*Official* 3rd Test at the Sardar Patel Sports Complex, Ahmedabad, 24 - 28 Feb 2021

[Shri]

50% capacity because of covid

so only 50,000 allowed inside

 

[Shri]

 

[ParwazHaiJunoon]

England's best Xl

Moeen replaces Burns at the top
Baristow replaces Lawrence
Anderson replaces Broad

Moeen
Sibley
Baristow
Root
Stokes
Pope
Foakes
Bess / Woakes
Leach
Stone
Anderson

 

[Senile Sentry]

Wow.

 

[Shri]

uh guys...there are no lights in the stadium

day night test how

jk stadium has got those new ring lights all around the roof

 

[Senile Sentry]

Not convinced with ring lighting... players were finding it difficult to spot the ball in the IPL at Dubai

 

[Pothas]

Sibley
Crawley
Bairstow
Root
Stokes
Pope
Foakes
Woakes
Leach
Stone/ Archer
Anderson

Maybe? I know that means no Broad but the tail looks pretty horrible if you don't have Woakes in there, he could just play instead of Archer/Stone. Not really sure about those batting changes either really, as others have said Bairstow at 3 is fine for Sri Lanka but India in a day-night Test...

Oh and obviously Stokes should be moving to 6 in this particular team.

 

[Shri]

England's best Xl

Moeen replaces Burns at the top
Baristow replaces Lawrence
Anderson replaces Broad

Moeen
Sibley
Baristow
Root
Stokes
Pope
Foakes
Bess / Woakes
Leach
Stone
Anderson

that looks a terrible lineup

don't see them changing the openers

burns
sibley
lawrence
root
stokes
bairstow
foakes
ali
woakes
leach
anderson

stone out for anderson

make ali work on bowling tighter and try to cut down on full tosses

woakes in for broad because malfoy sucks at tests in india and woakes can extract more out of the conditions than he can

i think leach is going to continue to get worse with his bowling because the batters are starting to play him like how they played steve o'keefe after his 12 fer in pune. they are staying leg side of his darts and are starting to pick him off. will only get worse. might be a better bet to drop him for a leg spinner

bear stew in for pope. lollipop is a talent no doubt but his style of playing spin might not be what eng needs atm. would pick someone who can bash a few.

 

[theegyptian]

Feel sorry for Root and Moeen, in regards to the Moeen resting.

Root having to explain it to the media, and continously have to made big changes to his side.

Ali's is going to get a **** load of criticism for going home but he has been stuck in the bubble for a long time, a lot of the time not even playing. It's not his fault the management have ****ed up and this is the only time they are giving him to rest.

Just goes to show that the ODI and T20s may now be even more important than the test side. Morgan must have some large power to have full strength sides for the T20s (and probably the odis - the squad isn't out yet) when the test side is rotated around for probably the toughest series around in international cricket right now.

 

[mackembhoy]

Feel sorry for Root and Moeen, in regards to the Moeen resting.

Root having to explain it to the media, and continously have to made big changes to his side.

Ali's is going to get a **** load of criticism for going home but he has been stuck in the bubble for a long time, a lot of the time not evening playing. It's not his fault the management have ****ed up and this is the only time they are giving him to rest.

Just goes to show that the ODI and T20s may now be even more important than the test side. Morgan must have some large power to have full strength sides for the T20s (and probably the odis - the squad isn't out yet) when the test side is rotated around for probably the toughest series around in international cricket right now.

Yep Morgan gets who ever he wants. Root has to do with a makeshift squad in a marquee series which is effectively a semi final.

Him having to blame the bubble is wrong. Was a pre planned rest for the world cup just like Buttler, Bairstow, Wood and Curran.

Ali and Buttler probably more than happy to take that up. Rest not so much.

 

[Pothas]

It is at least in part due to the schedule, long stretches in the bubble are obviously the issue. If the white ball cricket had been inbetween this and the Sri Lanka series then things would probably look a bit different.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Six words for you all:

James Anderson. Pink ball.

 

[theegyptian]

I was cautiously optimistic before this Moeen news that we might have pulled something off in 1 of the remaining 2 tests and got a draw out of the series.

However this kind of crushes my optimism. Just the fact that they selected Moeen for test 2 when they knew he was likely returning home for the 3rd test suggests that they think Bess is bowling garbage. Moeen hadn't played for ages so they must have known it was going to take a while to get into match bowling rhythm this test, and it's all for nothing since he's going home.

Just more garbage for Root to try and work with.

It does suggest that Root is a bit of a soft touch. Morgan gets full strength sides for t20s (and presumably odis) whilst Root gets **** for this supposed key test series. The Rahane referral on day 1 of this past test too- not getting his point over to the umpires. He's too nice a bloke almost.

 

[Teja.]

Apparently the stadium is fully sold out which means 55k people even with COVID protocols. Going to be so epic.

 

[cnerd123]

Maybe they just wanted to rest Bess because he's played a lot recently and might have a few niggles? Or felt bad about carrying Moeen around in so many bubbles without letting him play so gave him a Test.

 

[Shri]

Maybe they just wanted to rest Bess because he's played a lot recently and might have a few niggles? Or felt bad about carrying Moeen around in so many bubbles without letting him play so gave him a Test.

dropped
r
o
p
p
e
d

 

[Prince EWS]

Maybe they just wanted to rest Bess because he's played a lot recently and might have a few niggles?

Yeah Bess seemed really visibly fatigued in the second innings, and he's not only played three Tests in a month but a shouldered a very heavy workload (43 overs, 42 overs, 34 overs).

He's not used to five day cricket and he only bowls 28 overs per FC game on average. Moeen going home effectively meant they were banking on Bess to be available and fresh for the third and fourth Tests, which probably prompted the swap as much as anything.

He was still definitely dropped. Dropped. But given the droppings in this series have been so planned out I wouldn't be surprised if "Bess probably shouldn't play all four Tests judging by how rekt he looked in the second innings" was part of the rationale for it.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Rumour had it that part of their nonsensical selection policy was bringing Mark Wood back for the final two Tests with a particular eye on the day-nighter.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Counter-intuitutively I'd probably give Leach a break, he's bowled alot of overs since SL and might need to freshen up.

Anderson, Archer, Woakes, Bess, Stokes would be my attack, hopefully Stokes is used alot more during this test

It's a close one between Archer and Broad for me, not sure who will get the nod

 

[centurymaker]

likely xi

burns/crawley
sibley
bairstow
root
stokes
pope
foakes
woakes
bess/stone/wood
leach
anderson