England in Sri Lanka March-April 2011/12

[lancashire666]

So the UAE tour is over.

Some positives, the ODI team looking in good shape, really good win in the T20's, KP is looking good and Steven Finn is pushing for a test place.

Some negatives, the test team looked very out-of-sorts at the start of the tour after a long break and Morgan has forgotten how to bat

Hopefully there will be lessons learned from the UAE experience, which I believe could be the start of better performances in the sub continent after the performances in the shorter format.

Also, this time England dont have to face Ajmal, and I know Sri Lanka still have some good spinners, but they dont have one as wonderful as him, by far the best spin bowler in the world.

I do think it is time to drop Morgan, he has looked awful in the entire UAE tour in all formats, and having never been a fan of him being in the test team I for one wouldn't be too sad too see him go.

But who to replace him?
There are a few options, Bopara, Patel, Bairstow, Buttler, Taylor.
I think it would be far too early for Buttler or Taylor, and I do like Bairstow, but again I think it could be too early for him.

So Ravi or Samit, I know Ravi has quite a few people who dont rate him on this forum, but I for one would play him. He has past success and still only 26 despite being around forever. He is also a 3rd seamer option when England will most likely play 2 spinners

If they go with Samit Patel then that gives them an extra spin option, and they could leave out Panesar and play a thrid seamer in the fantastic Finn, but I think that would be very harsh on Monty who out bowled Swann in the test matches.

My Team would be:

Strauss (C)
Cook
Trott
KP
Bell
Bopara
Prior (K)
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Panesar


Patel and Finn nest in line in case of injury.

Fixtures:

Thu Mar 15 - Sat Mar 17
Sri Lanka Board XI v England XI

Tue Mar 20 - Thu Mar 22
Sri Lanka Cricket Development XI v England XI

Mon Mar 26 - Fri Mar 30
1st Test - Sri Lanka v England

Tue Apr 3 - Sat Apr 7
2nd Test - Sri Lanka v England


Very surprised there isn't at least 1 T20 considering England will be defending the world cup this year

 

[Owzat]

Patel nowhere near the Test side Bell either needs to find form or find another team, really don't see any gain keeping him in the side. And to Bopara too.

Forget the three seamers comfort blanket/safety blanket, bowling with two spinners and two seamers worked fine when England did it in UAE, they need to get batsmen scoring runs and therein lies the problem as they did FA about it in UAE - even when the series was dead

Who to come in is a different matter entirely, surely fresh blood. Experience is only any blinking good if they score runs, KP has shown form albeit in the shorter forms, but 82 runs in six Test innings for Morgan and I gather 199 in 17 innings on tour means he most likely won't go. Bell did manage a fifty of sorts, 51 runs in six innings.

I think we just have to pick two, probably Taylor and one other, and let them get on with it. This is why the 'stick with a winning side' is short sighted, come a time when you need to pick alternates you don't have any that are any good or have experience. Once a series is won or lost we should pick at least one batsman to blood (at home definitely) I still feel ODIs is a good way in, it's not as if we're world beaters in that format.

 

[lancashire666]

The problem with playing Taylor would be that he was exposed massively on the recent lions tour of bangledesh and Sri Lanka as poor in sub continent conditions, and he probably needs another lions tour before he's ready.

Squad announced
Squad Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Samit Patel, Matt Prior, Steven Davies, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, James Tredwell, Monty Panesar

Treadwell? Suprising. Morgan has gone
With 4 spinners in there to me that reads that they will be playing Monty and Swann, and Patel will most likely get the last batting position.

 

[Sureshot]

Don't know why the hate for Patel, maybe some can't get over his bit of podge? Genuine batsmen who can bat 6 and offer some very useful 3rd spin options.

Glad they dropped Morgan, he needs to go back to Middlesex, work on his game and get some runs so he can sort his head out.

Happy with that squad, want to find a spot for Finn in the Test side, but just can't work out how with Panesar and Swann, who both have to play. Broad balances the side and has been in stunning form and Anderson has been a consistent Test performer for 2-3 years.

With the issues in the UAE, be bold to go with Prior at 6 and then Bresnan.

I'm going to say my team is:

Strauss
Cook
Trott
KP
Bell
Patel/Bopara (I can't choose, Bopara has test experience, but hasn't grabbed it. Patel has none but offers bowling options and a very FC record)
Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Panesar

Both Strauss and Bell need a century or they risk getting dropped for the summer. Strauss has something like 1 century in his last 25 test matches.

 

[lancashire666]

Don't know why the hate for Patel, maybe some can't get over his bit of podge? Genuine batsmen who can bat 6 and offer some very useful 3rd spin options.

