Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => World Cricket => England => Topic started by: thegowerwaft on November 24, 2024, 08:14:10 AM
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Cox out. Jimmy fielding. It's all going on in NZ.
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Nasty flashback.
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Nasty flashback.
Cox related?
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Cox related?
Cox out related.
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Bethell to bat at three.
England XI for first Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes (captain), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir.
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Just reading that in papers. Bold.
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Setting new records for ‘left fieldness’ of selection.. bringing him in is one thing but in at 3 is a baptism of fire - hope it doesn’t set him up for failure. Can’t help but feel that shunting everyone up one and Pope at 5/Bethell at 6 might have been a better option. Or of course Stokes at 3 but he seems dead set on middle order.
Interesting that Pope keeps and moves down, I guess the other option would have been Duckett, but not well enough educated on keeping to know who is more proficient. Moving Pope down the order is probably less disruptive to the team than Duckett (or blunting his output as opener) I guess.
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I tend to agree - it looks a little too funky and a bit 'sacrificial lamb'. Of course I hope he does well, but he's a middle-order limited overs specialist. In this age of being the big man and backing yourselves, I'm very surprised Stokes isn't up at no.3 for this test, thus giving the kid a bit of a chance.
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Sometimes cricket does things right. Really good idea this https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/new-zealand-and-england-to-compete-for-crowe-thorpe-trophy-1461770 (https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/new-zealand-and-england-to-compete-for-crowe-thorpe-trophy-1461770)
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Just seen Darren Lehmann on comms in the Aus game suggested that Joe Root isn’t in the all-time greats discussion because he doesn’t have a ton in Australia.
It’s a mystery why he never got another international coaching gig with such incredible insights as this 🙄
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Just Aussie wind up click bait.
Back on topic, I have no idea why one of Brook, Stokes or Root can't bat at 3 and allow Bethell to bat in the middle order.
But who knows.
Going to be a good series
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Has Duckett introduced a new "shot" into his repertoire - "The Leave"? :D
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Ollie Pope looks a much better bat when he's not at 3, shock me more 😂 back on board the Stokes at 3 train.
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Brook now has more overseas 100s than the overrated flat track bully that is Warner.
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Catches win matches. Apparently.
England made NZ pay for the drops today. If they'd held on to half of them England would have been in real trouble. As it is, you can see a situation where England have a sizeable 1st innings lead.
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Solid win. England are still in transition after Broad and Anderson, so a long way to go, but good to see some news players doing well.
Would have been interesting to see how the test would take gone had NZ taken their catches tho and we still have the odd blow up in us batting wise I feel. So could make for an entertaining few tests to come.
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Ollie Pope looks a much better bat when he's not at 3, shock me more 😂 back on board the Stokes at 3 train.
Slightly leftfield this but...Smith at three and give Pope the gloves? I mean, if Pope is staying in the side come what may, I don't think he is an appreciably less solid keeper (accepting that neither is a Test class specialist keeper by a long chalk), Smith has the technique to bat with more time to play with and Pope did look a lot less frenetic responding to the match situation rather than fretting about trying to shape it.
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I think Smith is probably going to be good enough to bat top 5, but not convinced he is a future 3 or that Pope is in the same class as a keeper.
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ZAK CRAWLEY - DISCUSS!!
I actually enjoy watching Crawley bat, the free flowing fast scoring is very exciting and Duckett seems to (mostly) have become more consistent so he is a perfect foil.
'However' - is it unfair to say I wish he would adapt his game a little more? The thrilling innings seem a lot less frequent between runs of low scores and early dismissals.
I think what I mean is, could he bat a little more for the situation and conditions - I watched him face up to Matt Henry a few times and he just looked like a walking wicket - even nutters like Hayden, Sehwag and Gayle reined it in a bit occasionally when the situation dictated it.
He seems to have been given a license, but doesn't seem to have any other gears, possibly to the detriment of the team?
Or am I just being boring?
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i think the free license policy with englands batting has maybe gone too far with some. I like that Crawley and others can go out to bat - even on a very lean patch - knowing their place is safe, this must take off some of the pressure though. Stokes seems to have almost completely lost the ability to defend with the bat and is less and less looking like the match winner he was a few years ago, someone needs to have a quick word and get him to balance it out a bit.
