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

TBH barring Australia most places seem to be tough for opening batsman at the moment, probably explain outside Elgar why people are struggling to pick an opener for all conditions.
not sure what my openers would be for a world 11 now barring elgar.

actually think the oval was a better place to start than sri lanka.
one the pressure off the other opener since all the press will be about cook, secondly india intensity won't be the same and who knows how the pitch will play it could be a flattie to allow the batsman to score runs.
Suspect the bowling won't be as top knotch as the other games either.

Not sure I agree with england playing Anderson and broad either, surely one of them is getting rested for porter, not sure I am a fan of telling porter couple of months ago that you will be playing one test this summer and then you don't actually play him.
not sure what england gain in playing Anderson or broad in a dead rubber.

For me the surprising exclusion was porter, especially with the selectors and coaches giving assurances in the start of the summer/series that he would play 1 test this summer.
the whole game plan after the 2nd test was that after securing the series in the 3rd game they were going to rest Broad or Anderson and bring in new bowlers so not really sure why they changed the gameplan for that for the dead rubber.
if anything the 5th test feel the perfect time for them to blood new player, since it does feel like a proper dead rubber with both team going with less intensity in training and with 2 of the test matches being close suspect a lot of the mental strength and physical strength as gone so both team could be going through the motions here.

Not sure what england get with Anderson and broad playing the dead rubber, england already know what those two provide would be better to blood new bowlers and planning for the future so one of those should be rested for the final test.
Although won't be happening now with porter dropped from the squad which is harsh since he was in the squad in the first few matches for a view to play him later on the series.

Pick your strongest team and don't scatter around experimental caps. I think England would profit more by winning 4-1 than having a look at a couple of debutants in a dead rubber. If A&B were going to be rested for their sake, it doesn't make much sense to do it in the final Test unless they are carrying an injury. They won't be going out for the one dayers in SL.

Create a spin pitch and prepare for SL. Thats what England should do

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... vi-shastri

looks like india will be taking the game seriously.
have to see if that is the case, although in past ashes series in the 5th games the losing team does win games, england often won dead rubbers in the 90s and early naughties.
kind of remember england losing close encounters in the live games and winning when australia took the gas out of the series, quite possible similar thing happens here if england do not play 100 percent.

Although if I was an indian players not sure I would be able to play 100 percent in this game after giving 100% in the earlier games, although it could be possible they want to win the game to show more for their efforts in the series a 3-2 loss isn't that bad when you considering 2 of those losses could have been wins if they were able to close out the games.
3-2 sounds so much better than 4-1 for example.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Pick your strongest team and don't scatter around experimental caps. I think England would profit more by winning 4-1 than having a look at a couple of debutants in a dead rubber. If A&B were going to be rested for their sake, it doesn't make much sense to do it in the final Test unless they are carrying an injury. They won't be going out for the one dayers in SL.

Never been keen on dishing out caps too freely...unlike ODIs , each Test is an event in itself and should be treated with respect.

Yes I know I'm a dinosaur

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Pick your strongest team and don't scatter around experimental caps. I think England would profit more by winning 4-1 than having a look at a couple of debutants in a dead rubber. If A&B were going to be rested for their sake, it doesn't make much sense to do it in the final Test unless they are carrying an injury. They won't be going out for the one dayers in SL.

Agree completely. The talk of Porter playing was because management thought 5 Tests in 6 weeks but be too much but Broad and Anderson have had light workloads. They are centrally contracted players and are expected to play all Tests. Imagine if they were rested for the winter tours. What would they do for 10 months before the next Test series.

Porter was only there because of injuries to Wood, Overton, Roland-Jones, Ball, T Curran.

An unchanged team from the previous test but Bairstow is keeping.

Im guessing Rashid has kept his place because he will be playing in SL. Which is a good reason to select him again, though i wonder if Root will give him more than 14 overs this test?

yuppie wrote:Im guessing Rashid has kept his place because he will be playing in SL. Which is a good reason to select him again, though i wonder if Root will give him more than 14 overs this test?

Probably not unless every other option fails!
I don't know if it's confirmed or not but cricinfo suggests Moeen will bat at 3.

alfie wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Pick your strongest team and don't scatter around experimental caps. I think England would profit more by winning 4-1 than having a look at a couple of debutants in a dead rubber. If A&B were going to be rested for their sake, it doesn't make much sense to do it in the final Test unless they are carrying an injury. They won't be going out for the one dayers in SL.

Never been keen on dishing out caps too freely...unlike ODIs , each Test is an event in itself and should be treated with respect.

Yes I know I'm a dinosaur

Cook just said the tank was empty and that he had nothing left to give, would it be respectful to the game to play a man who admits that? Is it respectful to pick guys who rather play IPL than county cricket in preparation (many)? Or to pick spinners that refuse to play full stop? Or pick lads that go out in middle of series and beat up members of the public? Or players that headbutt the opposition?

1. Retiring
2. Not made a 50 in 9 tests. Average is a failure above going past the 20 mark in the wrong way. Only test match score, he was badly dropped on 0.
3. Just came back from being dropped. Averaged mid 20s in last two years with no 100 since winter 16..... has an abysmal record overseas. His record in the top three slots is to average .... 16, 12 and 7. Great call to move him up the order.
4. No 100 in about 15-16 tests by memory. 100s turned to 50s, 50s now turning to failures. Averages just over 30 for the year
5. Last 16 tests, he averages high 20s, a sustained period of bad form. Add into that hes into his 7th calendar year as a test cricketer, and only averaged over 35 one year, really he had one purple match in a lot of very poor performances.
6. Has recent high profile disciplinary issues, not yet resolved with the board. Average not much over 25 for the year.
7. Has runs, but he's been dropped or has been very lucky in every single score. When the luck goes, he's in trouble.
8. A medium pacer who relies almost exclusively on his ability to swing from the hand. The perfect overcast, damp England option.... wonder how much of that swing he will get in Sri Lanka. He will need it, the 76mph bowling isnt going to trouble test batters.
9. Captain doesnt even want to give him the ball. Doesnt want to play to improve. Not really shown hes a match winning test player at all.
10/11..... both pretty old, both have had big workloads over the years. Either could break down, or find they suddenly run out of gas and decline. Broad has not exactly been excellent in Asia. He averages 63 a wicket in Sri Lanka, 54 in India and 40 in BD..... Anderson manages 40 in SRL and 35 in India, never played in BD.


I dont think its really throwing caps at people randomly, if/when we replace people on this form. Nothing in the above suggests we will do well in SL. Nothing at all. We essentially could drop about 7 players from this side and not probably notice much difference.

Pretty bad that India lost to that lot.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Pretty bad that India lost to that lot.

yeah think it is hurting kohli and shastri they lost to this team though.
tough one though for the indian fan though since if india do win chances are kohli and Shastri will gloss over the reason of why india lost the series 3-1 or were not able to win 4-5 test in SENA nations this year when they had the chance to do so.

india need to get way ruthless in matches away from home now, can't let teams come back when you are so close to finishing teams off games now.

4 test matches left in Australia for the side to do something special now.

Geez, we are sh1te, aren't we. How did we win this series? Bowling I guess.

bigfluffylemon wrote:Geez, we are sh1te, aren't we.

have been for a while now. 2013 was probably the last time England had a half decent side... and it was only half decent

Position in the world rankings only saved by the duke ball, the sh1te weather and helpful home grounds