*Official* England in West Indies 2022

[flibbertyjibber]

I do think we've kinda got to keep with Crawley as opener for a bit, he can score big, he will also get out in frustrating ways, but ATM he's depressingly our best option, and can get us off to a positive start.

Sadly I agree and I don't rate him as he gives it away so stupidly so often like Vince used to do. Hope he gets a big one here and sets his year up to be more consistent.

 

[Gremlin]

England effectively 1/1.

But yes, good start from Crawley. He can bat, it's his patience that is more in question I think.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Stoneman.

Haha, good shout. The selling point of both was/is "they've been around a while and they're not the worst."

 

[honestbharani]

glad to see @Red_Ink_Squid and @OverratedSanity finally seeing the light on Crawley.

And honestly, lets face it, most teams would love to have an opener with as much potential ceiling as Crawley right now, even Australia.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Da Silva did a good job there with interviewing Alzarri

 

[kevinw]

Sadly I agree and I don't rate him as he gives it away so stupidly so often like Vince used to do. Hope he gets a big one here and sets his year up to be more consistent.

I'm torn on Crawley. I think he has a few mates in the press box who advocate for him and you get an easier ride getting out cheaply looking good than looking bad. But we probably have to persist with him now unless his form falls off a cliff. Speaking of which, it's a shame Sibley's 2021 was so bad. He went into the Winter looking like he really could've sewn up the spot.

 

[grecian]

I'm torn on Crawley. I think he has a few mates in the press box who advocate for him and you get an easier ride getting out cheaply looking good than looking bad. But we probably have to persist with him now unless his form falls off a cliff. Speaking of which, it's a shame Sibley's 2021 was so bad. He went into the Winter looking like he really could've sewn up the spot.

I think Sibley will be back, it just looks better to have a slow-scoring bat with a faster scorer, so in a perverse way, Crawley scoring runs will l help him get return. Unless Lees proves us all wrong.

 

[grecian]

Gat a climate....

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Passing shower.

Blessings

 

[Beamer]

I do like our bowling attack, particularly the Roach, Seales and Holder combo, but I think we need to upgrade on Alzarri. He is not accurate enough to be a solid change bowler and although he is 140kph -145kph, he's not quick enough to be a Gabriel like enforcer.

In general, we need to start looking for real pace to replace Shannon, who is both injury prone and getting old.

 

[JOJOXI]

I do like our bowling attack, particularly the Roach, Seales and Holder combo, but I think we need to upgrade on Alzarri. He is not accurate enough to be a solid change bowler and although he is 140kph -145kph, he's not quick enough to be a Gabriel like enforcer.

In general, we need to start looking for real pace to replace Shannon, who is both injury prone and getting old.

The surfaces sometimes don't merit a specialist spinner but on pitches like these was a tad surprised they didn't go with Mayers as a 4th seamer instead of Joseph allowing a bit more batting depth, playing the spinner and not the biggest drop off in bowling if feels like currently.

I guess the issue is that probably leaves either Holder or Da Silva at 8.

 

[trundler]

Well that's a dampener

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Sun’s out guys

 

[Beamer]

The surfaces sometimes don't merit a specialist spinner but on pitches like these was a tad surprised they didn't go with Mayers as a 4th seamer instead of Joseph allowing a bit more batting depth, playing the spinner and not the biggest drop off in bowling if feels like currently.

I guess the issue is that probably leaves either Holder or Da Silva at 8.

Yeah I would have played Mayers as well. We need to look at our team balance for sure. Though Permaul hasn;t bowled fantastically well so far in this test which hasn't helped.

 

[honestbharani]

The problem is I dont think Brooks adds much to this side at all.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Okay, that was a good Alzarri over in a while. He seems to be in rhythm.

 

[wpdavid]

The fact is with Branderson we have a decent attack, maybe we should call this the worst picked team ever. Yet the 50 years thing is an odd comment as if we've been any good for 50 years, despite about 2003-15, this team can only be compared in awfulness to 80s and 90s sides.

Sure, but I was specifically talking about this side, so Branderson didn't come into it. As they probably won't in a short while anyway. I cba to quibble over the 50 years description with the previous poster Taken literally, we weren't actually too bad 50+ years ago, hence me dredging up the immediately post-war team. Obviously it's been a fairly regular topic of conversation lately about how the side ranks against poor sides of the past. Again, if we're focusing on the current XI, the 1980s sides and 1990s sides were probably better. Albeit appallingly selected in the latter part of the 1980s and up against some pretty stiff opposition for much of the 1990s, when there weren't many freebies. imo, anyway.

 

[Beamer]

The problem is I dont think Brooks adds much to this side at all.

Yep agreed. Tbh Blackwood is also on my radar, he hasn't done anything for a while. Our batting lineup could justifiably be changed completely at any point (minus Kraigg and Nkrumah).

At least the bowling has a sense of ongoing quality, it just needs some minor tweaks.

 

[kevinw]

I think Sibley will be back, it just looks better to have a slow-scoring bat with a faster scorer, so in a perverse way, Crawley scoring runs will l help him get return. Unless Lees proves us all wrong.

I'm really surprised Duckett has never had another go. He was all at sea against quality spin in Asia but his FC record is much better than the other guys being discussed. Plus, there's no Anderson on this tour.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

I really want another slip in there for Alzarri.