***Official*** England in India 2016/17

[Member Berry]

nice smile, got to have a nice smile.

Not anymore, it seems.

 

[Daemon]

"England have a shallow talent pool and they aren't after the best specialist: they are after a left-arm option who can bat, field and will be low-maintenance on and off the pitch." - George Dobell, Cricinfo (on why Dawson was picked over Leach)

Ignoring that they weren't after "the best specialist", which is bad enough as it is, I don't think I've ever seen "is low maintenance" being touted as a reason for someone to have an opportunity to play for their country. Is "would he make a good housemate / stable boyfriend after a bad break-up?" now part of the criteria for the English selectors when picking someone?

Reckon he might be implying that Leach is high maintenance? Fits in with what Rogers said I suppose.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

 

[Bijed]

dawson is a vastly inferior spinner to batty.

On paper, yes, but it's not unthinkable that he'll bowl better than Batty did this game.

 

[honestbharani]

Dawson could well go ahead and have a great game and a great allround series even, but the philosophy of the selection definitely leaves quite bit to be desired. Since when has it been a necessity to be anything but a good cricketer to be selected for an international cricket side?

 

[Scaly piscine]

"England have a shallow talent pool and they aren't after the best specialist: they are after a left-arm option who can bat, field and will be low-maintenance on and off the pitch." - George Dobell, Cricinfo (on why Dawson was picked over Leach)

Ignoring that they weren't after "the best specialist", which is bad enough as it is, I don't think I've ever seen "is low maintenance" being touted as a reason for someone to have an opportunity to play for their country. Is "would he make a good housemate / stable boyfriend after a bad break-up?" now part of the criteria for the English selectors when picking someone?

Wouldn't put it past this lot.

It is particularly ironic considering the 'high maintenance' cricketers of recent times - Panesar and KP - played such a big part in the series win in India last time.

 

[Spikey]

Maybe they're worried leach will break his glasses and be unable to get a replacement on tour. Dawson doesn't have those maintenance issues i guess

 

[ImpatientLime]

low maintenance is my favourite reasoning since michael beer was called up for knowing the local conditions despite averaging about 50.

 

[andruid]

Ollie Rayner is high maintenance?

 

[mackembhoy]

Keaton Jennings captains Lions to 8 wicket victory over UAE. With an unbeaten 101 for Keats

 

[honestbharani]

They are playing ODs there in the Lions tour? Thought it was a 3 or 4 day game and was thinking, wow, this guy is gonna come in better prepared than the England team.

 

[mackembhoy]

They are playing ODs there in the Lions tour? Thought it was a 3 or 4 day game and was thinking, wow, this guy is gonna come in better prepared than the England team.

Yeah but just continuing the great season in the first opportunity he's had. Durham have batted him sometimes at 11 in white ball cricket and has been in the side more as a bowler.

He began to open towards the end of the season. His most notable knock his 88 in the Natwest blast final, the highest score on finals day ever.

 

[Pothas]

Reckon he might be implying that Leach is high maintenance? Fits in with what Rogers said I suppose.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

Yeah very much the impression I get.

 

[tooextracool]

Completely disagree. My point is that they don't know what they're going to get with a guy that has had one decent season, he represents a risky selection on the basis that he hasn't been tested in all situations and all kinds of conditions. How sure are you that he won't have a Kerrigan-like time if he was selected for India, but more importantly how sure can the selectors be? I'm not saying he'd necessarily fail but maybe they have a longer term plan with him and feeding him to the lions in India is probably not an ideal start for him.

I accept just because a guy has played over 100 first-class games he's all of a sudden going to become effective but he represents a more reliable and consistent selection in terms of they'all be more aware of what they're going to get out of him and he may suit certain plans they can attempt to execute.

I just don't understand how this makes sense. Almost every possible combination that we might go with for the next test has 5 other bowling options (outside of Dawson). Which means that we, more than any other team, have the luxury to afford a Kerrigan-like performance!

