Who Can Captain England Moving Forward
This is the hardest one to answer. I think we've done to death the fact that of the current side the only contenders are either due to be sacked, due to be dropped, not keen on the job or too young. I do think Root is too young - not so much in terms of calender years as in terms of his development as a fully rounded cricketer - the fact is, England have rather messed him around, and he needs some time settled in one role in the side to get himself properly underway.
So, realistically, we need someone to captain England through to the end of the Ashes series next year. And the choices are pretty thin. Even if they were brave enough to go outside of the group, thre are not that many really good skippers in county cricket now, with a lot of clubs passing the role around like a chicken pox party; I've said before that the best tactical skipper in the county game has to Andrew Gale at Yorkshire and I stand by that. However, he is some way short of test class with the bat - I make him approximately the 26th best choice - and giving him the job would require either one of the existing middle order to step up to open, or to be dropped for an opener, which would be a shame when the three youngsters have all done pretty well, and Bell is the one remaining established player once Cook is rested and Prior invited to fall on his sword.
That leaves two - Read and Foster. The latter is the best keeper in the world and the more tactically astute leader, so would be my admittedly very reluctant choice.
Who Can Bowl Spin for England
Okay, we've established that Adil Rashid would have to arrange the assassination of every other spinner in England - including Nick Saunders - to get selected. So it might as well be Riley - Kerrigan will always struggle fo lack of pace and a repeatable action.
Who Can Open For England
Another tough one. I think Cook might well come again - he looks terrible at the moment and the technical issues will remain, but mentally refreshed he will do better and, lets face it, the tactics causing such issues amount to "pitch the ****ing think up to him", which is hardly rocket science, and he has managed near enough 9000 test runs with that technique...
Robson, the jury is out. He might make it, he might not - but for the rest of the Summer he can stay in situ and work at his game, because he clearly has the temprament to succeed. The question is who partners him...and the answer has to be Adam Lyth. Top runscorer in the Championship, making big scores in tough conditions and, lets face it, easier on the eye than Ian Bell...
How do we get Jordan Back in? (I think he'll score more runs than Stokes ATM)
Squad rotation, for a start. And by dropping Stokes.
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Topic: England Vs India (Read 118879 times)