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Should the harder for the England batters, against THAT attack, than the England bowlers, against patchy batting.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Should the harder for the England batters, against THAT attack, than the England bowlers, against patchy batting.

Agreed.

This starts tomorrow night, UK time. Get your teams in ladies and gentlemen.

Who was it that said that if you tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth? It was someone I've never heard of because I've just searched it. Alan Hansen would say different but he would be wrong. Just as he was when he intoned that form is temporary but class is permanent, like he wasn't a Liverpool supporter and had never heard of Michael Owen. Or Robbie Fowler.

And Ian Bell won't be taking guard in Perth either. Form is crucial and in cricket, statistic lay bare the truth like in no other sport (when cross referenced with other variable factors). So here are the stats for the competing Fantasy League candidates.

The batters. Games/tons/average. Where appropriate.

Alastair Cook
Career average: 147/31/47.

Form (average since Jan 2016): 24/3/42.8

Average in Australia: 15/4/49.5

Average against Australia: 30/4/39.2


Mark Stoneman
Career average: 3/0/30


James Vince
Career average: 7/0/19.3


Joe Root
Career average: 60/13/56.3

Form: 24/5/52.5

Average in Australia: 4/0/27.4

Average against Australia: 41.29


Dawid Malan
Career average: 5/0/23.6


Ben Stokes
Career average: 39/6/35.7

Form: 18/4/44.7

Average in Australia: 4/1/34.8

Average against Australia: 9/1/30


Jonny Bairstow
Career average: 45/3/39.8

Form: 24/3/50.2

Average in Australia: 2/0/12.3

Average against Australia: 9/0/24.7


Gary Ballance
Career average: 23/4/37.5

Form: 8/0/20.3

Average in Australia: 1/0/12.5

Average against Australia: 3/0/20.5



Moeen Ali
Career average: 44/5/34.7

Form: 24/4/42.3

Average against Australia: 5/0/36.6


Chris Woakes
Career average: 18/0/32.1

Form: 13/0/33.9

Average against Australia: 1/0/42


Ben Foakes
N/A

More later.

More batters. Games/tons/Average. Where appropriate.

David Warner
Career average: 66/20/47.9

Form (since Jan 2016): 18/5/42.5

Average in Australia: 33/14/59.2

Average v England: 13/2/45


Usman Khawaja
Career average: 24/5/45.5

Form: 12/2/44.6

Average in Australia: 13/4/63.7

Average v England: 4/0/21.5


Steve Smith
Career average: 56/20/59.7

Form: 18/7/63.6

Average in Australia: 19/7/68.7

Average v England: 18/5/43.2



Peter Handscomb
Career average: 10/2/53.1

Average in Australia: 4/2/99.8



Shaun Marsh
Career average: 23/4/36

Form: 6/1/31.8

Average in Australia: 10/1/34.2

Average v England: 1/0/1



Tim Paine
Career average: 4/0/35.9


Mitch Starc
Career average: 36/024.8

Form: 11/0/21.6

Average in Australia: 17/0/29.3

Average v England: 8/0/23.7



Cameron Bancroft
NA

More later.

a lot of work

The truth is out there.

the kid says ...

Root
Smith
Moeen
Starc
Anderson

Hazlewood
Bairstow

Warner
Root
Woakes
Starc
Hazelwood

Smith
Lyon

Warner
Smith
Starc
Bairstow
Ali

Add a couple of subs Yuppie.

Moeen
Woakes
Khawaja
Starc
Smith

Bairstow
Cook

More stats. The bowling. Tests/5-fers/average.

James Anderson
Career average: 129/24/27.4

Form: 19/6/19

Average in Australia: 13/0/38.4

Average v Australia: 26/4/35.9



Stuart Broad
Career average: 109/15/28.8

Form: 21/1/28.7

Average in Australia: 7/1/32.1

Average v Australia: 22/6/27.7



Chris Woakes
Career average: 18/2/30.6

Form: 13/2/27.1

Average v Australia: 1/0/96



Jake Ball
Career average: 3/0/114



Ben Stokes
Career average: 39/4/33.9

Form: 19/2/27.6

Average in Australia: 4/1/32.8

Average v Australia: 9/2/33.1



Moeen Ali
Career average: 44/4/37.3

Form: 24/3/38.8

Average v Australia: 5/0/45.5


Craig Overton/Mason Crane/George Garton/Tom Curran
N/A