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[billyb]

With the largely disastrous West Indies tour behind us, we have just one test against Ireland in August before we face the resurgent Aussies at home. Given their recent turnaround, could we be evenly matched teams? I think it's going to be one of the best series in recent times! There will plenty of drama along the way...

Who makes your team? This is a potential pick... I kind of think we'd be recalling Bell too late now, but I wouldn't mind seeing him have one last hurrah... as long as he isn't sponsored by Woodworm!

Burns
Denly
Bell/Vince/Ballance (Whoever scores more early on).
Root
Buttler
Foakes/Bairstow
Stokes
Moeen/Leach
Wood/Woakes/Curran
Broad
Anderson

[LateBloomer]

Woakes will be 3rd seamer if fit. Cant fault his performance at home.

Wouldn't have Ballance anywhere near an Ashes series home or away.

Wouldnt have Denly as a shoe in after one 50 in a dead rubber Test. Lets see how he does in Div 1 of the Championship first. If he scores heavily Id be happy to see him in there

2 and 3 I think are the most blatantly open positions and Id wait and see who is scoring runs in the Championship. Not something that can be predicted in Feb

[SD]

The top 3 are almost impossible to call at the moment given the absence of any player who had made any sort of claim to hold down one of these places.  They bowler coming in at  9 is also almost impossible to call without knowing what the conditions will be for the first test but this would be the best I could come up with at this point.

Roy
Denly
Bell
Root
Butler
Stokes
Foakes
Ali
Woakes/ Curran/ Rashid/ Wood
Broad
Anderson

As ever, our bowling options are considerable in our own conditions and the middle order looks strong.  The huge concern is the top 3.  Jennings and Burns look as bad as I have seen since Strauss retired and there isn't much left to come

[LateBloomer]

Ive commented before on the standard of journalism in Australia but this link provides a whole new level of tripe

https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/cricket/england-inadvertently-hands-dollar100000-to-australia-after-west-indies-loss/ar-BBTw5If?ocid=spartandhp

Ignoring the point about the world rankings impacting players before or during a series, which we know is total nonsense, how an Australian journalist can suggest their country could humiliate anyone else in the world after 3 of their players broke down and cried in front of the global media is beyond me. Quite astounded. I'll probably have to watch the Warner interview later to get over this

[Seniorplayer]

Ive commented before on the standard of journalism in Australia but this link provides a whole new level of tripe

https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/cricket/england-inadvertently-hands-dollar100000-to-australia-after-west-indies-loss/ar-BBTw5If?ocid=spartandhp

Ignoring the point about the world rankings impacting players before or during a series, which we know is total nonsense, how an Australian journalist can suggest their country could humiliate anyone else in the world after 3 of their players broke down and cried in front of the global media is beyond me. Quite astounded. I'll probably have to watch the Warner interview later to get over this

The article is just the start of Pom bashing Aussie media happens every series

[six and out]

I see 3 spots up for grabs - 2,3 and the 3rd seamer (this could well depend on conditions though).

Burns has done enough to keep his spot and will probably score a stack of CC runs to warrant selection as well.
The rest pick themselves as per the the last test now they look set for Bairstow to keep and bat 7.
The only thing i think is whether Wood is the 3rd seamer in England - i think this could be him, Woakes, Curran, Archer, Stone, Porter, TRJ or even Leach if we want 2 spinners.

Then we come to 2 and 3 - which i think are very open - no way is Denly definate for number 3. He is the man in possession but he is off to the IPL and could carry the drinks for the whole time there, then might be in the World Cup squad (he is in the current ODI squad in WI), so then that means he won't play any (or hardly any) red ball cricket to state his case, whilst if someone else is hammering 800 CC runs, then he could lose the spot.

I posted this on another thread - it is England's/the summer's fixtures before the Ashes - it shows the changes everyone has of stating the claim for a place.

ODI's vs WI end - March 2
t20i vs WI end - March 10

IPL - March 23 - May 15 (latest) - England players will leave early

CC starts
Friday, April 5
Thursday, April 11

ODI's vs Pakistan in May
May 5 - 19 = T20i and 5 x ODI's

CC fixtures during -
Tuesday, May 14
Monday, May 20
Monday, May 27

World Cup: 30 May - 14 July

CC fixtures during World Cup -
Monday, June 3
Sunday, June 9
Monday, June 10
Monday, June 17
Monday, June 24
Sunday, June 30
Sunday, July 7
Saturday, July 13

Only Test vs Ireland
24-27 July, Four-day Test, Lord's

Ashes starts 1st August!

Obviously not everyone plays every date but that is 13 weeks of CC games before the Ashes starts to stake a claim in the side, because in theory if we do well in the World Cup it's conceivable that the guys that play white ball - only have the the 2 CC games in April to hit a red ball - unless they are at the IPL in which case they have none!

So for everyone putting Jason Roy's name out there he will probably have to be picked on his World Cup form.

[Buzz]

@six and out your post absolutely nails it.

It will be interesting to see who bats at three for Surrey this summer.
There will be a queue of eligible candidates. And Jason Roy won't be around.

Stoneman and Burns are nailed on to open, but Borthwick, Pope, Curran, Foakes, Elgar (won't be Elgar) will all have an eye on first drop.

Personally I would like to see Ollie do it. But that is harsh on Borthwick who has been decent at three.

