***Official*** England in West Indies 2015

[OverratedSanity]

Ali = one-trick India killer?

Maybe he is a rubbish part timer after all

Actually, nah, he bowled poorly but he did come in half fit. Don't think it's fair to judge him too harshly on this performance.

 

[Spark]

In Brathwaite, Blackwood, Bravo, Holder, Taylor and a fully fit Roach they have more good players in the same side than they have had for years regardless of what happens to Chanderpaul now.

+who give a ****, more importantly.

 

[NasserFan207]

Englands new crop just aren't very good. For now anyway.

Pleased for Holder and Simmons

 

[BeeGee]

Blackwood can't be that far from MOTS

Really liking the cut of Blackwood's jib. WI have some talented youngsters. Holder is going to be a star.

 

[Cabinet96]

Sorry, but if we have any aspirations of performing at a high level in the International game then you have to be aiming to beat one of the weakest opponents, home or away. How many of our players have performed at the levels you would expect of them? Had they done so, would we have won the series? Is that acceptable?

Graves may not have come up with a media-sanitised soundbite, but he's a Yorkshireman and you can't expect much else on that front. We've been railing against corporate speak and bland nothingness in the Moores era and yet a blunt challenge to our own side - and indeed an admission that we're not as good as we'd like to be - is unacceptable? Do we think the Australians will be hand-wringing when someone tells the world they're coming here to hammer a "mediocre" England?

We weren't good enough. Again. We've done that a lot recently and nothing has changed.

So maybe this time something might?

Yeah look it's disappointing. It's fine to have high aspirations, but realistically we're not there at the moment. If we'd got over the line in Antigua that would've constituted a good series. The margins weren't huge.

I thought most of the batsman, bar Trott and maybe Bell despite a good ton in 1st test, did well, but the bowling is a major worry. Need to reassess our bowling pecking order ahead of the home summer IMO.

 

[Furball]

In terms of poor decisions, Sky deciding "I know, let's put Steve Harmison in the studio for some analysis" must be up there.

 

[Furball]

Yeah look it's disappointing. It's fine to have high aspirations, but realistically we're not there at the moment. If we'd got over the line in Antigua that would've constituted a good series. The margins weren't huge.

I thought most of the batsman, bar Trott and maybe Bell despite a good ton in 1st test, did well, but the bowling is a major worry. Need to reassess our bowling pecking order ahead of the home summer IMO.

The bowling seems to have been muddled by the presence of Moeen and Stokes.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Actually, nah, he bowled poorly but he did come in half fit. Don't think it's fair to judge him too harshly on this performance.

This.

I wasn't convinced he was the real deal last summer but a good series never shows that, likewise a bad one when half fit doesn't show he is a poor bowler. He was stuffed by the management this tour.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Maybe he is a rubbish part timer after all

Actually, nah, he bowled poorly but he did come in half fit. Don't think it's fair to judge him too harshly on this performance.

It had disturbing echoes of ODI selections of the 1990s. None of Stokes, Jordan and Moeen performed at a Test standard with either bat or ball in this Test series, and with Trott a passenger, you can't win a game with seven players.

 

[Spark]

Really liking the cut of Blackwood's jib. WI have some talented youngsters. Holder is going to be a star.

He looked iffy on the back foot at times in the 1st Test but I really like the way he plays. No fear, and adaptable too.

 

[wpdavid]

Yeah, but that was because we picked Kabir Ali.

This probably isn't the time for a Kabir Ali vs Jordan & Stokes thread.

 

[NUFAN]

Englands new crop just aren't very good. For now anyway.

Pleased for Holder and Simmons

Why are you pleased for those 2 in particular?

I'm so happy for the Windies, back to the drawing board England.

 

[Cabinet96]

Don't think England need to worry about changing the balance as such, which is what's being suggested. Moeen won't have as much responsibility in the NZ tests. Maybe Jordan and Stokes don't still warrant a place (if they ever did).

 

[Furball]

The problem with Moeen is that he's a very, very handy option for the captain to chuck the ball to to bowl a bit of spin for 10-15 overs max an innings.

This was how he was used at home against India and he trolled out 19 Indian wickets. But he was almost never bowled as a frontline bowler, England constantly played 4 seamers last summer.

If he's not pulling his weight with the bat, then he shouldn't play.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Don't think England need to worry about changing the balance as such, which is what's being suggested. Moeen won't have as much responsibility in the NZ tests. Maybe Jordan and Stokes don't still warrant a place (if they ever did).

Plunkett should have played. Said that before the series, gives us something we don't have like Gabriel gave WI.

 

[wpdavid]

Don't think England need to worry about changing the balance as such, which is what's being suggested. Moeen won't have as much responsibility in the NZ tests. Maybe Jordan and Stokes don't still warrant a place (if they ever did).

As I said before, we're going into these matches with three 5th bowlers. It's trickier now that Broad's a complete rabbit with the bat, but we need to find another genuinely threatening quick. Plunkett's unlucky not to have had a game. No idea about Wood tbh.

 

[Cabinet96]

The problem with Moeen is that he's a very, very handy option for the captain to chuck the ball to to bowl a bit of spin for 10-15 overs max an innings.

This was how he was used at home against India and he trolled out 19 Indian wickets. But he was almost never bowled as a frontline bowler, England constantly played 4 seamers last summer.

If he's not pulling his weight with the bat, then he shouldn't play.

Like I said though, things are going to be different in that respect back in England. Don't play your English balance in the WI and then change it as soon as you get back home because it didn't work there.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Don't think England need to worry about changing the balance as such, which is what's being suggested. Moeen won't have as much responsibility in the NZ tests. Maybe Jordan and Stokes don't still warrant a place (if they ever did).

I don't think you can pick them as 3rd and 4th seamers in home Tests. I could just about buy Jordan as 4th seamer but Stokes is nothing beyond a 5th bowler at this level, and we need another out and out seamer for the summer. Whether this is Wood or Plunkett or another (although I'd imagine Brooks is the next cab and we may as well just pick the whole Yorkshire team if that happens).

Cook - Lyth - Ballance - Bell - Root - Moeen - Buttler - Jordan - SEAMER - Broad - Anderson

 

[Cabinet96]

Worth remembering England only made one change after losing the SL series last summer, Stokes in for Jordan, who was sort of returning from injury. Don't know why people think there'll be heaps of changes. Probably just bring in Plunkett or Wood for Jordan and Lyth for Trott.

 

[Prince EWS]

Graves may not have come up with a media-sanitised soundbite, but he's a Yorkshireman and you can't expect much else on that front. We've been railing against corporate speak and bland nothingness in the Moores era and yet a blunt challenge to our own side - and indeed an admission that we're not as good as we'd like to be - is unacceptable?

I've got no real drama with Graves calling the West Indies mediocre, or his general bluntness. It's the reason he gave for their alleged mediocrity - completely betraying his ignorance - that was dire.