England vs India first test

That’s the problem, there’s no obvious candidate because none of them have done enough to command a regular place in the team.
Stokes would’ve been a candidate without his problems I suppose.

 

That would be far too generous. I couldn’t possibly accept

 

You're missing a masterclass in when to leave the ball.

 

Sadly it's not as difficult when its wide and going over the stumps. I actually thought Sibley and Crawley left the ball pretty well. We seem to struggle more with balls aimed at the stumps for some reason.

 

The only way we will avoid defeat in Australia this winter is if Australia tell England their family cannot travel with them and it gets cancelled like the Rugby League World Cup did. After this shambles guys like Harry Brook must be closer still to a call up. He's the most in form player in the country.

 

The rot set in after the first test in India. Watching England in the field this evening, it's all too complacent, jokey and neither professional, nor focussed enough. The captain must set the tone of focus, intention and purpose. Butler and Root looked as though they were enjoying a night out at the pub, rather than playing a test match against a top team. We have too many players who have shown that they have test quality and ability, but who haven't advanced since being selected, this being especially true of the batters. I would keep Burns, as he has done it at times when others have failed. Sibley has test quality, but when did he last perform. Same with Crawley and Lawrence. The fact that these players have not developed is down to insufficient rigorous coaching, especially coaching of technique specific to the teams we are about to face. So, focus on how to play spin in India and pace against Australia. Not enough urgency, nor enough focus. Having said that, I thought that both Robinson and Curran asked some relevant questions of the excellent India openers. I would love to be proved wrong, but we just don't seem to be focussed enough to compete at the top level. Please prove me wrong, England, but I fear they may prove me right.

 

Gunna read back through the thread in a bit so apologies in advance. That collapse today could have been avoided with proper coaching. Sibley and Lawrence out to balls down the leg side. Bairstow needs to take up ballet or gymnastics because he was out falling over the ball again. He's got no balance. Butler got out and the commentators were saying it was a lack of red ball cricket. Tripe. It was down to him not trying to milk the strike. In one day cricket he takes a one or a two and rolls from there. Pathetic.

I'm cancelling Sky Sports for the Ashes because these are biggest bunch of bottle jobs we've had in years.

 

Is that job still going at the ECB?

 

Bet you'll watch it!

 

Dan Lawrence to score a century in second innings and I'm anybodies .

 

You have to wonder, when they keep getting bowled out for less than 200 and the batting coach says he's not worried!

 

T'old Banger.

 

You do fear for them in Oz.

 

You never know …. if a lot of the more senior players don’t go, we may do well with a team of fearless young ‘uns !

Very unlikely though.

HARRY BROOK FOR ENGLAND !!

 

To be fair, he can't really come out after day 1 of the series and write the team off.

Of those batsmen;
Burns - Weird technique that means he needs everything to go right to make a score. But he's done it in the past, and was done by some good bowling yesterday
Sibley - Can't play off side shots, and plays his strongest shot in the air too often. Needs to go.
Crawley - Technically ok, but needs to stop making pretty 20s then getting out, otherwise he needs to go. Probably for Malan for the Ashes tour.
Root - Aye
Bairstow - Should leave test matches alone, and concentrate on being one of the best white ball batters in the world
Lawrence - Getting too many low scores, but looks reasonable if he can get in.

I think Pope has potential to be a good number 5, and Stokes would walk into the team at 6 when he's well. They need to sort out the top three, and I think the rest will follow, can't keep getting to 3 wickets down with less than 100 scored.

 

I can't get rid of a horrible shower scene I once saw.

 

To be fair, if it's 88 for 5 at lunch we're all singing a different tune?

 

If my Aunty had some ******** she'd be my uncle .

 

Not necessarily!!

 

Lets face we are a tier 2 test nation now -
Tier 1 - NZ/India/Oz
Tier2 - England/South Africa
Tier3 - Sri Lanka/Pakistan/West Indies

And we could easily end up as a tier3 nation before the end of next year. I think the only way it will change is if people vote with their feet and just stop going to test matches while we are so poor. Unfortunately, its more of an "event" in the calendar for people to get sloshed dressed as super mario or whatever, and the cricket is of secondary concern.