Crawley could just be one of those guys who cant buy a run out of form but when he's in is unstoppable.
its good to see Root batting how he used to, he balances out everyone else and gives the calm head we need.
i would prefer us to be slightly more boring and make bowlers work harder and longer against us, we are too easy to bowl out in a day - even if we did score 400 in the process. possibly giving the oppo more chance to get back in the game by progressing it too quickly.
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i think the free license policy with englands batting has maybe gone too far with some. I like that Crawley and others can go out to bat - even on a very lean patch - knowing their place is safe, this must take off some of the pressure though. Stokes seems to have almost completely lost the ability to defend with the bat and is less and less looking like the match winner he was a few years ago, someone needs to have a quick word and get him to balance it out a bit.
Crawley could just be one of those guys who cant buy a run out of form but when he's in is unstoppable.
its good to see Root batting how he used to, he balances out everyone else and gives the calm head we need.
i would prefer us to be slightly more boring and make bowlers work harder and longer against us, we are too easy to bowl out in a day - even if we did score 400 in the process. possibly giving the oppo more chance to get back in the game by progressing it too quickly.
Crawley with a low thirties average in both first cricket and test cricket is merely being exposed as very mediocre. He doesn’t have the requisite skills of said ‘nutters’ Hayden, Sehwag and Gayle - and let’s be honest Crawley has zero chance of ever being in that group.
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Agree with the above, just unsure who the candidates to replace him with would be.
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The worst batsman ever to play fifty times for England?
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The worst batsman ever to play fifty times for England?
Ramprakash most definitely is the ‘worse’.
His first class average was nearly 60 yet test average was in the 20s.
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Bethell has a more solid technique from what I've seen of him so far. Early days but he doesn't leave as big a gap between bat and pad as Crawley does, nor does he play with as hard hands. Not a terrible option if they're married to the idea of Pope going back to 3.
Personally I'd be tempted to try Bethell opening (he's done it at junior level), Smith to 3 (better temperament for it than Pope), and Pope to 6 with the gloves, but I cannot see that happening, even against Zimbabwe.
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Smith is tidier with the gloves (although still not my first pick. Won’t get that one started though)
Bethell well and truly deserves his place. I think they made Pope VC a bit early.
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Crawley is and will be Englands opener come the summer and overall in this style of play deserves to be, not a lot of individual tons but so many times he and Duckett give England the start and platform they want. The final dismal in the 2nd innings wasn’t a great call from the umpire and was out on umpires call when a lot of other times who knows.
His first really poor series for some time
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Think I'd probably argue he was poor in Pakistan (though he wasn't alone). 78 on an absolute highway, followed by 61 in 4 innings where he looked horribly out of his depth against spin.
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stokes latest injury couldnt have come at a better time for Pope, got a feeling he was losing his place to Smith.
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Yes, lets have a chat about Crawley. Feels like hes been in the team forever.
But he is still only 26. Most Test players dont really get going until 30s. Most arent picked until late 20s traditionally down the years.
Hes currently averaging 30. And 36 at home.
2025 feels like it could be a big year for Crawley with India and the Ashes.
He is still on the progressive curve upwards. Can we get another 10-15 runs added to that average next year, against the worlds best? Mainly against quicks on seamer friendly pitches rather than spin you would think. I think he can manage it. Certainly at home against India. His pal Duckett (age 30) will be another year older and experienced, so that must help Crawley stick around longer on that green Lords pitch.
I agree his spin play needs big improvement, but maybe by the time he is 30 he will have conquered it.
And I agree that the whole team need to bat the situation alot more. It’s almost as if you want the batters to be selfish and drop Bazball and just stick it out to get to the end of sessions. Just get the single and give the 5 per over problem to the other guy.
They are all guilty of it when they collapse and it is a wind up.
I have much the same attitude towards Bashir. Another youngster gaining huge experience and improvement year on year. And taking wickets and figures not far off the typical English spinner down the years. I just hope if there is a 4 year plan for the England team they stick with it and give the players that experience & support. I can accept closely losing series by ‘the barest of margins’. It’s the daftness and lack of concentration that ruins the potential. 🤦♂️
I feel relieved about the bowling after Broad & Anderson depart. Hopefully 2025 will be the year all the batters sing too. 😅