England A in South Africa 2015.

[rich1uk]

we've seen nothing of the kind

he does a decent job when he has conditions in his favour and that's why his figures look better than they should as he is given overs only in helpful situations , if he comes on and bowls an over and gets taken to the cleaners he wont bowl more whereas a specialist bowler has to

[rich1uk]

The risk with Ravi bowling in the middle overs without the likelihood of getting anyone out is that he just facilitates the oppositions progress to the point where they want to kick on in the last fifteen. He goes at five an over, when that's exactly what the opposition wants. It just looks better than it is when compared with the poor sods who had to bowl at the death against batters who are set.

exactly , and if the batsmen do go after him he gets taken off straight away and never bowls again in the game

[Arthur Crabtree]

Though he could be more of an option in Asia where pace off genuinely does slow the scoring rate. Or not accelerate it anyway.

[rich1uk]

Though he could be more of an option in Asia where pace off genuinely does slow the scoring rate. Or not accelerate it anyway.

we aint in asia and if we were in asia I would prefer to see someone like patel perform that role

[Arthur Crabtree]

If Ravi is dropped, there are three options, given the squad. Put Jordan in at seven, or pick Hales/Ballance at the top of the order and move everyone down, or bat Hales/Ballance at six or seven.

None of these options feel as useful as having a like for like replacement. Or at least having that as a fourth option.

[rich1uk]

If Ravi is dropped, there are three options, given the squad. Put Jordan in at seven, or pick Hales/Ballance at the top of the order and move everyone down, or bat Hales/Border at six or seven.

None of these options feel as useful as having a like for like replacement. Or at least having that as a fourth option.

I agree and that's why I am resigned to him staying in the side , no point bringing in Jordan as having ali as just the 6th bowler feels a waste and it lengthens the tail, and we cant risk having just root as a bowling option if we replace bopara with a batsman

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe this problem arose due to all the options gathering at Cook's back as he continued to struggle, or used to partner him as a potential magic bullet.

[rich1uk]

Maybe this problem arose due to all the options gathering at Cook's back as he continued to struggle, or used to partner him as a potential magic bullet.

it did to a degree as when he was replaced we made a "like for like" replacement by bringing in a specialist top order batsman for him rather than looking at the balance of the squad imo

just feels weird that we have a squad of 15 players where we are so reliant on someone who has performed as underwhelmingly as bopara for the vast majority of his career that we cant replace him without compromising the balance of the side

[Making_Splinters]

we've seen nothing of the kind

he does a decent job when he has conditions in his favour and that's why his figures look better than they should as he is given overs only in helpful situations , if he comes on and bowls an over and gets taken to the cleaners he wont bowl more whereas a specialist bowler has to

If you look back at when he was bowling well in England, in combination with Patel in the side, he was bowling regularly and doing a good job. Ravi is good at bowling to a field, but captains have no confidence in him. A front line bowler can send down a poor over and get persisted with, Ravi on the other hand gets whipped off straight away.

[Gingerfinch]

In hindsight we should have taken another batting allrounder, like Stokes or Patel.

As for our team, I'd bring in Ballance, bat him at six, and hope our bowlers stay fit.

[rich1uk]

we've seen nothing of the kind

he does a decent job when he has conditions in his favour and that's why his figures look better than they should as he is given overs only in helpful situations , if he comes on and bowls an over and gets taken to the cleaners he wont bowl more whereas a specialist bowler has to

If you look back at when he was bowling well in England, in combination with Patel in the side, he was bowling regularly and doing a good job. Ravi is good at bowling to a field, but captains have no confidence in him. A front line bowler can send down a poor over and get persisted with, Ravi on the other hand gets whipped off straight away.

because it would be absolutely insane to persist with a part-time bowler who the batsmen were going after if you have overs available from your main bowlers

[Making_Splinters]

we've seen nothing of the kind

he does a decent job when he has conditions in his favour and that's why his figures look better than they should as he is given overs only in helpful situations , if he comes on and bowls an over and gets taken to the cleaners he wont bowl more whereas a specialist bowler has to

If you look back at when he was bowling well in England, in combination with Patel in the side, he was bowling regularly and doing a good job. Ravi is good at bowling to a field, but captains have no confidence in him. A front line bowler can send down a poor over and get persisted with, Ravi on the other hand gets whipped off straight away.

because it would be absolutely insane to persist with a part-time bowler who the batsmen were going after if you have overs available from your main bowlers

The only thing that is insane is to whip a bowler off after a single over. Ravi is not a part time bowler, he's a batting all rounder.

