Starfighter]

I think they've overestimated how big a problem it is to have a captain who isn't scoring many runs. England don't have good batsmen, so his replacement wouldn't be scoring many runs either. So it's not like they're actually losing any cricketing ability by fielding an underperforming captain. It just looks a bit embarrassing for the selectors and might give them a difficult decision to make at some stage.

Stokes is a major cricketing asset that needs to be carefully managed. You have a lot more to lose by making him captain, and I'm not convinced there's much upside.

I agree making Stokes captain has a lot of potential downside, but who would you nominate?

 

[Uppercut]

I agree making Stokes captain has a lot of potential downside, but who would you nominate?

I think the least worst options were Buttler and Burns. I don't think Burns should have been dropped though. Recalling him as captain might be a bit awkward.

 

[trundler]

I would've given it to Foakes.

 

[andruid]

Captain Stokes with Foakes and Woakes as Vice captains?