Cricket thread
I know there's a few cricket fans hovering so thought I'd start a general cricket thread, with lots going on at the moment!
An impressive day for fast bowlers in Perth thus far - Bumrah is a magician and I adore watching him bowl. Also looking forward to the England - NZ series starting next week - I fancy 2-1 NZ as the final score.
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I’ve got a feeling we will get utterly hammered in New Zealand if they produce difficult batting pitches. If they produce their normal flat tracks for first three days it could be quite even.
Ravindra could be the future #1 batsman, if he kicks on from last few games.
Pope needs to start getting some runs and will be interesting to see how Bashir does.
Ahh Australia v India... that one series where, actually you don't want either team to win !
Yeah New Zealand will be tricky, its probably the one place that has very similar conditions to us, should be good for our bowlers, but New Zealand are a great team at home.
Jaiswal has just broken the record for most 6s in a year in tests - he’s a serious player! Agree on Ravindra too, he’s a joy to watch
Wow. India skittled out for 150 on the opening day and in a commanding lead by the end of the second. That's cricket for you.
Im really looking forward to the NZ test series. It will be interesting to see how the bowlers rotate over three games,depends on Stokes fitness to bowl I guess.
Ollie Pope needs runs or his place could be under threat especially when Smith returns
Is Smith (the wicket keeper, I assume) injured?
Could people say which country players such as Ravindra and Jaismal represent, please, as I am sure I am not alone on here in being interested but not in day-to-day or even week-to-week contact with what is going on globally in the world of cricket.
Thanks a lot. I’ll try to keep up.
Jamie Smith (wicket keeper/ batter) is absent for the birth of his first child. Jordan Cox replaces him for this series if he does very well and Pope has another disastrous tour there is potential for Cox to retain his place and Smith replace Pope as a top order bat. A big if in my opinion.
Many thanks.
Ravindra is Rachin Ravindra, who plays for New Zealand - top order bat and occasional left arm spinner. Jaiswal is Yashasvi Jaiswal, Indian opening batter, potentially the most talented young batter in world cricket at the moment
Thanks @manchesterchairboy.
To thumb that down seems weird.
Cox is the former Kent 2nd choice keeper who went to Essex at the end of the season before last.
Thanks Chris. I should know better but I got fed up with seeing Kent keep losing and I more or less switched off.
I know - this year has been the least engaged I have ever been with cricket. Hopefully Kent will have a better season next year in the second division.
Cox injured in nets now too, so we might end up with pipe keeping again.
Who watches the Abu Dhabi T10 league currently on sky whilst TNT have the test match coverage for India v aus and West indies v Bangladesh.
Lots of the top white ball only English players involved, buttler, salt, rashid, saqib etc and even most of the 2nd tier lot such as tkc and Payne and mills
Cricinfo are saying they’d try and avoid giving Pope the burden and so would be looking to call up one of Phil Salt, Ollie Robinson, or Jonny Bairstow (hopefully not the latter)
India complete a fine win over Australia in the first test. Really impressive second innings knocks from Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and old nemesis Virat Kohli set up a thumping. Will be very interesting to see how Australia react to this. Jaiswal's 161 was his fourth test hundred, and, remarkably, his lowest score of the four. Going big when you get past three figures is a mighty fine trait to have!
I find it really interesting that England haven't named a replacement already and got them on a flight to NZ yet. There are plenty of keepers in the County game that have been overlooked. It seems like they are desperately trying to find a role and position for Pope to fill before dropping him.
This tour is also a big one for Crawley. I think that England might be looking for another opener this summer if Crawley has a bad series.
England's management continues to baffle, I agree. Surely you want Pope, a man with obvious talent but also no form and no longer a youngster just finding his feet, to have the easiest job possible - score runs? No captaincy, no keeping, just hit the ball. They just seem to want to make it harder for him, for no obvious reason!
I think Crawley is fine - only last summer he was our top scorer in the Ashes, and you'd fancy his style to do well in Australia next winter. He does need to get better at converting the starts he makes though - he has 6 test 50s this year but all have ended between 60 - 79, with 5 of the 6 ending between 73 - 79 - the nervous 70s appears to be a thing for him!
This NZ will be a massive marker to where the bowling attack is post-Broad & Anderson. There are some talented bowlers there & they will bowl in a climate & conditions that match our own but they will be doing so against a very experienced and secure batting line up.
