Arthur Crabtree wrote:andy wrote:When Woakes, Ball, and Roland-Jones are all avaliable, who gets 3rd seamer spot? Intresting...Obviously Woakes has been in great form in past 12 months or so, but all in with a shout..with Wood lurking too, Finn way out of the picture for now..
Finn got called up for this Test which at least shows the selectors haven't moved on from him. Which I thought they may have done. I'd guess Woakes will come in for R-J when fit, but the latter gets another game before Woakes is ready. Injuries to the bowlers will be frequent.
Probably significant that Wood wasn't mentioned. Maybe he's slipping out of the picture? He's harder to rank because, yes, he hasn't shone on his return to the side, but also yes, he does have the pace that might make him a special case. On a flat pitch, perhaps he'll be the best pick.
The lively pitches have been useful in judging the batters ahead of the Ashes, especially this one where there was bounce if the bowler worked to extract it. SO fair to say that Westley's runs didn't really come with the uncertainty about how well he'd bat in Perth. Morkel was enough of a test to give some idea. SO a good Test for the Essex number three. Hopefully Malan will get another game, but the next Test is a DN and so is a bit of a freak in terms of judging what a player is made of at this level.