Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

England Cricket 2024

littlebabyjesus

littlebabyjesus

one of Maxwell's demons
Brand new thread for this. Why not?

Squad for India

England Test squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/67681286

Couple of raw spinners. Shows how shallow the pool is. They've had to reach for an uncapped 20-year-old to find an off spinner. I guess Dom Bess's England days are now well and truly behind him.

Anderson gets the nod despite being England's worst bowler in the Ashes. He's proved me wrong once before, but I really think he should have retired with Broad. I know he has a fine record in India, but he had a fine record in England as well leading up to this year's Ashes.

In any case, seamers are likely to be a side show. They'll get a few overs here and there with the job to keep things tight. I don't expect many games to go to the fifth day.
 
I think even if it does turn out he's not coming back this time (and I wouldn't be sure of that) Anderson is still the best 'keep it tight' bowler that we have. You could argue for bringing in a younger seamer too but given the spinners they've selected for me it makes sense to keep him in. Also maybe not the best tour for someone coming in to the team - grinding away on unresponsive pitches could be a bit demoralising. A side show though really as you say. Any or all of the spinners could get a pasting here (and I'd include Leach tbh) but who knows, one or more could turn out to be stars in the making. Ahmed at least looks to have the quality with the bat to be a good number eight if not even better with time. A genuine spinning all rounder would be very exciting.

All in all though low expectations here to be honest. They'll do well to avoid a really bad beating here, keeping it competitive would be an achievement. Actually winning the tour would be up there with the greatest series wins in England history.
 
India are a machine at home. England remain the last team to beat them in India. I also don't expect that again just because the Indian board appears to prefer three-day tests that virtually guarantee an India win to five-day tests in which a good opposition has a chance. I'm not expecting any flat pitches.
 
The new 20yo spinner has played 10 first class games and is averaging 66. That's quite a call.

Classic Bazball I guess.
 
Assuming he comes back at some point...Archer's been a naughty boy playing for his school.

www.theguardian.com

Jofra Archer plays for old Barbados school team – without telling the ECB

Jofra Archer has stepped up his recovery from injury by playing for his old school team in the Barbados Championship – without telling the ECB that he was doing so
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

From which I learned the right armed very fast bowler also bowls left arm spin. And took a wicket with it.
 
Such a pisstaker, gotta give it to him. I assume he's still on full pay and has been for years without actually doing anything.
 
Petcha said:
Such a pisstaker, gotta give it to him. I assume he's still on full pay and has been for years without actually doing anything.
Click to expand...

When your employer destroys your career I'm OK with you rinsing them for everything you can get.
 
Foakes confirmed as keeping wicket in the first test. Good news although you have to laugh a little bit at Stokes hyping hom up when everyone knows perfectly well they weren't going to pick him before Brook went home.
 
Monkeygrinder's Organ said:
Foakes confirmed as keeping wicket in the first test. Good news although you have to laugh a little bit at Stokes hyping hom up when everyone knows perfectly well they weren't going to pick him before Brook went home.
Click to expand...
The hype isn't bollocks, though, ironically. He is far and away the best keeper. Him taking one or two chances that other keepers wouldn't could be crucial. Bairstow was phenomenal without the gloves prior to his injury.

All those things also applied before the Ashes...

Three and a half spinners plus Wood is a bold move. I like it. Might not work, but England aren't going to get anywhere in India being timid.
 
As will Bazball decisons, yes, it's bold but highly questionable. I assume they've done a lot of due diligence on the pitch.

I can't even remember when England have started with three spinners.

Brook - rumours on twitter, or X or whatever about him playin away from home. Fame and fortune does stupid things to young men. He'll be missed greatly.
 
QueenOfGoths said:
Well it could be worse...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it really shows how hard it is in India in that it doesn't seem like a bad score as such, they've avoided getting blown away and there's some useful contributions in there. But equally it's not really enough to put India under any real pressure - obviously there's a long way to go but you'd predict a big first innings lead and ultimately pretty comfortable India win at this point.
 
Looking ominous. Not awful from England with the bat but too many starts not going on. Then the two young spinners get smashed around the park. India the bazballers.

Meanwhile, with West Indies 240-7 vs Aus, you can currently get odds of 18-1 against a WI victory. I'm not a gambler but those are crazy odds.
 
Petcha said:
As will Bazball decisons, yes, it's bold but highly questionable. I assume they've done a lot of due diligence on the pitch.

I can't even remember when England have started with three spinners.

Brook - rumours on twitter, or X or whatever about him playin away from home. Fame and fortune does stupid things to young men. He'll be missed greatly.
Click to expand...
In Sri Lanka and India, they have regularly played three spinners in the past. Difference here is only one seamer, which England have never done before.
 
Monkeygrinder's Organ said:
It's the all rounders issue isn't it. With a Moeen, or even a Stokes able to bowl a decent amount, you can do both but without anyone like that one gets squeezed out.
Click to expand...
Yeah. Tbf Sri Lanka regularly pick just one seamer at home. If you don't have all rounders, it makes sense. India have Jadeja plus Ashwin so csn go with two seamers.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Yeah. Tbf Sri Lanka regularly pick just one seamer at home. If you don't have all rounders, it makes sense. India have Jadeja plus Ashwin so csn go with two seamers.
Click to expand...

Yes tbf I don't think it's the worst idea in principle. Problem comes when two of your spinners have one cap between them and start getting hammered you don't have anywhere to go do you. Picking Anderson would have been the defensive option definitely but I bet Stokes would have liked to have had him in that innings.
 
I've seen some weak bowling attacks in my time but this one is taking the piss. Comparing the two teams attacks, it does look unfair.
 
planetgeli said:
I've seen some weak bowling attacks in my time but this one is taking the piss. Comparing the two teams attacks, it does look unfair.
Click to expand...
India at home are a bit like West Indies in their pomp. You wonder how their batting lineup would fare against their attack. But of course, we will never find out.

But two novices being pummelled is not a good look. Read an interesting piece the other day about bowling in India and how it is finger spinners who do the job most of the time while wrist spinners can struggle (Warne famously struggled in India). When the ball is turning that much, what you need is to land the same ball again and again. Natural variation does the rest. It's what Jadeja does. There's no particular mystery to his bowling. It's just relentless. Monty Panesar was very good in India for the same reason.

It's looking very ominous already.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Looking ominous. Not awful from England with the bat but too many starts not going on. Then the two young spinners get smashed around the park. India the bazballers.

Meanwhile, with West Indies 240-7 vs Aus, you can currently get odds of 18-1 against a WI victory. I'm not a gambler but those are crazy odds.
Click to expand...

That's looking an even better bet right now. 311 plays 142/5.

Oh. But it was 54/5.
 
161/7 at tea. At 5 an over. Way more interesting than an England 'attack' that no way can take 20 wickets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Puddy_Tat
County Cricket 2024
2
Replies
36
Views
645
Puddy_Tat
Puddy_Tat
QueenOfGoths
T20 Cricket World Cup
6 7 8 9 10
Replies
282
Views
4K
Petcha
P
weltweit
IoM TT 2024
2
Replies
36
Views
561
weltweit
weltweit
weltweit
Le Mans 24 hours 2024
2
Replies
44
Views
796
weltweit
weltweit
DJWrongspeed
Pro Cycling 2024
2 3 4 5
Replies
148
Views
3K
stavros
S
Back
Top Bottom