by bigfluffylemon » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:40 pm
Stokes has to be in the squad, but I think there's a big question about whether he walks back into the team. Injury and form may make the choice obvious, but if everyone is fully fit and firing, I'm not convinced Stokes is an automatic pick under the current circumstances.
I agree completely with AC that he's not a fifth bowler - he can have an impact, but you wouldn't want to be depending on him to bowl his full quota. So he has to get in for his all round impact. He can be almost as destructive as Hales or Roy on his day, and is probably a little more consistent overall, but not much. I think it's likely to be a decision based on the pitch, conditions and the other team.
I can't agree with dropping Root. It's amazing that we can posit that a player with a 50+ average and an SR in the high 80s is holding the team back, but not every game is a 400+ run-fest. Root is the most reliable runscorer we have (Bairstow's recent amazing run of form notwithstanding) - when it doesn't come off and England lose a couple early, Root has guided England to a strong total so many times. He still scores at nearly a run a ball when he makes 50+, which he does very frequently, and provides the platform for the lower order - Buttler and co, to tee off. Without him, England really are all plan A. When plan A comes off, as it did the other day, he can drop down the order. But in 90% of games, when we lose a wicket or two in the first 20 overs and either need to rebuild or push along from a good start, there's pretty much no-one in the world game I'd rather see coming in than Root. Kohli perhaps.