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[uknsaunders]

Jordan - words fail me.

[northernboy1987]

Jordan - words fail me.

Same, although Woakes isn't yet a world beater I can understand his selection as he's a tight bowler at reasonable pace who can move the ball. Jordan is just a bits and pieces player to me.

[Manormanic]

so Rashid, Plunkett and Bell out
Woakes, Jordan, Footitt, Compton and Ballance in

Words fail me.  You drop your best spinner, fastest bowler and most experienced batsman and bring in two medium pacers, a good left arm quick, a guy with a poor first class record last year and one who...whilst unlucky to be dropped should have been asked to earn his place back.  Utter incompetence.

[cricketbadger]

Jordan, Woakes and Patel are 3 wasted picks in the squad. Why suddenly bomb off Rashid and a lad who's carried drinks for past 12 months Plunkett. Happy with the batting, apart from the news that Hales is actually going to play with his sketchy technique. Hope Bairstow gets the nod with the gloves

[Buzz]

Not that he's hit many of them lately, but i will miss Ian Bell's glorious cover drive!

To be replaced be a Hales glorious moo over cow.
Splendid!

Jordan is in to be the sub fielder (marginal gains theory), woakes is a good all round player and Cook wanted the control Patel offers.

[19reading87]

The England cricket team is quickly becoming like so many clubs we all know of. It's not what you know, it's who you know! Your face has to fit....

[uknsaunders]

so Rashid, Plunkett and Bell out
Woakes, Jordan, Footitt, Compton and Ballance in

Words fail me.  You drop your best spinner, fastest bowler and most experienced batsman and bring in two medium pacers, a good left arm quick, a guy with a poor first class record last year and one who...whilst unlucky to be dropped should have been asked to earn his place back.  Utter incompetence.

Anybody sense the Compton bandwagon has been rolling in the press for a few months now?

I think Rashid was worth a punt, there might be one spinning deck in the series but the thought of AB batting against him isn't nice. Plunkett should of gone instead of Jordan. Woakes was making progress before injury and might be a backup to Stokes. Ballance should be kept waiting until Bell had failed at 5. At that point we are talking next county season and a chance for Ballance (or others) to stake a claim.

Bairstow dodged a bullet thanks to Buttler I feel. Buttler 2nd choice for the test series and if we had a part time keeper he might of not even made the squad.

Timing a bit poor as well. England are still playing ODI/T20, not the best prep for Rashid is it?

[uknsaunders]

Cook wanted the control Patel offers.

Might as well take me if that's the reason. I bowl less bad bowls and spin it more. Like Jordan, a redundant selection if you want to win a test match.

[ppccopener]

Same, although Woakes isn't yet a world beater I can understand his selection as he's a tight bowler at reasonable pace who can move the ball. Jordan is just a bits and pieces player to me.

Woakes is decent, looks like he is improving as a cricketer. With Jordan I can only presume it's a brain freeze, they guy is a stunning fielder but that's not enough to get in the Test side at any point I can remember in the past.

As far as Bell goes, surprised they have left him out. I reckon because the opening slot has been a problem and they don't know how Hales will go, and JT being given a chance that's why he got dropped.

They could of left Balance out thou and kept Bell in his spot. I reckon sommat behind the scenes has gone on because Bayliss said they want Bell on the tour 2 weeks ago.

Maybe he no longer has the hunger for touring and will permanently be left out now

[roco]

By the looks of it they are only taking 1 spinner and Rashid is/was the back up but they felt he would benefit more from playing in Big bash etc ready for the world t20 rather than being dragged around as the water boy so slight method to the madness

[19reading87]

Might as well take me if that's the reason. I bowl less bad bowls and spin it more. Like Jordan, a redundant selection if you want to win a test match.

I beg to differ .... You bowled too short at times last year... Patel just gets the nod for me

[edge]

Rashid is off to actually play some cricket, fair enough. Shame they haven't done the same with Buttler.

What's the problem with Woakes on here? Regularly hits around 90mph, accurate, moves it both ways, superb first class record. Also good enough with the bat to have been given his test debut at 6.

Jordan going as sub fielder, who knows what Plunkett has done to deserve dropping. Neither of them have played a game for a while and Jordan has got ahead somehow.

Odd decision on Patel ahead of Ansari, but Patel actually did pretty well in the UAE and maybe they want Ansari spending time with Vettori on spin camp. Not gonna play anyway so who cares.

[Manormanic]

Anybody sense the Compton bandwagon has been rolling in the press for a few months now?

I think Rashid was worth a punt, there might be one spinning deck in the series but the thought of AB batting against him isn't nice. Plunkett should of gone instead of Jordan. Woakes was making progress before injury and might be a backup to Stokes. Ballance should be kept waiting until Bell had failed at 5. At that point we are talking next county season and a chance for Ballance (or others) to stake a claim.

Bairstow dodged a bullet thanks to Buttler I feel. Buttler 2nd choice for the test series and if we had a part time keeper he might of not even made the squad.

Timing a bit poor as well. England are still playing ODI/T20, not the best prep for Rashid is it?

Compton - yes, there seems to have been a movement within the press corps to promote the lad.  Its a tricky one because I can certainly see the argument that he was ditched a little prematurely last time around.  My concern would be that he is well past his thirtieth now, remains every bit as intense as he ever was, and has done very little since being dropped to bang on the door for a recall.  It sends a very odd message to a lot of very prolific players in county cricket - James Vince, James Hildreth, Adam Lyth, Varun Chopra etc that he is getting a recall at this stage (even if it may actually be the right decision, arguably).

Rashid - yes, there is the possibility that he'd get AB'd - but do you really think that Moeen and Samit are any more immune to that punishment if they meet the great man on the wrong day and in the wrong conditions?  In the meantime, who if the three is most likely to win you a test?  Its the guy who won't be there, isn;t it...

Bairstow should have survived as a batsman - he did pretty well in the UAE - you just hope now that he is going to get a fair run as a keeper/bat from the selectors...some chance of that isn't there? 

[roco]

The big thing I don't like about this is he was thinking about retiring only to be talked round with all the crap of we need you and you can still do it, then to be dropped like this does not sit right with me.

Personally I think he should have retired after the ashes on a high but seems to have been held out to dry by ECB.

Great news for bears fans though as he will dominate county cricket as he has done when he has played

[northernboy1987]

Great news for bears fans though as he will dominate county cricket as he has done when he has played

Course he will and you can almost see what's going happen can't you? He'll score LOADS next season Compton will have a lean run at 3 and all of a sudden all the people who wanted Bell dumped earlier this year will be whinging to have him back. That being said I think Bell was on borrowed time.