England Cricket 2015
- Thread starter twentythreedom
- Start date
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
I was expecting it to be closer than this. For some reason we've been reluctant to play spin and take a few more wickets. I was expecting WI to be around 7 or 8 down by now and a tense finish. It's gonna be a long, hard summer isn't it?
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
I wonder if Graves will still do that 'inquiry' he was talking about?
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
Windies have done it.
Captain and coach have some serious questions to answer. Their whole approach to this tour has been stupid, muddle-headed and stubborn.
Captain and coach have some serious questions to answer. Their whole approach to this tour has been stupid, muddle-headed and stubborn.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
Deeply conservative captaincy.....and conservative team selection.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
Worth noting that Yorkshire have one CC game before NZ arrive, so Lyth (& Plunkett, Rashid and Bairstow) will have only a single FC game to warm up. Fucking idiots.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
You're assuming they'll select Plunkett, Lythe & Rashid. They are stubborn and deeply conservative. They may yet keep Trott on, keep old boring bollocks on spin and keep the pace the same with the seamers
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
Oh I don't think they'll select any of them (possible that Plunkett may get a nod) just pointing out that it would have been far better to have Lyth, Plunkett and Rashid playing FC cricket for Yorkshire than kicking their heels in the Caribbean. (Bairstow they had to take as a backup wicket-keeper).
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Can't agree with this.
I'd have played Rashid in this match (and the last one - I'm certainly with Boycott on that). I might have played Plunkett, too, but there's no guarantee he'd have come off, and I'd have picked him in place of Jordan, who was by no means the worst player for England in this match. But they're in the squad, and England comes first. Sorry, tough on Yorkshire that may be, but tough.
In this match, it was the batting that failed. Credit to WI bowling, too, though for that. And well done WI. They deserved the win.
Oh and that supermarket bloke? He may know loads about selling food, but he does not know loads about cricket. He's a fucking idiot for labelling WI a mediocre side before the series. He's also a fucking idiot in the way he advocates four-day test matches.
But hey, we need grocers and bankers to fill the top jobs in cricket, obviously.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I was watching this in the pub without the sound. Don't know what the commentators were saying, but one slip with 50 left to win and 6 wickets to get made no sense to me. No sense at all.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
I'm not talking about the effect on Yorkshire but the effect on the players/England squad.
Taking players on tour and not playing them often isn't useful and in some cases actually harmful. Rashid for example needs a lot of bowling, he'd be far more ready to play against NZ or Aus if he'd stayed in the UK and played FC matches for Yorkshire, got his rhythm going nicely. Now if they do want to play him against NZ he's going to be underprepared.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
They had four seamers in the team and no specialist spinner. Mental.
Still not sure about Jordan. His catching in this series has almost been worth a place in the side but his bowling yesterday looked pretty ordinary.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Ok, fair enough.
Taking the positives: England did better this time than the last time they were in the Caribbean; Anderson's bounced back, and Broad looks to be bouncing back; Root continues to exude class and Balance has put the World Cup behind him; Cook's batting is looking much better; Buttler is going to score important runs for England.
Puzzles going forward: Stokes looks like a fifth bowler rather than a fourth bowler, but then so does Moeen. Both are probably good enough to bat at number six. Is Jordan good enough to be the fourth bowler rather than the fifth, and if not, is his catching important enough to keep him? Who is there out there with genuine pace? The quest to replace Strauss continues with Lyth the likely next candidate. Should Jimmy Anderson bat above Broad now?
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
Bonfirelight
Crocodile
good luck to him.
For a while there he was an wonderful player.
For a while there he was an wonderful player.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
Should Jimmy bat above Broad? That'll knock Broad into shape.....at least it'll wind him up to the extent he'll stop being soft. IIRC he was temporarily put below Swann and then came out with a big score.
As for bowlers we need pace. Above 90 mph. What's Plunkett currently bowling at?
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
Because he was a solid, consistent performer. Something England is lacking at the moment.
BandWagon
Life's a bitch and then you die...
At county level. He had a major problem at test level and there was no indication that he'd solved it.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
He had a mental wobble. Worked hard to get back into the side, did the right things, scored runs at county level and got a ton for the Lions. Perfectly logical to bring him back.
BandWagon
Life's a bitch and then you die...
It was a bit more than a wobble. Those things are difficult to eradicate. Then they made him open the innings too, and he used to come in first down, didn't he? 72 runs in 6 innings including 3 ducks and a scrappy 50, I think. Bad logic.
DrRingDing
'anti-human wanker'
It was daft to bring him into open but there was no room for him elsewhere. I thought his dogged half century was pretty good. But 34. No real future for him......and the Australians would destroy him mentally.
BandWagon
Life's a bitch and then you die...
That's about right. Bad experiment. Let's say he should have averaged 40 instead of 12, that's 168 runs we missed, enough (possibly) to save the series.
I'm not blaming that alone though. No proper spinner! Root and Ali are just part-timers, after all.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Right decision. Would have been made for him anyway, tbf.
Leaves with a very good test record. Made a lot of tough runs.
