England tour of New Zealand (3 Tests, winter 2024)

[Welwyn]

I think the selectors have to take some blame re: Foakes. That is obviously Ben's skill set as a batsman doesn't really fit with scoring quick runs with the tail. So surely he should have been batting 5/6 rather than 7.

 

[Supreme General]

Or idk out of the team where he belongs. Jamie Smith has already proven himself to be a better test batter and a better fit for this team, has kept exceptional well especially during the home summer. And every player in our middle order are better than him by orders of magnitude. Ben Foakes just falls in the category of the most wanted thing is thing people can’t get and he is just the darling of the camp who try hard to stick to old traditions with increasing futility even going back to the keeper triangle of Buttler, Bairstow, Foakes. Teams need to pick their best wicketkeeper batters both parts are equal so why settle on someone who is very good at one but average on another for someone is quite good at both.

 

[karolkarol]

I'm still quite curious about some of the selection policies that go into the England's squads.

I think it's fair to say that the policy of picking bowlers based on desirable attributes has broadly worked: Atkinson and Carse look absolutely made for Test level, and Bashir hasn't been noticeably worse than any of the other spinning options England have tried since Swann (even though I still find Dawson's non-selection in 2022 deeply baffling), and a horses for courses approach has generally worked better than picking the best 11 individual cricketers and hoping they will be the best possible team in all conditions

Specifically in relation to the bowling, there was an interesting online article I read last week ( i can't remember where unfortunately) which essentially outlined that (shock horror) the attribute based selection policy is dictated by the positioning of the County Championship at the peripheries of the season and the fact County 4 day pitches are generally not positioned centrally on the square, with the best pitches and more focused preparation being saved for televised short form games or international games. This pretty much means that the 4 day County experience for bowlers is not reflective of international cricket and therefore not considered by selectors an adequate audition.

The article focuses on the nuances of captaincy in these playing conditions and the exclusion of strike bowlers/spinners in favour of line and length control bowlers to squeeze for batting/bowling points rather than just outright winning games of cricket. The County ethos (Durham maybe notwithstanding) does seem to be completely at the opposite end of the spectrum to bazball, likely as a result of a number of these factors.

 

[Aislabie]

i can't remember where unfortunately

Steven Finn on the BBC, although I think it's pretty similar to the grumblings of about four of our more anorak members (myself @wasteyouryouth @blockerdave and @Supreme General were who I had in mind) whenever the County Championship gets mentioned

 

[karolkarol]

Steven Finn on the BBC, although I think it's pretty similar to the grumblings of about four of our more anorak members (myself @wasteyouryouth @blockerdave and @Supreme General were who I had in mind) whenever the County Championship gets mentioned

That was it, super article.

 

[Supreme General]

Finally. Been toiling away for a while but finally one carries/goes to a fielder

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Crawley one up vs Henry

 

[ddrap14]

Rude

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Good powerplay so far

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Crawley one up vs Henry

 

[wasteyouryouth]

England just lost two in the time it took me to clean my teeth.

 

[Aislabie]

That battle is currently 5-5. That means it's all square!

 

[wasteyouryouth]

That battle is currently 5-5. That means it's all square!

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get the better of Zak Crawley

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Omg Henry got Crawley again

 

[Aislabie]

Omg Henry got Crawley again

Crawley's not even the player in this XI whose presence most worries me