Glad they dropped Morgan, he needs to go back to Middlesex, work on his game and get some runs so he can sort his head out.

Happy with that squad, want to find a spot for Finn in the Test side, but just can't work out how with Panesar and Swann, who both have to play. Broad balances the side and has been in stunning form and Anderson has been a consistent Test performer for 2-3 years.

With the issues in the UAE, be bold to go with Prior at 6 and then Bresnan.

I'm going to say my team is:

Strauss
Cook
Trott
KP
Bell
Patel/Bopara (I can't choose, Bopara has test experience, but hasn't grabbed it. Patel has none but offers bowling options and a very FC record)
Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Panesar

Both Strauss and Bell need a century or they risk getting dropped for the summer. Strauss has something like 1 century in his last 25 test matches.

Morgan really does need to play some FC cricket, shame he is off to the IPL and going to have very limited FC cricket before the summer tests start, really cant see him getting back in the test team for a long time now.

I dont think Bell will be dropped, in English conditions he is a beast, and was fantastic last year, all the UAE experience did was confirm he is a very poor player of spin.
He might end up being someone who plays in England, Aus, South Africa and the Winides, but dropped when we play in sub continent. That would be interesting

 

[Owzat]

Don't know why the hate for Patel, maybe some can't get over his bit of podge? Genuine batsmen who can bat 6 and offer some very useful 3rd spin options.

Just don't feel we need a bits n pieces cricketer in Tests, two frontline spinners will suffice

Glad they dropped Morgan, he needs to go back to Middlesex, work on his game and get some runs so he can sort his head out.

Agreed, but I feel he is being singled out when so many batsmen struggled and let the side down, but because Bell has been around for ages he is living off his past performances which Morgan doesn't have (as many) to fall back on.

Might only be three Tests, but the bopper only has 42 runs in five knocks in Sri Lanka. England just go back to old players, don't try new ones often enough.

lancashire - I just plucked Taylor out of the air as I didn't have time to think about it before getting ready for work. It's not ideal that the only experienced alternatives are Shah and Bopara.

 

[Haarithan]

BOOM and Patel's in while Morgan's out!

England in Sri Lanka 2011-12: Samit Patel and James Tredwell in for Sri Lanka | Cricket News | Sri Lanka v England | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[swacker]

Tough series to predict I think.

Shame there's only two Tests, but SL have to be happy with what little they get

 

[Haarithan]

Tough call regarding the playing XI but I guess I'll settle with this

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Bell
Prior
Bresnan/Patel
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Panesar/Finn

Basically, I'd like ONLY one off Patel and Panesar to start.

 

[lancashire666]

Tough call regarding the playing XI but I guess I'll settle with this

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Bell
Prior
Bresnan/Patel
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Panesar/Finn

Basically, I'd like ONLY one off Patel and Panesar to start.

I couldnt imagin England playing Bresnan that high, it would be very aggressive to do that, Patel is a far better batsman than him so he really is a possibiility

 

[6ry4nj]

Tredwell and Davies are there purely as backup/sightseers (I doubt Tredwell would get a Test even if a spinner was injured), so it's a pretty small squad with only one alternate bat and two alternate pacers (in a two-spinner scenario). If Tredwell and a backup keeper have to be there, I would've liked a larger squad with a couple of (more promising) future-conscious batting options.

 

[swacker]

BOOM and Patel's in while Morgan's out!

I'm all for endurance of selection, but it's becoming very difficult for youngsters to get into the national side.

I would have liked Hildrith or Taylor to have been given a chance.

 

[Sureshot]

Just don't feel we need a bits n pieces cricketer in Tests, two frontline spinners will suffice

Who is saying he'd be a second spinner?

Also, bits n pieces is a very harsh assessment, he's a genuine batsman who can bowl. Whilst in an ideal world he'd be our 6th bowler in ODIs/T20s, we don't have a Flintoff in the ranks.

He had a pretty good tour of UAE and I'd love to see him come in at 6/7 in the Test side.

But of course you have to see him as another Yardy, Blackwell, etc.

 

[barmyarmy]

Lack of a replacement batter is a bit worrying although I guess they can always call someone into the squad.

 

[War]

Not convinced about Patel's test credentials, would have preferred if Taylor was called up as others have already mentioned.

Don't think Tredwell is international standard either. If we are presuming England are going to start with 2 quicks and 2 spinners, then if lets say one of the spinners gets injured, then i would call up Finn and play 3 quicks + 1 spinner. Since Finn has proved he can reverse swing the ball on flat pitches, which would be far more lethal than to play an average/unproven second spinner in Tredwell.