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England thread

Chin Music

State Vice-Captain
Can't believe that he's still there given a) England are out and b) his own form. It really is a waste of his time being there now.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Can't believe that he's still there given a) England are out and b) his own form. It really is a waste of his time being there now.
We’re not officially out tbf, which is ludicrous to me but there you go.

Anyway, Swann still gets grief for abandoning a sinking ship even now so you can understand him sticking around.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
We’re not officially out tbf, which is ludicrous to me but there you go.

Anyway, Swann still gets grief for abandoning a sinking ship even now so you can understand him sticking around.
A bit different here when Stokes obviously intends on playing for England going forward and should be managed to get the most out of him for that, as opposed to Swann who just quit entirely, but yeah knowing what Stokes is like he'd consider that letting his mates down when they were in a rough spot, especially given he unretired for this.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Yeah, it's difficult to be optimistic, especially as fast bowling puts so much stress on a knee. And I wish he'd had the operation a couple of months ago.
I know a lot of people said this pre-WC so it’s not just a hindsight shout but for me Stokes going to the WC was the right decision. The fact it’s all gone wrong is obviously not a good look, but it’s not just him. So I will disagree with you on the basis that i maintain that if Stokes is available you select him.
 

Chin Music

State Vice-Captain
I
We’re not officially out tbf, which is ludicrous to me but there you go.

Anyway, Swann still gets grief for abandoning a sinking ship even now so you can understand him sticking around.
I never really wanted Stokes to play this tournament as I thought England were better off having as fit a possible Stokes as you could have for whatever time he has left in international cricket, especially as he hadn't played ODIs for quite some time before his return. It might be around 3 and possibly max 4 years at the very best anyway. If only he'd had his operation back in August.........
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
I know a lot of people said this pre-WC so it’s not just a hindsight shout but for me Stokes going to the WC was the right decision. The fact it’s all gone wrong is obviously not a good look, but it’s not just him. So I will disagree with you on the basis that i maintain that if Stokes is available you select him.
Stokes as an all rounder is a no brainer - it was key in the T20. Stokes as just a batsman is not such a straightforward decision, especially when you knew he needed surgery before a big Test Tour.

Hindsight is easy of course.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Stokes as an all rounder is a no brainer - it was key in the T20. Stokes as just a batsman is not such a straightforward decision, especially when you knew he needed surgery before a big Test Tour.

Hindsight is easy of course.
It's fairly straightforwards for me. He holds the ODI innings record for England (granted he didn’t at the time of his selection!), he played an incredible innings in the last WC final that I don't think any other batsman plays, etc. I mean that's just looking at ODIs, he also got us over the line in the T20 final & the key group game, and then we come to his Test batting.

There are team balance issues but they aren't solved if you pick Harry Brook or Jason Roy, and Bairstow and Malan do nothing for team balance either. And neither of them are Ben fkn Stokes.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Obviously a Test tour to India is huge, but prioritising Tests at the absolute cost of ODIs is why we were turd at the format from 92-15 and at least part of the reason as to why a line-up of English white ball greats have turned up and stank the joint out.

It's one thing to have players not play bilaterals so they're fresh for Tests. It makes some degree of sense, though as we can see comes back to bite you. But to rest a player who wants to play the WC so you can play Tests would be a whole other degree of insanity IMO.

There are many lessons that I hope we can learn from this WC. Picking Ben Stokes is not one of those lessons.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Let’s be honest, there are other countries which can manage being simultaneously decent across the formats. Why do they even need to prioritise one format over the others? If you have decent players you can play at a decent level across all of them
 

Daemon

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Let’s be honest, there are other countries which can manage being simultaneously decent across the formats. Why do they even need to prioritise one format over the others? If you have decent players you can play at a decent level across all of them
They are very indecent
 

Aidan11

International Vice-Captain
England have been poor in 50 over World Cups since they lost the 92 final.

2019 was the exception.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
Let’s be honest, there are other countries which can manage being simultaneously decent across the formats. Why do they even need to prioritise one format over the others? If you have decent players you can play at a decent level across all of them
One factor might be that no one else plays as much Test Cricket as England. But yeah, I kind of agree with you.
 

RossTaylorsBox

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ben Stokes valiantly unretiring for his country but this brave heroic specimen was cut down with an unforseeable injury, unable to turn his team's fortunes around despite his extraordinary efforts on one leg.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Let’s be honest, there are other countries which can manage being simultaneously decent across the formats. Why do they even need to prioritise one format over the others? If you have decent players you can play at a decent level across all of them
Well yeah I agree. Kind of my point. I know we play more Tests than anyone else, so a bit of give and take is fine, but it feels like we always switch from one focus or another.
 

Molehill

Cricketer Of The Year
Well yeah I agree. Kind of my point. I know we play more Tests than anyone else, so a bit of give and take is fine, but it feels like we always switch from one focus or another.
Mind you, maybe Australia shouldn't have switched their focus to the World Cup halfway through the Ashes!! #22years
 

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