England Lions tour of South Africa 2015

[CremerCurrans]

England Lions have already played a warm-up match, but the first unofficial test against South Africa A starts tomorrow.

Fixtures, Schedule | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

The squads are here:

Squads | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I'll be keeping a close eye on the progress of the two Kent lads.

 

[stefan]

High scoring so far. Impressive first SA A innings by De Bruyn.

Nice to see Jonathan Trot getting runs as well.

 

[bigred]

Interesting situation regarding England's number 2 spot developing. Although Lyth and Robson both scored hundreds in the warm up game, it looked like a pretty friendly attack. Trott has scored big runs against a very decent SA reserve team. Could Trott possibly come in an play that openers role? Think it depends on the rest of the tour. If Lyth or Robson get a big score in the next match, the job will probably be theirs.

The other option is Hales, playing a Warner type role. However, I think he would need to have a brilliant WC, and at the moment it doesn't look like he's in the starting eleven.

 

[dp458]

Robson has done his chances no harm, and we have to remember he is the incumbent, Trott opening would have the issue of genuine quicks bouncing him, this isnt something the lions tour will give him, nor early season for us bears, where he will bat 3 or 4 amway. Lees is too raw, Lyth was the red hot favourite but always difficult to come in at the top.
That aside its something id like to see given a go, as experince will be key in the ashes.

Plunkett also seemingly getting his role as the enforecer 4th seamer down imo, for home games, with broad anderson and woakes.

The issue is rashids bowling hasnt been great in this game, so what do we do in the windies, where ali will probably need another spinner, so the attack is ali @6. woakes@8, broad anderson and a spinner. Considering riley isnt getting a game, rashids bowling will be key if he is to get a gig.

Thoughts?


Home series team/not windeis/subcont

Cook
Trott
Balance
Root
Bell
Ali
Buttler
Woakes
Plunkett
Broad
Anderson

with above changes for other conditons.

Talyor has to be the next batsman of the rank, one other solution is root to open with taylor sliding in at 5. PErosnally Id leave root where his is atm

 

[bigred]

Robson has done his chances no harm, and we have to remember he is the incumbent, Trott opening would have the issue of genuine quicks bouncing him, this isnt something the lions tour will give him, nor early season for us bears, where he will bat 3 or 4 amway. Lees is too raw, Lyth was the red hot favourite but always difficult to come in at the top.
That aside its something id like to see given a go, as experince will be key in the ashes.

Plunkett also seemingly getting his role as the enforecer 4th seamer down imo, for home games, with broad anderson and woakes.

The issue is rashids bowling hasnt been great in this game, so what do we do in the windies, where ali will probably need another spinner, so the attack is ali @6. woakes@8, broad anderson and a spinner. Considering riley isnt getting a game, rashids bowling will be key if he is to get a gig.

Thoughts?


Home series team/not windeis/subcont

Cook
Trott
Balance
Root
Bell
Ali
Buttler
Woakes
Plunkett
Broad
Anderson

with above changes for other conditons.

Talyor has to be the next batsman of the rank, one other solution is root to open with taylor sliding in at 5. PErosnally Id leave root where his is atm

Yeah Broad, Anderson, Woakes and Ali are definites. So in England, Plunkett, Finn, Jordan and Stokes are competing for a place. Jordan holds that spot at the moment and in his last two tests he bowled well, so I see no reason to change. Plunkett is probably equally as good though.

In the Windies or Asia, we'll have to have two spinners. Like you, I thought Rashid would be ideal, but his bowling is hit and miss. Could be another Borthwick. Think Tredwell might be able to do a job until Riley is ready. Something must be putting selectors off Kerrigan. He was added to squad for last couple of tests against India, didn't play and now isn't in the Lions squad. Strange.

Batting wise, I'd be tempted to get Trott in at 2. Especially with all the big series' that are coming up. Think it would be unfair to expose a Lyth or Lees to Australia and SA in their first international year. I'm not a fan of Robson. Think he's got a limited shot range and plays at a very similar tempo to Cook. Trott also plays at this tempo but he's got daddy hundreds in him.

Root should be left at 5. Done brilliantly there. Taylor next in for sure.

 

[dp458]

Yeah Broad, Anderson, Woakes and Ali are definites. So in England, Plunkett, Finn, Jordan and Stokes are competing for a place. Jordan holds that spot at the moment and in his last two tests he bowled well, so I see no reason to change. Plunkett is probably equally as good though.

In the Windies or Asia, we'll have to have two spinners. Like you, I thought Rashid would be ideal, but his bowling is hit and miss. Could be another Borthwick. Think Tredwell might be able to do a job until Riley is ready. Something must be putting selectors off Kerrigan. He was added to squad for last couple of tests against India, didn't play and now isn't in the Lions squad. Strange.

