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[FattusCattus]

Completely agree with this, and I like Ali as a cricketer, but he is not a front line spinner whist he has a hole up his bum. I think there are other spinners out there who may do a better job batting at number 8 when Stokes is back,

Rashid?
Ansari?
Batty?

[Aussie In England]

Yawn. What a surprise to see you pop up with a dig at an English player. Never saw that coming...

Great to see Jimmy bowling so well, seems to have the ball on a string sometimes.

Nice to see Chandimal's ton too, totally deserved  - some of his driving through the covers was beautiful.

A dig at Cook? What planet you on?

[Aussie In England]

Completely agree with this, and I like Ali as a cricketer, but he is not a front line spinner whist he has a hole up his bum. I think there are other spinners out there who may do a better job batting at number 8 when Stokes is back,

Rashid?
Ansari?
Batty?

Rashid is the best fit for #8

[procricket]

Ali will remain we have won every trophy with him in the side so why change a winning side.

Ali will not move up i do not think but can do a duel role has proven in the tests he has played

front line spinner no part of a winning side ...

for sure..

[northernboy1987]

I think Ali will stay for the reasons Dave mentions above. I  a member of the Rashid fan club though and if it was up to me he'd be England's no 8 and frontline spinner. Not taking away from Ali's knock though, great to watch.

[FattusCattus]

Ali will remain we have won every trophy with him in the side so why change a winning side.

Ali will not move up i do not think but can do a duel role has proven in the tests he has played

front line spinner no part of a winning side ...

for sure..

The only issue I have with this theory Dave is what is coming up - I fear Pakistan may make mincemeat of him, then I believe it's a double tour to the sub-continent. He;s a 2nd spinner at best, therefore a frontline spinner is not getting any experience.

I just don't believe he's got any better than he was, and I don't feel he fulfils the role of frontline spinner.

[ppccopener]

The only issue I have with this theory Dave is what is coming up - I fear Pakistan may make mincemeat of him, then I believe it's a double tour to the sub-continent. He;s a 2nd spinner at best, therefore a frontline spinner is not getting any experience.

I just don't believe he's got any better than he was, and I don't feel he fulfils the role of frontline spinner.

if you put the best English qualified spinners in a list Fattus, a short one list I think this will be  , who would you have in it?

we are on a very hard tour of Bangladesh and India late this year, we will probably play two spinners in the Tests, but who they are is not easy to choose.

For what it's worth,and much as I really like Ali as a player, I think Rashid will be more potent as in...getting wickets at No 8 for us.

I think if I was a selector I would be trying to get Ansari of Surrey as part of the squads pretty soon....so they can at least have a look-maybe in the one dayers......

[ElPerro]

the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' argument doesn't hold with me, if that was the case you'd never improve as a team.

Ali suffers from being a jack of all trades and really the England set up should take a lot of the blame for this. He came into the team as a top order batsmen who could bowl a bit and they've clearly told him to invest a lot of time and training into his bowling, which will have been to the detriment of his batting. His bowling doesn't seem to be going anywhere and until is 155* his batting had been floundering. As an orthodox offie you first and foremost need to have a lot of control which he just doesnt seem to be able to get, whether or not he puts a lot of revs on it or has a nice action is really irrelevant if you can't control an end. They've squandered a lot of his talent and it's a crying shame because like we saw when he's batting well he's a joy to watch.

I'm not too sure on what other spinners are out there aside from the obvious choices of Rashid/Ansari and I'd like to see all three of them go to the subcontinent this winter.

[Rob580]

I'm still not buying the Rashid is better argument.

From my perspective he is in the same camp as Imran Tahir, as in he's a good Limited overs spinner, as when he (inevitably) bowls a long hop or a full toss, yes he still gets drilled, but the field is out and he gets away with it being a single to the man in the deep. In a test, that same ball & shot would be 4 runs, as the fielders are in. So you end up having to put the field out to stem the flow, and then you reduce his potency by not having the catchers in place, and allowing singles, as you have to protect the boundary. It's a vicious circle, so until he can cut out the bad ball, then he's not going to be an effective test match spinner. Because for all the wicket taking deliveries he might bowl, if he's going at 5/6 an over, it's a waste of time, as the opposition are getting away from you. Personally I'd rather a spinner get 1-50 from 20 overs, than 3-120. But maybe that's just me....

To be honest, there's not any spinners around in England who are good enough to win test matches. Simple as that. Maybe we need to go down the route that South Africa did, and just play quick bowlers, and try and get someone who can tie up an end (same as Ashley Giles, Paul Harris etc)

[uknsaunders]

Monty averaging 78 at the moment 

[ElPerro]

To be honest, there's not any spinners around in England who are good enough to win test matches. Simple as that. Maybe we need to go down the route that South Africa did, and just play quick bowlers, and try and get someone who can tie up an end (same as Ashley Giles, Paul Harris etc)

Interesting to note that Moeen and Giles have very similar test bowling records.

Giles:

Tests   54   Wickets   143   Average: 40.60 Economy:2.86

Moeen:

Tests 25   Wickets   66   Average: 40.65 Economy: 3.71

Slightly better economy from Giles but wickets to games and average is pretty similar

[WalkingWicket37]

Jimmy Andserson moves up to world number 1 ranked bowler, replacing Stuart Broad

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/36418505

[Buzz]

Just a useless green top clubbie. No idea how he has taken 450 test wickets.


Where is Vic when you need him?!

[ppccopener]

Jimmy Andserson moves up to world number 1 ranked bowler, replacing Stuart Broad

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/36418505

if you just take bowling in tests in this Country, we have the best two bowlers in world cricket since..........mcgrath and warne I would say.

Anderson is so far out on his own it's scary....

[Aussie In England]

Steyn was what number 1 bowler for 5/6 years until philander stole his crown. Neither Broad, Ashwin or Anderson are anyway near the level of Steyn.