What we desperately need though, is a bowler who can take wickets. The way I see it, right now, our pace bowlers and Moeen have been completely neutralized. Do I think Leach is the man who can turn a game in India? Maybe not, but I think he is far more likely to than Dawson on a turning pitch given that he did this game in and game out for his county last season.

 

[cnerd123]

So I decided to actually go and take a look at Jack Leach's bowling

https://vine.co/v/5qWr9diUhrO

Dude's legit. Saw some clips of his county bowling too. Loops it up. Good release point. Sidespinner. Nice, clean, repeatable action.

I'm not sure how many revs he gets on the ball, but he definitely looks like the right type of spinner to succeed on slower turning wickets. The only problem I can see is that he may bowl a bit slower than ideal, but if he's getting enough revs he'll find some drift and dip, and that's enough to compensate. Look at Adil Rashid, You can get away bowling slow in India against the current gen of batsmen. Santner was good here recently as well.

Definitely strikes me as a better wicket-taking option than Zafar or Liam Dawson.

Having said that, Dawson a pretty good looking spinner tbh. But he's an overspinner and he's quick and flat. He may succeed at keeping it tight on a turning pitch, and he might have some guile and cunning given all his experience, but I don't see him actually getting a batsman out. He's more of a build-the-pressure-and-the-batsman-will-get-himself-out kind of bowler with his style. And maybe that's what England wants, just a guy to hold up an end while the quicks and Moeen and Adil look for wickets. I could see him working as a part of a bowling attack, rather than as a stand alone spinner. Think of Giles and Harris when they toured India and the roles they played for their teams.

But yea in terms of who is likely to take more wickets against these batsmen in these conditions, ignoring all else, I'd have gone Leach.

Leach is a very decent looking bowler and I hope they groom him well.

 

[honestbharani]

The real question is, what is so high-maintenance about him that they selected a lesser spinner?

 

[Agent TBY]

So I decided to actually go and take a look at Jack Leach's bowling

https://vine.co/v/5qWr9diUhrO

Definitely strikes me as a better wicket-taking option than Zafar or Liam Dawson.

Yeah, he'll take loads of wickets.

And then the batsmen will all be recalled once they check his front foot.

 

[grecian]

They certainly said that Cook is captain because he is from the right sort of family.

Two likes for that nonsense, **** me. let's hope this series ends soon.

I mean, i clearly would have gone leach, but why the **** are we taking George Dobell's word for anything about how the England camp are thinking, pretty sure he doesn't have their ear, and he's just stirring for the gullible. Which lets face it is cricinfo "journalism" nowadays.

 

[indiaholic]

If you actually believe that I think the English team selects teams based on that then go and get ****ed. It was clearly a joke based on Dobell's comments about Leach.

Dobell is decent at breaking news about English cricket. So he likely has a source on the inside. Doesn't mean that this is true though.

 

[grecian]

If you actually believe that I think the English team selects teams based on that then go and get ****ed. It was clearly a joke based on Dobell's comments about Leach.

Dobell is decent at breaking news about English cricket. So he likely has a source on the inside. Doesn't mean that this is true though.

So it was a joke based on nonsense, hence why it's nonsense, IMHO. he may have had sources once, but comments like this is reasons why he doesn't anymore. The two likes you got were haters of Cook too, so not sure they appreciate your humour either.

As with so many things people want to believe though. This is why Trolling writers exist, and yes I've fallen for it too by getting involved.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Two likes for that nonsense, **** me. let's hope this series ends soon.

I mean, i clearly would have gone leach, but why the **** are we taking George Dobell's word for anything about how the England camp are thinking, pretty sure he doesn't have their ear, and he's just stirring for the gullible. Which lets face it is cricinfo "journalism" nowadays.

Putting 2 + 2 together and obviously making 5 I would say that Dobells view has come from Compton. He was advocating picking Compton last week and seeing as Compo is out in India working for Cricinfo and played with Leach it isn't difficult to suggest that it may have been Compo who had a word in Dobells ear.