Batting wise, I'd be tempted to get Trott in at 2. Especially with all the big series' that are coming up. Think it would be unfair to expose a Lyth or Lees to Australia and SA in their first international year. I'm not a fan of Robson. Think he's got a limited shot range and plays at a very similar tempo to Cook. Trott also plays at this tempo but he's got daddy hundreds in him.

Root should be left at 5. Done brilliantly there. Taylor next in for sure.

Jordon for me still doesnt bowl a consisent line and length well enough to be anywhere near international cricket, its a shame also that the best spinner in the county game and has been for many years is a kiwi (Patel).
Agree about exposing Lyth and Lees.

 

[bigred]

Very worried about Rashid's bowling. He's going at a run a ball in every innings. His runs don't really add much value to the side as we already have Woakes batting at 8. We'll definitely need two spinners in the Windies so don't know what we're going to do. Riley had a poor day today also and he's very young.

We might need to make do with Tredwell for a series, or trust Kerrigan. Kerrigan does have the best first class stats in the country, so he should be capable.

The number 2 slot in the test side question hasn't been answered either.

Lyth- hundred in warm up and then a 50 in the first class games.(he's been the best)

Robson- hundred in the warm up and a poor first class series

Lees- 80 in warm up and nothing else.

I'd be more and more tempted to give that spot to Trott. James Vince has had a very encouraging tour. We need some more depth in the middle order as there's only really Taylor and Trott(if he doesn't open) as back up.

 

[_Sam_]

Very happy to see local lad James Vince doing well .

Although he better not become the 12th man bench warmer any time soon .

 

[dp458]

Vince has worked his way up the pecking order, but still behind taylor, whilst bairstow has showed hes a capable backup to buttler.

Id go with Trott or Lyth, Robson really hasnt convinced me, and Lees needs more time.

Kerrigan has an action that worries me as a fellow spinner, he doesnt really complete the action. Before you mention Tredders remeber he was dropped by Kent for Riley in 4day last year

 

[bigred]

Vince has worked his way up the pecking order, but still behind taylor, whilst bairstow has showed hes a capable backup to buttler.

Id go with Trott or Lyth, Robson really hasnt convinced me, and Lees needs more time.

Kerrigan has an action that worries me as a fellow spinner, he doesnt really complete the action. Before you mention Tredders remeber he was dropped by Kent for Riley in 4day last year

I'm not saying that Tredwell is going to rip through a batting line up, but in the absence of anything good he's the type of bowler who could do a Giles type role. If he could just go at below 3 an over, it would mean they'd be more likely to have a go at Ali, making him more of a wicket taking threat, and it would mean we could give the three seamers longer breaks between spells. I'm not saying he is a long term answer. Hopefully, by the next Asian tour, Adam Riley will have progressed to international standard or there is some young talent out there that comes through.

 

[bigred]

Big performances in the one day series from Roy and Stokes. Can't make my mind up on Stokes. He's definitely a wicket taker, but once again, on this A tour his wickets have come at a hefty price. Sublime batting though when he's in form. Hardly any English batters could score 150 in 80 balls like he did today. Think he has a bit if genius in him, but hasn't shown it often enough in full England shirt. I hope his time comes again soon though.

As for Roy, he might well be next batsman in if we lose someone to injury now. Been very consistent in the series, with a big hundred topping it off. Think I'd still go for Vince though if we do have a cry off.

Other notable performances came from Gurney, Rankin and Parry. Gurney and Parry look to be very dependable bowlers, but not sure they'll ever deliver at international level. This Mark Wood chap seems to have had a great tour in both forms of the game, considering he was a late call up. Only seen him bowl once, and that was two years ago. Seemed quite sharp then. Can anyone confirm that he actually is quite quick?

Biggest let down of the tour is a joint prize going to Rashid and Brooks. Coming off superb title winning performances during the season, they've had a terrible first class tour and now can get a game in the one day side. Will probably cost Rashid his place on the Windies tour.

 

[MUFC1987]

The problem with Stokes and his like is the fact that the England selectors assume that 'All-rounder' means player who can definitely bowl and can bat a bit better than the rest of the bowlers. This means that the likes of Stokes and Borthwick bat at 8 and are expected to bowl brilliantly, and then the selectors ship them out when that doesn't happen.

Stokes is a batting all-rounder, but they don't seem to realise that. For me, it's disappointing because with Ali already in the side, we could have picked Stokes ahead of Bopara, to bat at 6 or 7 and be that 6th bowling option. Because he can be useful with the ball, just not consistent enough. Unfortunately instead of giving him some experience, we've turfed him back out of the side, despite looking like the brightest light of the future 12 months ago.

 

[War]

If we compare Gunrey to high class international left arm quicks like Johnson, Boult, Star, Irfan he is not in their class thus I'm not to worried about him not being picked in WC squad. Similar with Parry not a wicket-taking spinner threat, Ali is good enough. So wish Swann didn't retire so soon.

Selectors should have certainly backed Stokes through his form slump, he would have been very useful in the world cup squad ATM.