Who should be called up to be keeper in the test squad? Phil Salt seems flavour of the month with the One-Day/T20 squads, James Rew is a really promising youngster for Somerset and is part of the England Lions tour in South Africa while Ollie Robinson for Durham has had a very good season.
Having looked at the squad, the batting lineup seems very thin. There isn't a replacement opener or specialist "batter", 4 spinners (Ahmed, Bashir, Bethell & Leach) and a steam attack of Woakes, Atkinson, Carse, Potts & Stone + part-timer Stokes. 10 bowlers out of a squad of 15* (Removed Cox as he's injured for the tour)
Yep agree that the batting is very thin - it's just more evidence of the slightly baffling way these guys are managing the team in my eyes. I think Bethell is the spare batter, but a man with a first class average of 25 and no 100s, it's a big jump! I'd be calling up Ollie Robinson myself, but yes, will be interested to see which direction they go
Some players are just better in certain positions. Personally I would bat Pope at 6 and not 3. If he does not get in ahead of Stokes at 6, then he should be dropped.
Root needs to stay at 4 and Brook 5.
Happy with Crawley and Duckett outside the subcontinent. Not sure Crawley should open in the sub continent, would return to Jennings.
No Idea who to bat at 3, which is why I think Pope continues to get selected after 52 tests with an average of 33.74.
Bethel, Archer, Salt etc should be playing for the West Indies. If we want Test Cricket to grow and be relevant in 10, 20, 30 years time then these players need to play for where they were born and grew up. The ICC (cough ECB/BCCI) should think about a minimum wage for test cricketers, paying each player a flat fee to encourage them to represent their country. I also hate the fact it takes away the opportunity for someone who was born/grew up in a country representing that country.
I appreciate Bethel moved to Rugby school on a scholarship when he was 14 but would that have happened if he was ineligible to then play for England? His Grandad and Dad both played for Barbados and seem to have grown up there. It just shows the money in the game now that he's looking at England instead of the Windies - not that I blame him - as it's not his fault this option is open to him.
@Commoner you have the same thoughts as me! (I'm not sure if thats a good or bad thing!)
I'd also love England to select players who play that format. Sam Curran made a point earlier this year that he was annoyed that he wasn't considered for the Test squad having only played a handful of 4day games for Surrey in the last 4 or 5 yrs.
So Bethell is batting at 3..... I know England want to play a certain way but surely this is setting him up to fail? In the first class games, he bats at 6 or 7, why are you going to destroy a really promising player because we didn't bring enough batting cover?!?
(Watch him prove me wrong now.....)
they certainly do things their own way don't they! we shall see how it goes - apparently they can't get Robinson out in time for the first test because he is currently renewing his passport...just feels like a lack of foresight to not bring a spare keeper when the tour is the other side of the world and travel/jet lag will delay any replacement getting out there
For this series, to start with anyway, I would be asking Root and Brook to step up to 3 & 4. It would be an almost impossible ask of Bethell to bat at 3 in a test. But I guess they will persevere with Pope if he is keep wicket for the first test only.
What sort of order do you think they will bat in for the Test? We know the top 3 or 4 being Crawley, Duckett, Bethell & Root. Could everyone else move / be fluid under those slots? We have Pope, Stokes, Brook that can all perform as a number 5 or 6 but they also seem wasted having one of them so far down at 7 and batting with the tail?
I think it'll be Brook, Pope, Stokes - if there is one man who absolutely can bat with the tail it is Ben Stokes! I'll be interested to see how much bowling he does - if we are to stand any chance of winning I think we will need his reverse swing.
Young Will O'Rourke looks a fine bowler and I look forward to seeing how he goes for NZ. I would love to see him play county cricket (selfishly, I want him at Surrey)
I really hope he doesn't go to Surrey. They seem to hover up all of the promising players in the game and they have signed their way to the top. I'd like to see him sign for a minor county side (Leicestershire, Derbyshire etc) so he'll have plenty of game time to shine.
Proper feast of test cricket at the moment! South Africa v Sri Lanka started this morning (although only a two test series unfortunately), West Indies have just beaten Bangladesh in the first test of their series, England start at 10pm tonight UK time, and a wounded Australia will be looking to bounce back in a day/night test next week (which is also a tribute test for Phil Hughes - I can't believe it has been 10 years since the tragedy).
Will Young hasn't been selected for New Zealand's test against England. Interesting developments as Will Young has been one of their top scorers recently