Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

So it's a dead rubber, but India won't want to lose, England good chance to blood a youngster or two, in a couple of problem positions....India most likely will rest Ashwin who clearly isnt fit.....

These would be my two sides for 5th test:

England

Cook
Burns
Hildreth
Root
Pope
Buttler (wk)
Moeen
Curran
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

Burns has to be given a go, 1000+ runs in last 4 years in CC, time for him, Hildreth i know not young, but scored runs for fun over the years, and give him a go, we need someone who can actually bat at no3.... Pope didn't desrve to be dropped, and comes in for Stokes who isn't fit, and so there is no point in risking him... Buttler keeps, as same for Bairstow, not fit, so don't pick him, also if he is sulking, then maybe this will give him kick up the arse,,,,bowling attack picks itself...

India

Dhawan/Vijay
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Pant (wk)
Pandya
Jadeja/Ashwin
Shami
Ishant
Bumrah

If Ashwin is fit, then i play Jadeja instead of Shami and go two spinners, if Ashwin isn't fit, then Jadeja plays anyway

Radical England side Andy, but a good one.

Hildreth won't ever play for England though. Suspect Pope is as much of a memory as Porter. Woakes will come in if Stokes is out- maybe Rashid could miss out too.

I've got a feeling they'll be unchanged.

It seems likely that the ECB announcement at 12 noon will be Cook retiring and it's just a question of whether it'll be with immediate effect or after this test.
The speculation may be wrong but what other " major announcement" could it be ?

captaincolly wrote:It seems likely that the ECB announcement at 12 noon will be Cook retiring and it's just a question of whether it'll be with immediate effect or after this test.
The speculation may be wrong but what other " major announcement" could it be ?

Cook and Anderson retiring

yuppie wrote:

captaincolly wrote:It seems likely that the ECB announcement at 12 noon will be Cook retiring and it's just a question of whether it'll be with immediate effect or after this test.
The speculation may be wrong but what other " major announcement" could it be ?

Cook and Anderson retiring

That'd be a radical move!

Confirmation Cook is retiring from international cricket but after this test and will continue to play county cricket.

Good for us at Essex, but now England looking for 2 openers..... Gubbins and Burns?

captaincolly wrote:Confirmation Cook is retiring from international cricket but after this test and will continue to play county cricket.

Continue to play, hope he gets form, back in 2019 Winter?

sussexpob wrote:

captaincolly wrote:Confirmation Cook is retiring from international cricket but after this test and will continue to play county cricket.

Continue to play, hope he gets form, back in 2019 Winter?

Stranger things will have happened! There's a great chance of a batting crisis followed by calls for him to return.

Maybe a rest might do him good.

I'd bring in Burns and Denly, for Jennings and Rashid. Both are in the frame according to The Telegraph. Denly is miles ahead on the county MVP rankings while Burns' chance is well overdue.

andy wrote:Good for us at Essex,

except he'll cost you £250k next year.... maybe even more than that, because the £250k for a non-full central contract was a few years ago. (I forget what a half contract is called)

probably worth 3 or 4 players over the course of a season

maybe that doesn't apply if the player retires, rather than loses his central contract

Hope he's not planning a move into the commentary box.

Nice side, andy. I'd agree with it. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that they'll push Bairstow and Stokes in to play as batsmen only, despite playing injured players being a stupid idea.

Well. Bye bye Cook. It's a shame, but it's time - he's had two good (exceedingly good) innings in the last 12 months, but otherwise he's been in a form slump. Maybe he was nudged into retiring, but the chance to bow out in front of a home crowd, on the back of a series win against the number 1 side, is better than most England players get (most seem to get ignominiously dropped. resign in tears after being thumped, or gradually drift out of the team as injuries take hold). Hopefully he can register a score at the Oval and go out on a personal high too, but that maybe too much to ask.

As a side note, I was looking at the stats the other day, and realised that a whole heap of top batsmen retired around the 160-170 tests mark. Ponting, Kallis, Sanga, Dravid, Waugh, Chanderpaul, Border. Cook will finish with 161 tests, 7th on the all time list. It seems that with the exception of the incredible outlier that was SRT, this is the sell-by date for batsmen. At this point, there's nothing left to prove any more, and the old hunger isn't there. Combined with age and the toll on the body from so many matches, you just can't keep performing forever.

I hope we can celebrate Cook's achievements rather than dwell on his failures in the last 12 months. Whatever he scores at the Oval, he's had an outstanding career, and while he won't go down as a truly great opener, it's as much because the competition for English openers is so stiff (will anyone ever beat Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Hutton?). But IMO he's been the best English opener since Hutton, certainly the best in my lifetime - and the competition is pretty solid with Boycott, Gooch, Vaughan, Atherton, Tresco and Strauss.

He'll finish his career with the most runs by an Englishman in tests by over 3000, the 7th highest scorer in test matches of all time (he could conceivably go into 6th if he makes 150 at the Oval - not likely on current form but possible), the most centuries by an Englishman, and the most outfield catches by an Englishman. He also has the record for most consecutive test matches played (159 - unlikely to ever be beaten IMO). He's made the most runs by an opener by far, well ahead of Gavaskar in second place. He has the most centuries by an Englishman, and has scored 100s against every test team (except Zimbabwe, who England never played during his career). In one of those bizarre quirks, he has scored a century against every team away, but never made an Ashes century at home - Australia's the only team he hasn't scored a 100 against at home among those he's played. He's also statistically England's best ever batsman in Asia, although that's in part because the pre-war greats never really played there. Nonetheless, it's a noteworthy achievement.

He's also beaten every team, including away wins against India, Australia and South Africa, (plus Bangladesh and New Zealand), although oddly he's never beaten Pakistan, Sri Lanka or West Indies away, despite England thumping them at home at times.

All in all, a stellar career, and one I've truly enjoyed watching. I will never forget his destruction of Australia in the 2010-11 Ashes - his finest hour, and up there with the best series performances of all time.

So long Cooky. Thanks for the memories.

Good post.

I wrote my views on his career when he went past the England run scoring record and not much has changed since, barring the steepness of the decline. I'm left with two contradictory thoughts. That he was the best good-pitch batter I've seen for England. And he was a monster in India.

Clearly time to go.