England Team Discussion

The Great Sacking Day of English Cricket

New rule for England is if you are slacking; You are getting sacked!!!!
 
I am pretty sure they are going to have Duncan Fletcher coming in again. The case calls for strengthening the Test/red ball cricketing fortunes. England may not cast a wider net at the moment and might be tempted to go back to a tried and tested persona. It is also possible that Strauss would eventually make way for Fletcher in the near future, while they finalize a candidate who could help.
 
Another series done and it's time to play "pick an England team" again. This is specifically for the upcoming home Tests:
  1. :eng: :bat: Rory Burns :c: - The only debutant since Jos Buttler to average over 30, and comes with extensive captaincy experience. Given that Root cannot possibly continue to captain the side and that Ben Stokes could not reasonably be asked to take on that burden, it seems only logical to call on Rory Burns as captain. The other candidates are Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow - the last of which is who I'd expect the ECB to appoint.
  2. :eng: :bat: Sam Robson or :eng: :bat: Rob Yates - I am axing Alex Lees; a series with a strike-rate of 27 and a best score of 31 doesn't cut it for me. As my two options to replace him, I have picked two candidates: one (Robson) has shown himself able to score a Test century, and indeed 25 other centuries in his 13-year career, and the other is young and technically sound debutant, who notched up five centuries last season.
  3. :eng: :bat: Zak Crawley or :eng: :bat: Dan Lawrence - There is only really room for one of these two players in the team. Both would be slightly out of position, but choosing between them marks a choice between two completely different identities for the team. Do you go with the aesthetically blessed batting scion, passed up from one level of the establishment to the next? Or do you go with the self-taught, hard-working boy who learnt his game so well playing against men that he was a Championship double-centurion at 17?
  4. :eng: :bat: Joe Root - Take the captaincy off him and put him at one of his two best batting positions. Those would be four and five, but four better allows for the team to have some semblance of balance. Even as non-captain, he's the first name on my teamsheet.
  5. :eng: :bat: Jonny Bairstow - Bairstow has produced his best work in Test cricket at numbers six and seven, but I would still personally back him to come in at five based on recent form. He also bats well with Root (they have quite complimentary batting styles) so I also think it makes sense for them to be adjacent in the batting order. I also wouldn't be surprised, as previously mentioned, if he is the ECB's choice for their next Test captain.
  6. :eng: :ar: Ben Stokes - Moving him back down to six would certainly give him better opportunity to play with the freedom that he has shown only once since the start of 2021 - a period in which he has averaged under 25 with his century in Bridgetown the only batting contribution of note. Ben Stokes the batter is not a great player - he is a player of great innings.
  7. :eng: :ar: Liam Livingstone - As if an unchained Ben Stokes were not enough, I would put Liam Livingstone at number seven as a multi-skilled player. He would act as the main spinner in home Tests, as a second spinner on dustbowls; though premature based on his 43 first-class wickets, his combined off- and leg-breaks have so far yielded 13 wickets at under 20 in white-ball internationals. He is an exceedingly fast learner, and adds an extra rung to the batting order as a player capable of both destruction and defiance as the situation requires.
  8. :eng: :wk: Ben Foakes - He is a stellar gloveman who makes Jos Buttler look like a toy monkey bashing cymbals, but Ben Foakes' batting at Test level is perhaps not of the level that is expected of a modern number seven. Thus, I shuffle him down to number eight, ahead of only the spinners. It's a bit of a Duncan Fletcher move, but I think it would balance the team out pretty nicely.
  9. :eng: :bwl: Ollie Robinson or :eng: :bwl: Brydon Carse (or Darren Stevens) - I would probably pick one of Mark Wood, Jofra Archer or Ollie Stone here, but as they're all crocked I guess we must look past them. This is a choice between a skilled and accurate seam bowler or a tall and broad fast man. Probably dependent on conditions.
  10. :eng: :bwl: Stuart Broad - Best to squeeze every last wicket out of both him and Anderson before their bodies decide that they're done with Test cricket.
  11. :eng: :bwl: Jimmy Anderson - See above.
And remember we can never pick Haseeb Hameed again because this early observation proved true:
never pick an opener who bats in a chest guard
 

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