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[petehosk]

As people have said, the only position that is obviously lacking in No3 bat.
Ali is certainly showing that he's not a top order batsman! Jennings is looking better against spin than he does against pace!
And too early to tell with Burns yet. So we need to keep the openers as they are for the next Test.
BUT someone definitely needs to think about move Ali down the order and batting someone else at 3. We need Ali to bowl on these wickets though.
So if Bairstow is fit, where do we put him? At 3.....he may be able to do well. But if he comes in at 3, who gets dropped? In theory (and on these wickets) we need as many spinners as we can cram in!!
So logically it needs to therefore be a pace bowler - Stokes is needed for his all-round ability. But there is also an arguement that young Sam bowls well and bats well here.
Either Curran or Anderson surely are the only players you could consider "resting" if Bairstow is to play?
But like others have said, why change a team that has performed well?

But if no changes are made to the starting XI, I really think we need to look at playing someone like Stokes or Buttler at 3 and move Ali down the batting order!

[Bats_Entertainment]

I'm sure it won't be long before Rory Burns is the fall guy on here.

[ppccopener]

England on fire here for all those fans out there this could be a great couple of days to come

im going to throw this out there regarding Bairstow, are we playing TOO MANY spinners?

or is 3 the minimum number we should be going into the matches with?

[JB]

I'm sure it won't be long before Rory Burns is the fall guy on here.

Hopefully the selectors will give him a decent run and time to develop

[edge]

I'm sure it won't be long before Rory Burns is the fall guy on here.

Even allowing for the fickleness of England fans/CBF members I don't see that one! That said, it did amuse me how quickly the cricketing public went from 'Burns? Who?' to 'it is a travesty that Rory Burns has scored over 1000 county runs for 5 seasons in a row and not been selected' back in the summer, so I suppose it could go the other way.

Reverse sweep couldn't quite get Jennings to the ton this time... I'm glad amateur cricket provides very limited opportunity to be stuck on 98 at tea break!

[ppccopener]

I'm sure it won't be long before Rory Burns is the fall guy on here.

possibly some Bats, but there's a whole lot of us wishing him well, he needs this tour and the next one

we don't exactly have many alternatives banging the door down to open the batting.He has to be given a decent runs and most supporters I know anyway think the same

[Seniorplayer]

Jennings shows  again why he is Englands opener  for the sub continent.

[jamielsn15]

Oh dear god. This means Jennings is going to get another extended run doesn't it?...

[rickjames]

Well played Keaton

[petehosk]

Jennings does play well away from home. Just wish he could play well in home conditions too!
I mentined Burns months ago, so really hope he gets a long, lon g run! Especially at home where he has proved that he can be incredibly consistent!
Ton for Jennings....has just saved his place for a while. Bairstow is probably disappointed 

[petehosk]

From a starting XI point of view, if Bairstow gets a start in the 2nd Test, I would like to see...

Burns
Jennings
Buttler (I believe he can play patiently and has a decent defensive game, so better option than Ali at 3)
Root
Baristow
Stokes (he prefers batting at 6!)
Foakes (Wk!!)
Ali
Rashid
Leach
Anderson/Curran

If wicket is a genuine turner, there is no real point in having 3 seamers. In the first innings the pace men bowled 20 overs out of 68. In the second innings that would likely be even less.
Therefore do we need 3 pace bowlers on these wickets. Plus we could always open with pace at one end and spin at the other. Although I think that the first 10 overs should be pace/swing at both ends as the Kookaburra ball only swings for a dozen overs apparently!
That would surely be the best lineup on current form if Bairstow comes back?

[FattusCattus]

Jennings might be ideal for our middle order at home - unfortunately that's a rather congested place at the moment!

[petehosk]

Jennings might be ideal for our middle order at home - unfortunately that's a rather congested place at the moment!

Was thinking the same thing - he would like ideal at 5/6 at home, when a mixture of pace and spin would suit him. But who bats at 2 if he doesn't? And we already have Pope waiting in the wings, who I genuinely think would be better than Jennings at 5/6, but as you say, it is already so congested in the middle! In fact, from 6 to 11, we have a lot of quality - they have saved England so much recently too.

[LateBloomer]

Decent grab that!

[liscon12]

From a starting XI point of view, if Bairstow gets a start in the 2nd Test, I would like to see...

Burns
Jennings
Buttler (I believe he can play patiently and has a decent defensive game, so better option than Ali at 3)
Root
Baristow
Stokes (he prefers batting at 6!)
Foakes (Wk!!)
Ali
Rashid
Leach
Anderson/Curran

If wicket is a genuine turner, there is no real point in having 3 seamers. In the first innings the pace men bowled 20 overs out of 68. In the second innings that would likely be even less.
Therefore do we need 3 pace bowlers on these wickets. Plus we could always open with pace at one end and spin at the other. Although I think that the first 10 overs should be pace/swing at both ends as the Kookaburra ball only swings for a dozen overs apparently!
That would surely be the best lineup on current form if Bairstow comes back?

One specialist seamer? I think Sri Lanka have showed that it isnt the right way to go about it.

I don't think you can class Stokes as a front line bowler nowadays