Cricket - England Ashes Tour - Winter 17-18

[Challo]

Squad being announced today, and apparently its already been leaked:

Joe Root, Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Dawid Malan, Gary Ballance, James Vince, Moeen Ali, Mason Crane, Ben Foakes, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Jake Ball, Craig Overton.

Not sure if correctly but does seem to be a few names I don't recognise, and potentially our No. 2, 3, 5 could be suspect. Not sure why Ballance is in the squad after the shocker he had in the summer....AGAIN.

Also rumors Stokes has broken is hand in the incident in Bristol and could miss the first 2 tests if thats true.

[Challo]

I think the saving grace at the moment is that Aus look very poor at the moment and dont have the same potent bowling line-up they had in previous years.

[Challo]

Depends if Stokes is charged or not after the incident in Bristol.

[Challo]

Gargamel said:

Challo said:

Depends if Stokes is charged or not after the incident in Bristol.

Have the ECB said they will drop him if found guilty ? I haven't seen anything to say they will.

Not seen anything as yet, but I suppose we really need to see the outcome from the police investigation and what they decide to do with charges. If potentially he is charged with ABH, Assault etc could the ECB allow him to go on tour?

[Challo]

SydneyBridge said:

was he provoked though? not that it would excuse him going for someone

not seen the footage

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11927368

As its only a clip your not sure if he was provoked but he knocked one to the ground then went after the other bloke. Interesting to see what the ECB do about this.

[Challo]

4 swing bowlers, who bowl 80-85mph right arm over the wicket. No variation, and with the ball not moving they look very average.

Even Moeen doesn’t seem to be able to spin the ball and he isn’t scoring runs.

Anyone in the squad or lions tour that can provide something different?

[Challo]

Gargamel said:

Just all round not good enough from England. Australia have played very well, the selectors made some bold choices and they all seemed to pay off. Marsh in particular coming back in and seizing the moment.

But Ali has been utterly toothless in the series so far, Cook terrible, Root averages 27 so far. Malan, Vince and to some extent Stoneman hav been OK, but only Malan has really made an major impact.

Broad, taking wickets at and average of 60... Woakes... well its horrible numbers.

Frustrating that we complete in a couple of sessions, but then just throw it away. To lose by an innings here is pretty poor.

Broad and Mooen have been dreadful this tour.

[Challo]

Moeen looks done with the ball. Limited ability to spin it and provides no control at one end. Should have been dropped and given someone else a try for a few tests.

[Challo]

Murph7355 said:

Cook and Broad performing. Who'da thunk it.

No pressure, ashes already lost and these two finally turn up. Too little too late

[Challo]

While I agree that central contracts are great and much better than previous years, but it seems England are cramming a huge amount of games into a year. We have already been in Australia for months, now off to NZ and then two tests series in the Summer. If your a central contracted player you play no county games, and if your in the squad like Ballance he has just been on holiday.

I would reduce the amount of tests we play and allow players to play 4 day cricket in different countries and also if players are out of form at least allow them the chance to play for their county. They just spend time in the nets which cant be great.