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[Manormanic]

Interesting that some would cast aside Pietersen and keep Carberry who is give or take the same age.  That strikes me as pretty close to madness - okay, KP does some seriously strange (No Swearing Please) at times but the fact is he is still the best batsmen we have developed in the past 20 years with Virgil the only one who even gets within shooting distance. 

For me, if they still want to be, Cook, Bell and KP should be the core of our batting going forward with the expectation that they have 2,3 and 5 years left respectively.  That leaves three slots in the top six which go to Root (probably as a number four or five because we have seen to date that he has fewer tempo issues there), Stokes for the time being and an opener. 

Who the opener should be is tough - those who say Compton was hard done to have some credibility in that there have been other players given far more chances by the Team England set up, though I think they ignore how utterly at sea he looked when asked to bat at that level on spicier pitches.  Carberry looks just short of the required level which, given his age, means that he has two tests to do something spectacular, failing which I think Robson should be given a relatively undemanding 2014 to bed in.

[procricket]

Good shout there the give the lad a chance in Carberry is for 2 tests agree about KP and like the Robson idea too bud.

I even think Ballance deserves a go out there

[Manormanic]

Think playing Balance could be counter productive at this stage - he needs another year batting up the order for Yorkshire to help acquit him for the top level.

[Village Trundler]

He dug in very hard.

Proved a bit of application goes a long way,  when most of the others looked like they were already hoping to get home.

He,  along with broad looked like the only ones interested in exploiting done regularly favorable bowling conditions too.

Not too many poms will walk away from that having furthered their reputation,  but he is one of them.

[Over Gully]

Stokes has won a lot of plaudits over here, along with Broad (unbelievable I know!), because they have stood up and fought hard when plenty others haven't. The thing that he has shown, is that he is Test quality in both facets of his game. To make a Test hundred and also claim a 5-wicket haul in your debut series is pretty impressive. Although he didn't make a big score, Ballance looked to have a nice technique and is worth putting time into. Despite the abject nature of the series result, Stokes and Ballance might be the silver linings in the dark clouds for English cricket.