Print

[Kulli]

Another nothing dismissal when half set for Bell, back to his old ways after being godlike last summer.

[joeljonno]

Bugger youth! (well not in practice, obviously!) - lets get team England back to winning ways.

Balance, Robson, Root, Ali, Jordan are enough youth for the moment, and Cook, Plunkett and Broad are hardly ancient -  let's pick the best XI

Pick 11 kids. They are those ones who are generally performing the better any way.

Cook, Bell, Prior are getting shown up by the others generally.

[tim2000s]

Another nothing dismissal when half set for Bell, back to his old ways after being godlike last summer.

Not so sure that was a "nothing" dismissal. Bloody difficult ball to play.

[Gerry SA]

Ian Bell in his last 32 Test matches and 50 innings

Bell has only scored 4 hundreds.

3 of which came in 7 innings vs Australia in 2013 Ashes.

If Cook's getting close to the chop, why's Bell getting a free ride?

[mp07]

Bell looks really low in confidence, his body language tells it all...very different Bell from last time when India came to England.

[MJB3]

The reality is there is a real lack of alternative batsmen to pick. No one is really hammering the door down.

[Gerry SA]

I think it might be time yo rejig the batting lineup.

Cook is in a poor run of form but he still averages 45. Maybe he should move down to 5.

Bell stays at 4.

Get Ali to open and give the innings impetus early on. 

[mp07]

Well said MJB3...no one is really knocking on the door to take on those spot.

On other note, Dhoni is really struggling with keeping, taking it too easy perhaps?  I don't think he enjoys playing test matches haha

[Buzz]

Ian Bell in his last 32 Test matches and 50 innings

Bell has only scored 4 hundreds.

3 of which came in 7 innings vs Australia in 2013 Ashes.

If Cook's getting close to the chop, why's Bell getting a free ride?

Bell always gets a free ride...

Interesting that all the people we are talking about dropping are the experienced players.

It shows how much the team relied on KP.

Having said that, now he has gone, I am not sure you can bring him back - plus he isn't exactly scoring huge runs for Surrey at the moment either...

[Gerry SA]

Bell always gets a free ride...

Interesting that all the people we are talking about dropping are the experienced players.

It shows how much the team relied on KP.

Having said that, now he has gone, I am not sure you can bring him back - plus he isn't exactly scoring huge runs for Surrey at the moment either...

The Durban native no longer plays first class cricket so a return seems unlikely...

And they only way he could return is if Cook/Moores/Downton are all sacked.

Which seems unlikely.

[uknsaunders]

The Durban native no longer plays first class cricket so a return seems unlikely...

And they only way he could return is if Cook/Moores/Downton are all sacked.

Which seems unlikely.

Wouldn't lose much if they all got the boot at the moment.

[TangoWhiskey]

Hales has been scoring a load of first class runs...

[potzy248]

Love the talk about dropping players. Welcome to NZ cricket for the last two decades.
I think you see whats happening to Bell happens to a few players. He's the last of a group of players that did so well a few years ago. Maybe his good friends are gone and its just a bit more difficult for him to get himself up. I personally just see a form slump from him but he's a brilliant player and should bounce back.
Cook just has too much pressure on him and is struggling all around, He needs to lose the captaincy IMO. Look what happened to Ross Taylor when he was replaced.

[ppccopener]

the problem for us England fans is it would not be the end of the world for Cook not to be England captain because we need his runs far more-we dont care if he's captain or not...

It's who would replace him in the current team.
there's really very few alternatives

Cook is not a good tactical captain, he can lead from the front(great when things are going well) but he's in a terrible run of form that just will not go away

Personally I think he will be given this series and he either gets some runs or will be dropped from the team.

In my book class is permanent so he will turn it around...but God only knows when

i dont beleive he should drop down the order as has been suggested by a few on here,he's an opener, so he needs to battle it out.

England's problems are not a result of KP not playing.The most valuable player to us(batsman) in the last few years has been Trott-no question.

[Sam]

There's next to no one really pushing for a place this season with the bat at the current time, which is surprising given the amount we've had in the last couple of seasons and competition for the positions. Here are the 8 leading (English qualified) CC run scorers this season :

J Vince - 1167 @ 64.83
D Mitchell - 1040 @ 74.28
S Patel - 974 @ 44.27
A Lyth - 887 @ 59.13
R Wessels - 887 @ 49.27
M Trescothick - 875 @ 48.61
W Smith - 825 @ 45.83
D Malan - 799 @ 49.93