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[mattdawson]

Crane wont play.

http://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/12123/11150871/moeen-ali-may-not-bowl-in-second-ashes-test-due-to-finger-injury-craig-overton-added-to-squad

Strange not to add him if Ali cant bowl.

[manno]

if the Aussies must
 dish it out but keep it to banter not personal no true cricket fan  wants to hear  comments such as  get ready for a broken arm  a  remark a certain Aussie is credited with

They dont? 

[ppccopener]

To be fair to the Aussies... That's you manno 

That remark senior is referring to was a one off and acknowledged by all ,and most of all by Clarke, to be bang out of order and did apologise.

That sort of incident is not the norm even in an ashes battle.

Personally I'd like to see England just crack on and get on with on the pitch, test cricket is tough and if he boot was on the other foot we might be testing the middle of the pitch, but aside from Harmison and maybe wood, no one for us has been quick enough for England.

On another note the Adelaide stadium under lights with a red sky looked fantastic.

Before we know it their grounds will be nearly as good as ours. 

There's a lot riding on the next 4 or 5 days, I think we will fight back I'm just not sure if we have the quality.

[Kulli]

If we only play 4 bowlers there is no way one of them will be a 20-year-old legger. Crane only plays if Ali7Stokes is in the side and can bowl.

[cricketbadger]

Ali doesn't exactly hold an end up whilst the quick rest, or take wickets in these conditions so what have we got to lose with Crane. I'd wager he'd take more wickets than Ali, and that's more important than going at 3 an over when our quick should be doing must the damage and keeping it tight

[Kulli]

Ali doesn't exactly hold an end up whilst the quick rest, or take wickets in these conditions so what have we got to lose with Crane. I'd wager he'd take more wickets than Ali, and that's more important than going at 3 an over when our quick should be doing must the damage and keeping it tight

What we have to lose is whoever we drop to make space for him, not sure we can pick 12 just because Ali isn't fit to bowl.

[dynamiccoins]

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/526171/england-name-12-man-squad-for-second-ashes-test

[mo_town]

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/526171/england-name-12-man-squad-for-second-ashes-test

Stokes listed in the squad on the ECB website? 

[alexhilly1492]

Stokes listed in the squad on the ECB website? 

he was never removed from the squad, just not available for selection at the time as far as i understand it, finn was called up as cover (then curran) but stokes was never removed from the squad

[Biggie Smalls]

I reckon eng would be best off backing woakes to come good in the day/night , pink ball , adelaide conditions . Anderson and broad should have big games there too . Pick Ali at 8 for this game and hope hes able to bowl....but if he doesn't,  don't sweat , just have root bowl a lot of overs . Then pick another batsman at 6 ....anyone but ballance.

[ppccopener]

I don't think we have another specialist batsman in the squad to bat 6 apart from gaz ballance 

We might be able to bring across one from the lions but if he jumped over Gaz it looks a bit.....well....daft.

The tricky thing is of course if it goes really well you don't need 4 seamers, you need 3 plus a good spinner
Australia have Starc,Cummins and Hazlewood who are all good, so a forth one would not bowl much.as if he did the game is probably over.

Personally I think for this match I would have liked another spinner on tour but would go for crane . It's a must win this to keep the series alive.

[alexhilly1492]

I don't think we have another specialist batsman in the squad to bat 6 apart from gaz ballance 

Foakes?

[Manormanic]

If we are picking Ali as a specialist batsman, would we not be better batting Bairstow five and giving Foakes the gloves?

[ppccopener]

Foakes?

Ah you mean JB in the top 6 and Foakes as the batsman keeper..

Butch on the sky review very very keen to get England to change their thinking on this. He did seem to be on his own with that view thou.

Def an idea, we are not exactly overrun with quality batsmen are we?  The days of cook,Trott and KP and then Bell are long gone.

[cricketbadger]

brinign Foakes in and letting Bairstow play as a bat does make better sense, but i sense its too far outside the box for boring england to consider