Woakes has now played 0 out of 5 matches on these Tours. Although the first one he was unavailable for. The other seamers have all played at least 1 match including 80mph Sam Curran.
You have to think England have now (rightly so imo) pigeonholed him as a home only bowler. And was probably only taken on these tours as he has a full central contract.
In any case a like for like isnt the way to go in another daytime Test. If a seamer is left out for the 4th Test it should almost certainly be a spinner brought in. You cant strengthen the tail in India to weaken the bowling - where are the 20 wickets going to come from?
If Bess is still not pickable they need to throw a wildcard in in Parkinson or Virdi. At least give yourself the right set up for the conditions.
This thought had crossed my mind aswell. The PR machine had always backed him until suddenly it didn't. Strange
For the first time(I think) I'm in agreement with you. We need 20 wickets absolutely.....with 112 in this innings we not actually giving them a chance thou, wickets needed, runs thou in India are crucial first innings.
With a bit of umpiring on our side,a catch or two taken we may of got them 5 down. But that's all ifs and buts-we didn't.
The treatment of Bess..the go away and get better stuff....baffles me, I havnt seen England react like that with a dropped player in my memory..perhaps he said something after he was dropped who knows.
Mo would of played this game,second spinner and a chance of some hitting with the bat..he's gone.
I guess that does leave Virdi but if was going to play here he should of played one game in SL-you don't want a debut in a crucial game-this was always the most important tour by miles.
Which leaves us IMO in a bit of a mess. We need seam in this match but we also know after the first game it's going to turn..so 2 spinners and our best seamers-whether Woakes is in there is a matter of opinion,I think he should be.
I saw enough movement in the air this morning to think the seamers would have an impact on the game, yet their spinners cleaned up again....now we are left a spinner short.
The only thing I think we can do to try and get into the game now is short spells from archer,broad,Anderson and Root takes some of the workload from Leach.
But yes,we need 20 wickets as priority with the team. If our bowlers get us out of jail here with anything it will be a minor miracle.