Moeen Ali or Adil Rashid for the 1st Ashes test?

[shankycricket]

From what I saw of Rashid in the ODIs, he struck me as a typical modern day limited overs spinner who has got a great wrong'un but a very average stock delivery. Someone who feeds on the batsmen going after him, as opposed to Test cricket where you can sit back and wait for the inevitable loose ball every over. The likes of Sunil Narine, Ajantha Mendis and more pertinently being leggies, Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra are all spinners who have done well in limited overs cricket thanks to their variations but their lack of consistency and command over the stock ball has led to them being found wanting in Test cricket. I don't want to write off the guy before he has even played a Test but Rashid strikes me as someone along those lines. The two decent legspinners going around in Test cricket right now, Yasir Shah and Devendra Bishoo both rely primarily on their legbreak and have good discipline and control to bowl long spells.

[Arthur Crabtree]

That's pretty much what I've been thinking, except, we're expecting Australia to try and take the England spinner for eight an over, pretty much as the English counties have gone after the Aussie spinners. As Watson went after Kerrigan. In those circumstances, it may be that an ODI spinner might have some effectiveness, as well as potentially getting out the tail, another preoccupation of England going into this series. Of course, if the Aussies get out trying to shred the spinner, they'll just revert to milking him.

[Arthur Crabtree]

And the Aussie tail will play their shots. Don't forget last time, one of the main differences between the teams was that Mitch1 wiped out the England tail and and the Aussie tail saved them four times out of five with the bat. Both top orders struggled in the first innings. I guess England feel they have to address that.

[alfie]

Can't remember if I actually voted on this ...

Probably not. Haven't been on much lately. I would have gone for Moeen ; but I must admit Rashid did nudge my interest in a couple of those one dayers. Certainly some promise there ; but I think Shanky might be right about the difficulty of transferring his one day wicket taking into the Test arena. The Aussies might well just milk him - and he will serve up a ration of four balls.
Mind you , on recent form so might Moeen. Really miss that Swann chap...

[Arthur Crabtree]

One of the names will be in bold if you voted, Alfie.

[alfie]

One of the names will be in bold if you voted, Alfie.

Aha. Thanks Arthur. Clearly I didn't , then.

So Moeen gets another "virtual" vote to add to his collection...

Wonder if that will sway the selectors

[Aidan11]

Hopefully Farbrace reads this site.

It would be to his advantage if he did.