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[ppccopener]

Put him in the possibles group please Ricky

James Vince got a ton as well.

Ballance I know I know lots of posts on the forum about technique and he has a bad run last year
 
The guy is a very very good player with a tough mind.

there's just no space in the test side I can see at the moment.

[WalkingWicket37]

All this rest has done Root and Bairstow the world of good!

[edge]

Shouldn't come as a surprise that Ballance is a serious first class batsman, was hoping he'd respond well to captaincy!

This is going ok so far, crossed fingers...

[Manormanic]

All this rest has done Root and Bairstow the world of good!

Quite. Though it has been excellent prep for YJBs 12th man stint...

[Felix Tito]

Ian Bell out for 99...dear God I hope he's not recalled.

[bk]

Watched Ballance and Bresnan frustrate Hampshire this afternoon. The Hants bowlers steamed in hard all day and gave nothing away. Good attritional cricket. Topley was hooping the old ball and there were a couple of sharp chances but Ballance was superb. I don't enjoy watching him bat but I'd like him in my team. Think he's scored over 40% of Yorkshire's runs against Hampshire this season. Also faced 582 balls in the match!

[procricket]

Good win for Lancashire, some good young players coming through

[Manormanic]

Very good win for the VW - Livingstone looks a proper player! 

[jamesisapayne]

Maintaining a positive outlook and being a Somerset fan is damn hard work! Poor Tom Abell's had a rough couple of first games as skipper too. Giving him the armband is either a stroke of genius or madness. Personally I think it's too much of a burden for someone just finding their feet in the team.

[Alvaro]

It's all rather RHB

[Bats_Entertainment]

No room for Ballance or Vince?  So are we assuming England's top five will be: Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root and Ali?

[Sam]

No room for Ballance or Vince?  So are we assuming England's top five will be: Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root and Ali?

Ali in the top 5 would be short sighted with the ashes this winter in my view.

[ppccopener]

@bk has it spot on... Yes we can only get 11 in the team.

But.....some of us old enough  know at test level yes we love seeing the new young guns score freely God knows test cricket is better now to watch than years ago...Chris Tavare.....I will say no more!

Somewhere in the middle order thou the best teams back in the day, and the best teams now, need someone like ballance in the side -the way he plays.

I'm not saying instant recall because he got runs so far, but techinique issues or not he is a quality batsman.
Bayliss wants the attacking way and transfer of some one day players to tests but there is still a role for his style.

We might not like watching it, but successful teams have these gritty players.

Compton was this type of player but it didn't work out for him, Ballance is going to be in the mix I think.

[six and out]

I agree there is a place for Ballances style of cricketer but at the moment i just dont see where anyone gets in.

Bowling will be 1 spinner which will be Ali plus 4 seamers - Jimmy, Broad, Woakes and Stokes

That leaves 6 spots - Hameed, Cook, Jennings, Root, Bairstow are pretty much nailed in to at least start the 1st test i would have thought.

So there is maybe 1 place up for grabs but with Stokes at 6, Ali at 7, do you need another batter?

[Sam]

Do we think Buttlers place has been lost? Will barely play a FC game (if any) before the tests this summer but didn't do dreadfully at the end of the India tour. Also the kind of guy who could have the awkward number 7 spot.