WTF has Woakes got on those higher up in the ECB? His record overseas is diabolical. He should be nowhere near the test team.
No way should Woakes, Overton and Lawrence be on this tour. Woakes is awful away from home full stop. The others couldn’t get a go in the worst Ashes tour in living memory (not by scoreline but by performance) so god knows why they are retained.
Way I see it is Broad and Anderson are knocking on a bit in fast balling terms and they want to rest them up a bit before this summer. As good as they are they can’t go on forever . Batting wise I think they are desperate to bring in new faces , but waiting to bring them in , in familiar conditions.
I actually heard Johnners say that on radio commentary. I can’t even say it without giggling. Did we have Stone, Robinson and Moeen in same side ? I didn’t spot it but it would be Ollie, Olly and Ali
The first question the selectors should be posed in any press interviews - “Why haven’t you picked our best two bowlers” Then don’t be fobbed off with a Boris style avoidance.
It's a tough one. We can't rely on them forever and they can't be expected to play every game. Windies seems a good place to try some other lads out away from home. Not sure about Fisher though with just 20 County championship wickets last season. I thought Coad would have been ahead of him for Yorkshire. I would have took Anderson or Broad but not both or neither.
Why ever not. He has been treated appallingly and it’s a disgraceful decision to drop him. As he says if he had lost form he could understand it but he clearly hadn’t. It’s even dafter when you consider the West Indies will produce pitches which will suit. He will be back in the summer as will Jimmy as there is only Robinson in my opinion that is close to their level Wood maybe if fit but he is too injury prone
Robinson has lots of quality but must improve his fitness and conditioning. I believe the ECB have been talking to him about this for the past year. In the last ashes test his pace was down to around 70mph!! Not going to trouble many bowling at that speed unless the pitch is a green top.
Yeah I’d forgotten about Robinson and his “lapse” It seemed as if something was seriously wrong and then suddenly he was OK …. like you say it appears to be a fitness problem
I'd pick him ahead of Wood in home conditions, and possibly ahead of Archer in some away conditions, given how he struggled in NZ with the Kookaburra ball. But he's being left out of a squad with Woakes, Overton, Mahmood and Fisher in it. We're making the same mistakes again, and not picking our best available squad and trying to win the test matches. Broad and Anderson should be in ahead of any two out of those 4. Broad over Woakes especially.
I'm happy with the Mahmood pick, and possibly Fisher but I really don't know enough about him. I really struggle with the Overton and Woakes selections, Overton will never be good enough at this level and Woakes will never be good enough away from home. We all know that Broad and Anderson have not been picked for off-field reasons though.