England Lions squad

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Interesting looking 14.

I think Ballance being in the A side pretty much means he's not in the WC plans. Will be good for him to get some cricket in before the West Indies tour. Will be interesting to see whether or not he bats at 3 ahead of Trott. Think he should do as that's what he'll do in the first test in theCaribbean.

Talking of Trott, looks like either he or Vince will get the spare batters slot on the Windies tour. There's clearly something about Taylor the selectors don't like. Unless, his omission means he'll be in the WC squad. Can't see it though.

Robson, Lyth and Lees are in a shoot out for the number 2 slot. Still wouldn't count out Hales if he has a brilliant WC. My gut feeling says that either Hales or Lees are the long term partner for Cook.

Wasn't too surprised about the bowling that was picked. Brooks deserves a go, and Rankin looked a lot better at the back end of the summer. Plunkett will need some overs in his legs, so it's smart sending him to SA.

Slightly surprised they've gone for Craig Overton over Lewis Gregory. Overton has pretty sub standard stats so there must be something the selectors see in him that I can't.

England will definitely need to play two spinners in the Windies, so Rashid just has to put some half decent performances in and the spot is his. Kerrigan and Panesar have been overlooked so their careers may have come to an end in terms of international cricket.

 

[MUFC1987]

Trott being picked makes sense, as it gives him a chance to go on a tour and see how he goes, so I'm happy with that. Compton is still the best option to open, but it's good that form players like the Yorkshire pair have been picked. Good to see Billings in the squad too, be interesting to see if he gets a run over Bairstow or not. Taylor simply has to be in the England plans, as there is no way he'd miss out on this kind of tour otherwise.

On the Overton/Gregory thing, Overton seems to do better on flatter pitches, if that makes sense. He's taller and hits the deck more and gets bounce, whereas Gregory is more of a swing bowler, especially in First Class cricket. Overton also has looked better with the bat, as I imagine he'll be picked in that all-rounder role, whereas Gregory is more of a bowler at the moment.

Apart from Overton though, there doesn't seem to be any young bowlers. Would have thought this would be a good chance to give them some experience, especially the likes of Kerrigan.

 

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Think Bairstow will probably start, as he had a decent county season. I'm a big Billings fan though.

Are there any other young bowlers (especially seamers) around at the moment? Kerrigan is an interesting one, as he was called up as back up for Ali during the summer. Obviously didn't impress, bowling at one stump with no batsman hour after hour. I think Rashid has done enough recently to go ahead of Kerrigan anyway.

 

[_Sam_]

Bairstow miles ahead of Billings in my opinion right now.

Never reassuring when someone only shines in a single format in a season, needs to prove himself in all 3 first.

Wonder who will captain, doubt they'll use Trott, Ballance and Bairstow have international experience, Vince has done it at county level and is a regular in the lions squad, or someone like Rashid perhaps.

 

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Think they'll end up giving it to Ballance. Apparently he's quite a smart chap and could potentially do the big job one day.