[19reading87]

I agree that Burns will still be the opener come the summer tests. I'd like Denly to stay at number 3 but as @six and out suggests, he might not be playing hardly any red ball cricket to keep him there.

People need to get out of the Jason Roy mindset of him opening, it won't happen in tests, and if it does it is likely to be at 3, where he did it for Surrey.

If you look at the Lions current team Max Holden is opening but has only done it a handful of times at county level as he's batted a lot down the order. Saying that, for a number of years they have been saying he's the next Cook - so I'd watch this space on him. Duckett is opening in India but seems to bat anywhere in the top 4 in the longer format. Should the selectors be looking at people who know the positions they are likely to bat?

Rob Key (yet again) made a good point on sky that the selectors should be looking at people who's technique is built for test cricket not their averages - if you didn't see it, he was referring to Vaughan and Trescothick, they average mid-low 30's when selected to play tests purely on the basis that they could play the quick moving ball.

A list of openers / top order I think could get a potential look in are,

Ben Slater - ended the season well with Notts could be a dark-horse.

Roy - as stated above, selectors might want to bring him in for the "X-factor"

Dom Sibley and Will Rhodes - with my Warwickshire hat on here but they can bat ALL day if needed and with solid techniques, playing Div 1 cricket this season regularly opening will be interesting. Can't see it but you never know...

Nick Browne - was having a decent season last year till breaking his finger in the nets, early season form again is key...

Sam Robson - Played tests, knows his game well??? Scores heavy...?

Adam Lyth - Similar to Robson above, played against the Aussies last time here so you'd have thought he'd have corrected his faults.

James Vince - Surely he couldn't get another go, could he??

Sam Northeast - if he stays fit, could the teenage prodigy finally come to the party???

Sam Hain - batting at 3 for Lions, as a Warwickshire fan he does snick off a lot in red ball cricket, a reason he's so successful in white ball is due to the gaps in the field. That being said you never know...

Billy Root - throwing a wild one into the mix here... recently moved to Glamorgan. Knows the dressing room well (obviously), Joe Root seems to have a say in the team selection - you just never know!!

Malan - one more chance...

Alex Davies and Ollie Pope - Would they want to play yet another keeper batsman in the team - *** note Pope is keeping for the Lions in the current game ***

[six and out]

@six and out your post absolutely nails it.

It will be interesting to see who bats at three for Surrey this summer.
There will be a queue of eligible candidates. And Jason Roy won't be around.

Stoneman and Burns are nailed on to open, but Borthwick, Pope, Curran, Foakes, Elgar (won't be Elgar) will all have an eye on first drop.

Personally I would like to see Ollie do it. But that is harsh on Borthwick who has been decent at three.

Thanks.

Yep it is very interesting who is going to get top 3 batting opportunities at the Div 1 counties - Surrey probably being the most intriguing - Borthwick is kind of the forgotten man, thrown in to an away ashes as a leggie when he's actually really a batsman and then completely forgotten about even though he's scores quite a few runs.

@19reading87 got in there with the probables i think - If you go through the everyone in the top order of each Div 1 side this year - taking out overseas - i reckon you also get some interesting names

Surrey - as per Buzz's post
Notts - Libby, Nash, Duckett, Slater & Clarke - there is also a lot of choice
Worcs - Mitchell, Fell
Hants - Adams, Wetherley, Vince, Northeast
Kent - DBD, Denly (maybe), Crawley, Dickson
Somerset - Trescothick, Banton, Hildreth
Warks - Sibley, Bell, Hain, Rhodes
Essex - Cook, Browne, Westley, Lawrence
Yorks - Lyth, Brook, Ballance, TKC

This doesn't include Division 2 however - eg. Gubbins, Holden, Robson, Hameed (possibly).

I have probably missed a few. But there is a few there that i think you can rule out straight away (eg. Trescothick), but there are also some interesting ones that maybe could come up on the rails if they have a flyer of a CC season start etc...

[mattw]

I'd love to see Mitchell given a chance, not only has he scored runs consistently for a number of years at the top of the order - he's also got a safe pair of hands in the slips, which is something we've severely lacked in the series against WI. He can be our Rogers, there isn't anyone that's actually better than him in his position - forget about his age.

[19reading87]

I'd love to see Mitchell given a chance, not only has he scored runs consistently for a number of years at the top of the order - he's also got a safe pair of hands in the slips, which is something we've severely lacked in the series against WI. He can be our Rogers, there isn't anyone that's actually better than him in his position - forget about his age.

I didn't mention him but would bloody love to see him given a go!!

[enlightened]

We have plenty of depth in batting in the middle order. I'd play Roy as an opener and tell him to play like he does in limited overs. Some matches he'll be out cheaply in which case we're no worse off than with our current openers and the middle order will have to rebuild but in some matches we'll be 100-1 after 10 overs.

[WalkingWicket37]

How on earth do people think Roy is in contention to open?

A bloke who can't get into his county side as a no.3 isn't going to be a successful Test match opener, is he...

[19reading87]

Does Malan get a look in?

Edited post

[six and out]

I think it will be interesting how Ed Smith sees Division 2 runs now, because for a long long time they have just been dismissed as almost worthless.

But with Worcs and Lancs getting relegated plus Middlesex still in Div 2, there is in theory a number of candidates for numbers 2 and 3.

Mitchell, Hameed, Davies, Malan, Robson, Gubbins, Holden etc....