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[adb club cricketer]

Lynn must've had a shocking ipl/bbl then.

Maybe they wanted someone who could bowl as well...I am sure if it was purely as batsman, Lynn would always be picked first..

[adb club cricketer]

Just hoping AB gives up captaincy and we can get few more years seeing AB the batsman...Don't see his captaincy doing neither SA nor his batting any good...Unfortunately, he seems to be rating himself highly as captain despite recent results and wants to continue, and SA wouldn't want to keep him unhappy, so doesnt really augur well for SA future...

[Shinpathy]

AB  De Villiers shouldve stayed with Kookaburra stickers, his luck with MRF has been atrocious.

[Sam]

I know it would get the Yorkshire mafia on the ECBs case, but if we're not sure about picking Roy for Wednesday could we let him play in the one day cup quarter final on Tuesday against Yorkshire (give special dispensation for him to only bat if need be) hope he whacks a quick 100 and regains his form for Wednesday?

[Manormanic]

I know it would get the Yorkshire mafia on the ECBs case, but if we're not sure about picking Roy for Wednesday could we let him play in the one day cup quarter final on Tuesday against Yorkshire (give special dispensation for him to only bat if need be) hope he whacks a quick 100 and regains his form for Wednesday?

Sure, as long as you let us have Bairstow and Willey, who have not played in weeks, and Rashid and Root who'll need a confidence boost ahead of the semi final.  We'd still be missing one more than you, and have no Kolpaks... 

[Sam]

Sure, as long as you let us have Bairstow and Willey, who have not played in weeks, and Rashid and Root who'll need a confidence boost ahead of the semi final.  We'd still be missing one more than you, and have no Kolpaks... 

Haha, let's ignore the counties debate for a minute and view this from an England perspective  . If he's on the edge of being dropped for Wednesday and is comfortable playing 2 games in 2 days if need be (and travelling) would it not make sense letting him go try having a bit of a bash in the domestic quarter final?

[Seniorplayer]

At this stage of the comp Can't see Roy being left out

[ppccopener]

It's late, very late to leave anyone out of a winning side but England have to play their strongest side....we have a real chance of winning the tournament. I wouldn't rule out one change and Roy missing out.

SA today I was very disappointed with, once again in a big tournament they self destructed. India were very good and the atmosphere at the ground fantastic.

As a neutral the two matches I've been to have been brilliant.

[northernboy1987]

Morgan said after the game (when asked about Roy's form) that there would be a meeting between him and the selectors early this week and if a call needed to be made it would be, he backed him less vehemently than he has in past interviews, perhaps YJB is gonna get the nod?

From the BBC:
Morgan said England would consider making changes for Wednesday's semi-final at Cardiff.

"We always feel Jason's runs are round the corner," he said.

"We will give it a couple of days and get together as selectors and see what the best team is. If the decision needs to be made, we can make it."

[csnew]

Really can't drop Roy at this stage of the tournament. Should've left him out last game but not at the crunch stage of the tournament.
From an outsiders point of view, not a bad problem to have - winning with only 10 players.

Reckon England would probably prefer SL to win today - slightly more predictable team than Pak.
Bet Cardiff will be half empty for today's game - really poor organisation playing this game there. Bit of common sense would've been to play it in Birmingham or London.

[Manormanic]

The Roy decision is a really tough one - in theory I would say, as much as he should never have started the tournament, that they have to stick with him now as whoever replaces him will have been two weeks without a bat in the middle.  The thing is, he seemed mentally shot the other day - in normal circumstances, he must surely have realised that he was stone dead, but his brain is scrambled and he wasted a review on a panic punt.

Who England would prefer to play?  I should say Pakistan - they don't have the batting to score 300+, and England can chase down anything below 330 with confidence.

[csnew]

Been hearing a lot that this new ball doesn't swing - any idea why the ICC decided to change it?
Hasn't swung at all this tournament


Agree that pakistan don't have the batting to chase anything above 280+ but there biggest threat is probably in the spin department. Sri Lanka's bowling doesn't look much of a threat

[Mpt7]

Roy will play - because his style is in keeping with what the team want to do and they are still winning.

YJB is not going to come in and open. the only option is billings who really hasn't been given a fair crack of the whip and thus is too inexperienced

Roy stays - he fits the way England want to go about it. His strike rate was 200% in the last game....;-)

plus - wouldn't it be great if he came good!!

[northernboy1987]

Roy will play - because his style is in keeping with what the team want to do and they are still winning.

YJB is not going to come in and open. the only option is billings who really hasn't been given a fair crack of the whip and thus is too inexperienced

Roy stays - he fits the way England want to go about it. His strike rate was 200% in the last game....;-)

plus - wouldn't it be great if he came good!!

I'd love him to come good, I rate him and think long term he's still the one to open with Hales, poor lad just looks done in though.

[Bats_Entertainment]

I'm a big fan of Roy, but he looks ridiculously out of form, and I strongly suspect Bairstow will play.