[rich1uk]

we've seen nothing of the kind

he does a decent job when he has conditions in his favour and that's why his figures look better than they should as he is given overs only in helpful situations , if he comes on and bowls an over and gets taken to the cleaners he wont bowl more whereas a specialist bowler has to

If you look back at when he was bowling well in England, in combination with Patel in the side, he was bowling regularly and doing a good job. Ravi is good at bowling to a field, but captains have no confidence in him. A front line bowler can send down a poor over and get persisted with, Ravi on the other hand gets whipped off straight away.

because it would be absolutely insane to persist with a part-time bowler who the batsmen were going after if you have overs available from your main bowlers

The only thing that is insane is to whip a bowler off after a single over. Ravi is not a part time bowler, he's a batting all rounder.

well atm he isn't doing a lot of batting is he

he averages under 25 in the last 12 months with a s/r around 70

which for a guy who has played the majority of those games at 5 or 6 is nowhere near good enough

[Arthur Crabtree]

My view is that Ravi offers a useful option with the ball, and I see him as being a bit more robust than Rich does, but his batting doesn't justify a place in the squad.

[Dr Cricket]

If Ravi is dropped, there are three options, given the squad. Put Jordan in at seven, or pick Hales/Ballance at the top of the order and move everyone down, or bat Hales/Border at six or seven.

None of these options feel as useful as having a like for like replacement. Or at least having that as a fourth option.

I agree and that's why I am resigned to him staying in the side , no point bringing in Jordan as having ali as just the 6th bowler feels a waste and it lengthens the tail, and we cant risk having just root as a bowling option if we replace bopara with a batsman

Why I am baffled in why england need 6-7 bowlers just like Pakistan stupid policy of having 6 bowlers throughout 11-13 even though batting was so weak and Misbah said batting need to improve.

Ali will get you 7-8 overs guaranteed probably full 10 most of the time.
4 pace bowlers should bowl 38-40 guaranteed overs although you can sacrifice few overs if one bowler has a bad day.
The fact is Root should be able to bowl 1-3 overs if england need them, Morgan could easily manipulate 2-3 tight overs from him if the field, Game situation is rights.
Dhoni and other captains do it all the time well Dhoni does it all the time with Raina or Yuvi when he had him.
The funny thing is Dhoni uses so many part times I can't believe the time England choked with Raina, Rayudu and some other batsman that hardly bowled for 4-10 overs because Mohit Sharma was possibly injured and I think the 2 fit seam bowlers were being saved for the death.

I have no reason why this team can't be picked.
Ali
Bell
Ballance
Root
Taylor
Morgan
Buttler
Woakes
Broad
Finn
Anderson

40 overs from the 4 pace bowlers, 10 from Ali if not 2-3 from Root.
Why do you england need Bopara just so root/Bopara can share 2-3 overs so crazy.

Pakistan did the same thing when they had Junaid, Umar Gul, Mohammad Irfan, Shahid Afridi, Hafeez, Rehman/left arm spinner + I think one batsman got picked because he can bowl a few overs.
literally Afridi/Rehman barely bowled much overs and both didn't really contribute with the bat, Afridi was at 8 in those days.



6 to 7 strong batsman outweigh the 6 bowlers anyday in ODI especially when most captain can manipulate 2-3 cheap overs if needed.
What is better Bopara or Hales/Ballance batting or Bopara supposedly crucial 2-3 overs he will probably bowl in the tournament.
I know which one I would pick.
From looking at my team england would probably need to be flexible with the batting order and do what Dhoni said in the press conference when batting position didn't matter but the number of overs remaining and that will determine When Dhoni/Kohli will bat in the World cup.