England Team Discussion

[Markkkkk]

Why not Dawson? Surely he can hold an end and he's an equally useful batsmen...

 

[Yash.]

Why not Dawson? Surely he can hold an end and he's an equally useful batsmen...

I agree with Markkk but think Compton must be given a position

 

[_Sam_]

Vince has just run himself out for a duck in what is probably the final CC round before test selection with Trevor Bayliss sat in the stands. Not ideal...

 

[bigred]

Vince has just run himself out for a duck in what is probably the final CC round before test selection with Trevor Bayliss sat in the stands. Not ideal...

I'm positive he's been told he's playing anyway. Compton is finished.

 

[bigred]

Ian Bell has pulled a hammy so the path looks clear for Vince and Ballance.

 

[blockerdave]

On Rashid, he needs to get more consistent. It's all well and good have variations, but he relieves the pressure too much, with that bad ball. The top players will sit on him and put that away and take 4 an over off him easily. Ali is probably a more boring bowler, but he can get batsmen out through building up pressure. That's what you need in England, when the pitches don't turn that much most of the time.

off topic to this entirely, but in the Don Bradman Cricket 14 Academy, I made the two 1993 Ashes squads. I’ve set up the proper line-ups for each test too. When I got the lineups from the cricinfo scorecards,m i was amazed at how much a part spin played in the series:

1st Test: Aus 1 spinner (Warne – Border also bowled spin in the match), England 2 (Such & Tuffnell – Hick also bowled spin in the match)

2nd Test: 2 spinners each: Warne & May / Such & Tufnell – Hick, M Waugh* & Border also bowled spin in the match

3rd Test: Aus 2 spinners (Warne & May – M Waugh & Border also bowled spin in the match), England 1 (Such)

4th Test: Aus 2 spinners (Warne & May – M Waugh & Border also bowled spin in the match), England 0.

5th Test: 2 spinners each: Warne & May / Such & Emburey – M Waugh & Border also bowled spin in the match

6th Test: Aus 2 Spinners (Warne & May – M Waugh also bowled spin in the match), England 1(Such – Hick also bowled spin in the match)


*Actually, in this match he also bowled seamers. He bowled a lot of overs and actually opened the bowling with Hughes due to an injury to McDermott. I’m not sure if any of his overs included spin.


Can you imagine any series played in England and not featuring a sub-continent team being so spin heavy these days? Not a chance. Aussies picked 2 frontline spinners in 5 out of 6 matches, and still bowled the part time spinners too!

 

[MUFC1987]

Compton is finished.

Not quite yet it seems.

I think it's a good squad though. Vince is obviously seen as the future and it makes a lot more sense to give him a chance in the middle order, to allow him an easier pathway into International cricket. Plus, I think Hales and Compton deserved another chance after the tough series in the winter.

I haven't seen much of Ball, but he must be pretty good to be chosen ahead of a few others who have done well in County Cricket for the last year or so. Although saying that, he'll probably find it hard to find a place in the side, if Finn is fully fit.

 

[bigred]

Not quite yet it seems.

I think it's a good squad though. Vince is obviously seen as the future and it makes a lot more sense to give him a chance in the middle order, to allow him an easier pathway into International cricket. Plus, I think Hales and Compton deserved another chance after the tough series in the winter.

I haven't seen much of Ball, but he must be pretty good to be chosen ahead of a few others who have done well in County Cricket for the last year or so. Although saying that, he'll probably find it hard to find a place in the side, if Finn is fully fit.

I don't like to get on the backs of selectors too much, but I think Compton is an incredibly poor selection. People had a go at me a few months ago for wanting to keep Bell- are people really suggesting that this guy is better or could do better than Bell? Not only has he looked poor playing for England, he's scored nothing this season.

Some may argue that there aren't many other options; I think there are. Ballance might not be a natural number 3, but he averages 47. Westley has scored 4 hundreds in 4 FC matches (one against Sri Lanka). He also scored a ton vs Australia last summer. Malan seems to be developing into a really good player. Hales could've batted in his preferred position of 3 (said it was his preference for Notts last summer) and Robson could've opened.

