*Official* Third Test (Headingley, Leeds) 6–10 July

[Son Of Coco]

Pope is ruled out of the rest of the series due to a shoulder dislocation problem

Bad news for Australia.

 

[Socerer 01]

I also presume Halba will now do an Ollie Pope thread in this subbie.

give him time he will

 

[Socerer 01]

One thing I’ve found strange is the case of Liam Livingstone. He went to Pakistan’s and was talked up , then was injured and that’s seen him totally forgotten this summer

he can bowl spin of both types and is a T20 slogger which obviously fits the template but he’s nowhere to be seen currently

his initial selection was itself dubious wasnt it

 

[Shri]

Good on them also for having Dan "And you think Crawley's average is laughable' Lawrence as a solid backup at three.

mate dom sibley and burns will be opening again for eng by the 5th test

 

[Spark]

Some of our selections all series have been odd - Moeen, leaving out Foakes, Woakes nowhere to be seen, no Dawson, Tongue and now Lawrence.

Some have obviously worked out better than others but they're not afraid to back their judgement and go with a left field pick.

There does seem a weird element of contrarian stubbornness about this too though. Like, everyone saying x e.g. "Pick Foakes" makes team management go "no **** you we'll do what we want" and do something else.

 

[slowfinger]

(espncricinfo)

 

[slowfinger]

I think behind all of the real success of Bazball may have been Andrew Strauss? Wasn't he head of England Cricket for a while whilst Rob Key was initially appointed? I really rate Strauss' time at the helm, he showed real competence

EDIT : link Andrew Strauss to step down from ECB roles

 

[Qlder]

Pope is ruled out of the rest of the series due to a shoulder dislocation problem

The worst thing for Aus would be if they brought Foakes in and just let Bairstow bat but I just read Eng have decided not to bring in a replacement for Pope. So Lawrence at #3 it is

 

[trundler]

Please tell me we're not going to play Dan Lawrence

I was thinking Vince but this is equally funny.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Is "sledgers" referring to Australians or the MCC or English or... who?

yes

 

[Jarquis]

Really should be Foakes in but we're idiots.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Really should be Foakes in but we're idiots.

We need at least one test of Jonny trying to get his revenge, purely for entertainment value.

 

[CartyDurham]

his initial selection was itself dubious wasnt it

It was left field but since it appears he is a forgotten man

 

[Gnske]

We need at least one test of Jonny trying to get his revenge, purely for entertainment value.

I actually anticipate a 300% increase of mankad threats.

 

[social]

Hmmm, a dislocated shoulder isn’t an external injury

That spirit of cricket thingy is pretty flexible

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1676186795342430212

 

[Ashes81]

Hmmm, a dislocated shoulder isn’t an external injury

That spirit of cricket thingy is pretty flexible

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1676186795342430212

Why isn't a dislocated shoulder an external injury? What counts as external then a broken nose?

And it was probably only dislocated after the 2nd fall when he shouldn't have been on the pitch in the 1st place

 

[Aidan11]

The worst thing for Aus would be if they brought Foakes in and just let Bairstow bat but I just read Eng have decided not to bring in a replacement for Pope. So Lawrence at #3 it is

It's almost as if England didn't want to win the Ashes.

 

[straw man]

So I presume we'll play Dan Lawrence.

Not meme enough - McCullum sending one word sms "Ashes?" to Jason Roy aws.

 

[Starfighter]

Pitch has been uncovered and is looking pretty green. Grass will probably be cut though. Would generally want to bowl first at Headingley unless it's looking dry as it's historically a great ground to chase on.

 

[Qlder]

Eng selectors doing a good job, undroppable Crawley, Bairstow as keeper, Ali after retired 2 years

Now Pope out so they'll play Lawrence. All they need to do now is play Anderson again after being ineffective first 2 tests