England in Dubai vs Pakistan...Cricket.

[Erudite geezer]

There'll be a singing and a dancing in them streets of Bradford tonight.

England dicked.

[Gargamel]

Think Pakistan have out bowled us for sure in this series, we also can't bat against even moderate spin for toffee. Our players just look brainless in shot selection against the spin.

We can't point and laugh at England selection policy all we like, but the reality is this probably isn't far short of the best 11 cricketers we have in the country right now, and no amount of fiddling with the bit part players is going to fix that.

Credit to Pakistan for a cohesive team performance, played in good spirit by them, they aren't a universally loved team, so it is good to see some real progress in terms of a decent series, it is just a shame the crowds don't turn out for it.

Jimmy A, Broad, Cook and Root are still the only real players in this team

Bairstow, fair play not easy to keep to two spinners, so not massively surprised he couldn't bat.
Patel / Rashid - lovely - thanks so much for helping out, can't see either of you getting a game at Durham in May.
Bell - heads gone, technique is lovely, but his mind is shot, no self belief and has never really made it to "senior pro" status
Wood - Will be back, had a decent series
Taylor - think we need to see more of him
Ali - Well, not an opener for sure, back to six I think (Bairstow at 7)
Stokes - I just don't know where to start with this. Great attitude, a fighter - is it really good enough for the test side ?

[johnfm]

Dismal. How did we lose to these chumps?

Regroup, head to SA and start afresh. Wickets will suit Eng a bit better there.

[Sump]

johnfm said:

How did we lose to these chumps?

That moment when the English fan doesn't realise his team are the chumps

[johnfm]

Sump said:

johnfm said:

How did we lose to these chumps?

That moment when the English fan doesn't realise his team are the chumps

For clarity, I'm an Aussie.

I should have said 'how did we loses the Ashes to this Eng team??

[Challo]

Gargamel said:

Think Pakistan have out bowled us for sure in this series, we also can't bat against even moderate spin for toffee. Our players just look brainless in shot selection against the spin.

We can't point and laugh at England selection policy all we like, but the reality is this probably isn't far short of the best 11 cricketers we have in the country right now, and no amount of fiddling with the bit part players is going to fix that.

Credit to Pakistan for a cohesive team performance, played in good spirit by them, they aren't a universally loved team, so it is good to see some real progress in terms of a decent series, it is just a shame the crowds don't turn out for it.

Jimmy A, Broad, Cook and Root are still the only real players in this team

Bairstow, fair play not easy to keep to two spinners, so not massively surprised he couldn't bat.
Patel / Rashid - lovely - thanks so much for helping out, can't see either of you getting a game at Durham in May.
Bell - heads gone, technique is lovely, but his mind is shot, no self belief and has never really made it to "senior pro" status
Wood - Will be back, had a decent series
Taylor - think we need to see more of him
Ali - Well, not an opener for sure, back to six I think (Bairstow at 7)
Stokes - I just don't know where to start with this. Great attitude, a fighter - is it really good enough for the test side ?

Bairstow - Showed he is good with the bat, deserved his place after scores in the county game. Keeping is not world class but after the horror Buttler is having he deserves his place.
Patel - No thanks.
Rashid - Needs more time. Can bowl some great deliveries but needs more work. With Warne helping i think he can become a very good spinner.
Bell - He is gone mentally, but no-one else to bat in the number 3 role. We need to think long term about next summer on a replacement.
Wood / Taylor - Good series and need to stay in the side.
Ali - Better than Rashid at the moment but what is his position in the side?
Stokes - Good all-rounder and can change a game with the ball and bat. He stays for me.

[suthol]

No worries, just to cheer you up a bit our side are struggling against our sheep shagging cousins from across the ditch.

HTH

[Leithen]

I'm less pessimistic about the squad. Bell has had his day and needs to retire. I'd bring Hales in and try and rejig the top order. Woods fragility is a worry, but also a opportunity as we are not light on bowling talent.

So in no particular order,

Cook
Hales
Moeen
Root
Taylor
Bairstow
Rashid
Stokes
Broad
Anderson
Wood

I hope Buttler finds some form back in the counties, because he has potential.

[spikeyhead]

I don't believe that Hales has a good enough defence for test cricket. Carberry didn't show well down under last time out, but who did? Compton needs to sort out his differences with the ECB.

[Gargamel]

Challo said:

Stokes - Good all-rounder and can change a game with the ball and bat. He stays for me.

Cold light of day though

Bats at 28 average, takes a wicket every 67 balls

Is that really what English Test Class looks like these days ?

[Leithen]

Gargamel said:

Challo said:

Stokes - Good all-rounder and can change a game with the ball and bat. He stays for me.

Cold light of day though

Bats at 28 average, takes a wicket every 67 balls

Is that really what English Test Class looks like these days ?

He needs to improve his averages, but the only place to do that is within the test side. He adds a lot in the field too. A continued run of sub 30 innings and few wickets would no doubt relegate him, but he has the potential to improve those figures substantially.

[Challo]

Leithen said:

Gargamel said:

Challo said:

Stokes - Good all-rounder and can change a game with the ball and bat. He stays for me.

Cold light of day though

Bats at 28 average, takes a wicket every 67 balls

Is that really what English Test Class looks like these days ?

He needs to improve his averages, but the only place to do that is within the test side. He adds a lot in the field too. A continued run of sub 30 innings and few wickets would no doubt relegate him, but he has the potential to improve those figures substantially.

But for me he is 4th change bowler, can bat and excellent in the field. Yes he needs to improve and a tad inconsistent but not sure who else you would have in? Finn?

[Busa mav]

England 14 - 3 after 3 , not the best of starts

[BlackLabel]

Busa mav said:

England 14 - 3 after 3 , not the best of starts

Good job that England bat deep today. David Willey who is in at number 10 has 2 domestic one day hundreds to his name. Apart from a bit of low bounce the pitch isn't doing a lot here - that makes this start even worse.

[johnfm]

Eng can't lose from here.

Morgan and Taylor tons, for 300+

[Gargamel]

johnfm said:

Eng can't lose from here.

Morgan and Taylor tons, for 300+

For once John I actually agree, although Morgan will be out in the 70's.

"interesting" wicket. Also. I think the bookies tend to prefer the underdog to win the first match to "sort" the odds before the cash in on the next match.

[hornetrider]

You cynical old so-in-so.

[Gargamel]

hornetrider said:

You cynical old so-in-so.

Sligtly OT HR, but what do you make of Arsene's comments about doping footballers. Seems obvious in many ways, I can't beleive the only footballers ever done for drugs are Bosnich and a couple of lower leaguers with a bit of blow.


There must have been some cases of players on Steroids or EPO or anything that lets them train harder. Aresene seems to be ready to open the can of worms that I would guess the FA would like to remain buried for as long as possible.

[hornetrider]

Yeah I did see them. Aren't footballers drug tested though? Shirley if they are subject to the same scrutiny as athletes or cyclists then we'd see more being caught if it was so widespread.

Maybe that's the reason, they test for obvious stuff like steroids but not elevated red blood count or whatever it is that cyclists/athletes get. If the testing is not the same, I would have to say - why not? Fatigue would play a large part in winning and losing matches at the top level.

[Busa mav]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4BxgbulaDk