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[Calzehbhoy]

Just seen the below on the BBC website, England played 6 more tests than Australia and 15 more than India (admittedly I don't know the timescale on this) but with England looking shot mentally in the last test are we forcing our players to play too much test cricket?



Just checked the time period -

The table reflects all Test series completed since the annual update made three to four years previously. This
pattern is repeated each May, with the oldest of the four years of results removed to be gradually replaced
with results of matches played over the following twelve months. Thus once a year, the rankings will change
overnight without any new Tests being played. This process, called updating the data, takes place at the start
of May each year. This time has been chosen since it is usually a relatively quiet time in the international
calendar. Before 2012, the annual update took place in August.

[rahul_1987]

You cannot carry fatigue for 3-4 years. I think if we compare Eng & India in 2016 before the start of the series then England have played 9 tests and India have played 7 so NO they haven't lost because of playing too much test cricket   

[csnew]

England are playing too much test cricket. Pretty much makes the stats about leading run scorers and wicket takers pointless given they play so many more tests than anyone around

ICC is looking into cutting the number of tests

[Alvaro]

Nah, ECB are rolling in readies. Play more, rake it in. Three more Lord's Tests a year should sort it.

[alexhilly1492]

No, are england playing too much cricket? proabably,

how many days a year do england play competitive cricket? and how many of those are actually test match days rather than odi/t20 days?

test cricket is the forefront and pinnacle and should always be seen as such so why knock it and why cut it out?

[ppccopener]

Nah, ECB are rolling in readies. Play more, rake it in. Three more Lord's Tests a year should sort it.

this is very true, they will cram in as many matches as possible to the English summer, and then we are in demand abroad. Players are retiring earlier these days and the ones that play all 3 formats will be pretty burned out by 30.

Just to be clear, i'm not making any excuses for losing in India, but do we play too many games? stats say we play more than most, so yes.

[iand123]

England are playing too much test cricket badly right now, that is their issue

[tate035]

Not playing enough test matches for me...

All ECB need do is have 3 teams were only Ben Stokes needs to play all 3 formats...
Root, Woakes, Ali, IMHO don't need to play T20 and jos, duckett, plunkett, Rashid (unless in Asia) don't need to play test matches..

Test                    50 over.         T20
Cook.                  Hales.            Hales
Hameed.            Roy.               Roy
Root.                   Root.              Duckett
Gubbins.            Duckett.         Jos (capt)
Bairstow.           Jos.                Billings
Stokes(capt)     Stokes(capt)  Stokes
Ali.                       Ali.                  Dawson
Woakes.             T. Curren.      Rashid
Wood.                 Wood.            S. Curren
Broad.                 Rashid.          Willey
Anderson.          Plunkett.        Mills

The ECB have took take a look at the plethora of young players coming through (look at Lions tour) and realise we no longer need the same 9/10 to play every format. Encourage Hameed, Root etc to concentrate on batting through an innings..
Of course "horses for courses " will occur in certain test series but I am fairly confident that all 3 of those sides would win more than they lose in the next 12 months.. 

[WalkingWicket37]

A side with Stokes as captain, that's both thrilling and terrifying in equal measure...

[uknsaunders]

If we are just talking test cricket they clearly aren't playing enough,  otherwise they would be good at it 

I know there is travelling and training but it's 60 days a year for 12 tests and half the team don't do anything else. The likes of root,  Stokes,  Woakes need resting but most teams look tired when they lose.

[WalkingWicket37]

If we are just talking test cricket they clearly aren't playing enough,  otherwise they would be good at it 

I know there is travelling and training but it's 60 days a year for 12 tests and half the team don't do anything else. The likes of root,  Stokes,  Woakes need resting but most teams look tired when they lose.

After your mammoth net session I assume you've had the call to replace Hameed in the England squad, Nick? 

[amritpremi]

If given a chance would we not play as much as possible. These are professionals earning money for playing, they better be playing 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. In my opinion anybody who enjoys the game of cricket will like to play as much as possible, professionals are no exceptions. Offcourse you may have instances of somebody injuring themselves and need rest/break but other than that I think they are not exhausted by playing the amount of cricket they play.

[Batbuddy99]

If given a chance would we not play as much as possible. These are professionals earning money for playing, they better be playing 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. In my opinion anybody who enjoys the game of cricket will like to play as much as possible, professionals are no exceptions. Offcourse you may have instances of somebody injuring themselves and need rest/break but other than that I think they are not exhausted by playing the amount of cricket they play.

This is the issue with people like us discussing this situation - we don't realise just how much they do play!
We go "oh 12 tests is only 60 days a year, they don't play enough" but we don't factor in training, travelling etc. Since this tour to Bangladesh and India started they've probably only had 1 or 2 rest days. They travel, which can be fatiguing, they have to face the media constantly, which can be mentally draining, and there's the possibility of home sickness also.
"They better be playing 8 hours a day, 5 days a week" - looking at the English county schedule, most cricketers end up "working" for 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week, but we only see 4 or 5 of those days, because we only think about games