I hope I'm proved wrong and he contributes, but if he doesn't watching him bat isn't the easiest thing to do.

 

[MUFC1987]

I think if you get bored watching his style, then perhaps change channel and watch some Journeyman Australian knocking some young Indian bowler about in a T20 somewhere.

Compton has a style that sure, isn't expansive, but it can be effective. He's a throw back to a time when batsmen valued their wicket and saw off the new ball. I think he can definitely improve though, especially with picking up more singles and rotating the strike, but I don't think it's a bad selection. I think we're less likely to collapse in a heap with him in the team and as he showed in South Africa, he can help set it up for the likes of Root coming in behind him. As for his form at the start of the season, I think after the South Africa tour and the result, the batsmen deserved a chance to start this series. I'd say the same for Hales and I would have done for Taylor. It was always going to be tough, yet they all showed glimpses of what they can do, so I don't see the harm in giving them another chance. There's plenty of time to switch it around if it doesn't work against Sri Lanka.

 

[blockerdave]

I don't like to get on the backs of selectors too much, but I think Compton is an incredibly poor selection. People had a go at me a few months ago for wanting to keep Bell- are people really suggesting that this guy is better or could do better than Bell? .

Compton averaged 30 in SA. Bell averaged <30 for 18 months, 2013-2015.

So yes. Bell is the one who is finished, thankfully.

 

[bigred]

Compton averaged 30 in SA. Bell averaged <30 for 18 months, 2013-2015.

So yes. Bell is the one who is finished, thankfully.

So you honestly believe that Compton would score more runs this summer than Bell? Come on.

By the way, I'm not suggesting that Bell would be my replacement for Compton. I'm merely pointing out that people are supporting a player who is clearly worse than Bell after all of the criticism I got. I would have picked Ballance, Buttler, Roy, Malan or Westley ahead of him.

 

[bigred]

I think if you get bored watching his style, then perhaps change channel and watch some Journeyman Australian knocking some young Indian bowler about in a T20 somewhere.

Compton has a style that sure, isn't expansive, but it can be effective. He's a throw back to a time when batsmen valued their wicket and saw off the new ball. I think he can definitely improve though, especially with picking up more singles and rotating the strike, but I don't think it's a bad selection. I think we're less likely to collapse in a heap with him in the team and as he showed in South Africa, he can help set it up for the likes of Root coming in behind him. As for his form at the start of the season, I think after the South Africa tour and the result, the batsmen deserved a chance to start this series. I'd say the same for Hales and I would have done for Taylor. It was always going to be tough, yet they all showed glimpses of what they can do, so I don't see the harm in giving them another chance. There's plenty of time to switch it around if it doesn't work against Sri Lanka.

I'll say the same as I said numerous times during the SA tour. Compton doesn't have to score more boundaries. He needs to pick up singles and twos. His biggest problem is that in county cricket, where the bowling is slower, he gets a big stride in and can, on occasions, dominate attacks. In test cricket, he's pinned to the crease and looks shotless at times. It's painful to watch.

Don't patronize me talking about t20 rubbish. I couldn't care less about it. I want our test team to do well. If I didn't appreciate 'test style batting' I wouldn't be such a big fan of Cook or Trott. Both find/found a way to score runs at a decent rate. Cricket is all about scoring runs. Compton doesn't score enough of them.

 

[blockerdave]

So you honestly believe that Compton would score more runs this summer than Bell? Come on.

By the way, I'm not suggesting that Bell would be my replacement for Compton. I'm merely pointing out that people are supporting a player who is clearly worse than Bell after all of the criticism I got. I would have picked Ballance, Buttler, Roy, Malan or Westley ahead of him.

Genuine question: how do you rationalise run machine Bell's last 3 years of test cricket? How long does a bout of failure have to last before you accept that someone is past it?

 

[bigred]

Genuine question: how do you rationalise run machine Bell's last 3 years of test cricket? How long does a bout of failure have to last before you accept that someone is past it?

Are you reading my posts? I wouldn't pick Bell. I just think it's funny that Compton has such support given that he's sh*t.

 

[Markkkkk]

Maybe because he's scored runs?