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

[S.Kennedy]

With what players though?

Hameed
Jennings
Root *
Moeen Ali
Butler
Stokes
Bairstow +

Bowlers

Ali needs to get some nets against the short stuff.

 

[Furball]

But it was a really competitive series.

Kudos, it's a CW tradition when England lose a series for one neutral to come in and stink the joint up with their posting. Keep carrying that torch.

 

[Compton]

I'm not suggesting that Cook has captained well here; but with the options available to him with the ball, it's no surprise he struggled.

 

[Furball]

I hear you. It's fun to laugh at England though.

That's fine, I'll cop it from actual India supporters, not fairweather fly-by-nights like ***** though.

 

[Pothas]

Hameed
Jennings
Root *
Moeen Ali
Butler
Stokes
Bairstow +

Bowlers

Ali needs to get some nets against the short stuff.

Moeen at 4 and no Cook is quite astonishingly stupid. You said we should go back to basics and then proceed to pick a load of all rounders and a keeper not keeping.

 

[harsh.ag]

Bench strength is impressive with the batting in the Indian side. Jayant Yadav adds much needed depth to the bowling and all-rounder department. Pace bowlers are coming up, with Shami looking set to become a potent force.

Lots of positives.

 

[Furball]

I'm not suggesting that Cook has captained well here; but with the options available to him with the ball, it's no surprise he struggled.

Bowling Moeen and Rashid for 50 overs a piece in Mumbai when Stokes bowled 10 wasn't his finest moment.

 

[Groundking]

Cook at 3? Either you drop him or play him as an opener.

Everybody agrees that his main weakness is that he's a bit suspect against pace, so batting him at 3 protects him a little against the new ball vs Saffers and Australia, and also (hopefully) sets up our opening partnership for the next 10/15 years.

lol. You still pick both Moeen and Rashid after this. You still pick Moeen at 5. lol. People complain about the selectors and then most of the English fans seem to be in agreement to bat Moeen at 4 or 5, and to play two spinners in England???

Rashid deserves a shot at being our frontline spinner in home conditions, as it's obvious that Moeen isn't improving with the ball, so now's the time to try him primarily as a bat, and he deserves it having scored 1078 runs @ 46.86 4 tons 5 50's. If Rashid fails as a spin option over the summer we can then move on and try other people as our mainline spinner, it's obvious after 3 years Moeen isn't going to cut it.

No way imo.

Moeen at 6 is fine. Bairstow at 5.

Bairstow showed his best stuff at 7, and keeping and batting top 5, let alone 6 is excruciatingly difficult, especially with the frailty of the top order. If Bairstow bats top 6 he should be as a pure bat, not a keeper, that means bringing in Buttler, but he's not any better than our bats and Moeen shouldn't be used as frontline spinner moving forwards, ie no room in the team for him.

Stokes and Bairstow are both better allround bats than Moeen, especially in England and Australia. They should both bat higher than him.

Moeen has had a better year than Stokes, especially in England, so this statement is false, and I really don't like have keeper any higher that 6, and really should bat 7, and 6 is already taken by Stokes, it would be a mistake to move Stokes from 6. Moeen is likely to bowl less than Stokes, and as a spinner bowling is less intense for him, so keep Stokes 6 as protection against injury (which he's struggled with) and no.5 is too high for Bairstow.

 

[wpdavid]

Hameed
Jennings
Root *
Moeen Ali
Butler
Stokes
Bairstow +

Bowlers

Ali needs to get some nets against the short stuff.

Buttler in the top 5? I'd rather not, thank you.
And I wouldn't go as far as dropping Cook, but maybe that was a typo.

 

[Furball]

Bench strength is impressive with the batting. Jayant Yadav adds a much needed depth to the bowling and all-rounder department. Pace bowlers are coming up, with Shami looking set to become a potent force.

Lots of positives.

If the BCCI has any sense they'll try and get the likes of Shami and Umesh a county gig next season.

 

[anil1405]

Are people really suggesting Cook should drop down to no.3 or be removed from the team? And I thought Indians tend to give the most knee jerk reactions.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Moeen at 4 and no Cook is quite astonishingly stupid. You said we should go back to basics and then proceed to pick a load of all rounders and a keeper not keeping.

Cook, Hameed or Jennings as a three is equally absurd. Either you go with your new openers or Cook and Hameed/Jennings. Either way, I wouldn't shoe one of them in as a number three as they're all outright lacquer-off-ball openers.

 

[cnerd123]

It's hard to win Tests when you're:

- Lollapsing
- Dropping catches
- Bowling loose deliveries

I doubt shuffling players around will fix this.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Highlights? Who won the "Most positive and healthy individual on field" award

Began the post match interview with "You have to say the better team won" and thrust the mic in Cook's face.

I men he's not wrong but sheesh he did it in such an aggressive way. He's clearly still salty about 2011.

 

[harsh.ag]

This series has a legendary FCA-Average differential fwiw.

 

[cnerd123]

That's fine, I'll cop it from actual Indian supporters, not fairweather fly-by-nights like ***** though.

Aren't you Scottish

 

[wpdavid]

Are people really suggesting Cook should drop down to no.3 or be removed from the team? And I thought Indians tend to give the most knee jerk reactions.

I suspect that the guy who posted a team without Cook in the side at all just made a typo rather than seriously suggesting he shouldn't play.
As for number 3, dunno. Probably not. But I couldn't quite muster the energy to decide how the top 3 should bat if they're all openers.

 

[Captain_Cook]

Are people really suggesting Cook should drop down to no.3 or be removed from the team? And I thought Indians tend to give the most knee jerk reactions.

It would be stupid. Cook is an opening batsman. The major flaw is his discipline outside off (however, it takes a very disciplined bowler to exploit it) and his flick in the leg slip region against spin.

 

[Shri]

And look, I got through the series without getting banned!

#ModMaterial

 

[Furball]

I'm not fussed about Moeen's weakness against short pitched stuff as long as he takes steps to work on it. Short pitched stuff shouldn't be getting you out anyway, just duck and wear a few ffs.