Rebuilding for the next World Cup.

[m@tt]

cant argue with much of that

I know people will complain about stokes at #6 and moeen at #7, especially moeen after doing reasonably well at the top, but that team looks way better balanced to me, and I don't see why the way stokes and moeen play cant work in those positions

who is your captain matt ? root, taylor or buttler ?

My logic for Ali down the order, which you may well share, is that firstly he's a decent player of spin and there are early signs that he may be uncomfortable with fast bowling, and secondly he hits from ball one. So I feel he would be comfortable come in for the middle orders and also during the batting power play. I wouldn't want Buttler in before the 25 over mark, so my order is flexible. Stokes could go in at 5, similarly Ali could.

Taylor would be my captain, given his experience in captaincy roles with the Lions, Notts and (albeit only for a few games) Leics. I can't comment on his tactical ability but if he's been trusted at a young age to captain teams then he must have some aptitude for the role, and he also tends to score plenty as captain too. Root also a possibility but I'm cautious because he's been anointed for the role based on personality, which didn't turn out too well for Cook. Buttler, like many wicket-keepers given their position on the field of play but the worry of over-burdening them, may end up being a vice-captain but never a captain.

[rich1uk]

and don't argue with any of that either

root does appear to have been groomed by the same PR advisors as strauss and cook

I may have a slightly different opinion of buttler than you however and want to see him bat longer more often, I don't see the sense in consciously limiting how long he can bat and think he is just as capable of playing the longer innings at #5 as stokes or moeen

[Alviro Patterson]

Takes more than a change of face to change a culture too.... and that is what is rotten the most

That's what it all boils down too, some individuals in the previous administration are still with the ECB in a different capacity.

For money saving ideas, selector and Notts coach Mick Newell questions whether all counties should have an academy and suggests regional academies would be more effective. For who exactly? Probably the test venue counties of Notts, Middlesex and Glamorgan who struggle to produce their own players, but have the financial clout to recruit players from smaller non test venue counties.

Then there are suggestions of the ECB rebranding to Cricket England and Wales because the current brand is deemed as toxic. Like a name change will suddenly get rid of the ills currently around in English Cricket? Whoever suggested that wants relieving of their duties with immediate effect.

[Slipstream]

I like the way Broad is a favourite to be kept on but these are the bowling rankings at 1 Mar.

7 (-3) - Anderson
19 (-7) - Finn
22 (-6) - Tredwell
49 (+8) - Ali
50 (+7) - Woakes
51 (-4) - Rankin
52 (-4) - Jordan
57=(-2) - Bresnan
57=(-3) - Broad
88 (-10) - Bopara

[andy]

anyone think Tredwell's international career is now over?

[Aidan11]

I'm sad that it even began.

[andy]

Shame for Tredders, as he dosen't let anyone down, but clearly he isnt overly rated, as he would always be playing...

[Dr Cricket]

good article here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricke ... stion.html

[Durhamfootman]

good article here.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricke ... stion.html

Now is the time to identify the squad for 2019 and stick with them

I fundamentally disagree with this

It is the classic exercise in futility and something that England set out to do after the 2011 WC

Picking a squad of players and sticking with them through thick and thin just means that when the captain walks away, and of the most experienced key players, one has a breakdown, one gets sacked, another dropped, one says "*modded* it" and walks away in the middle of an ashes series, another gets the yips, and one finally convinces even the most blinkered of selectors that he should never have been anywhere near the ODI squad in the first place, the team is half a squad down with the best part of 3 years wasted, and very little time to build another squad.

Even worse when the new captain gets the sack just before the WC, and of the 5 remaining members of the original squad, one is half the player he was pre-yips, one gets dropped the day before the first match and three others, your 2 supposedly best bowlers and your new captain suddenly lose every vestige of form.

Now is the time to identify the squad for 2019? As Roger Melly might say..... "bollox"

[Gingerfinch]

I agree, who know's what players will be playing well, coming through, gone to pot, in four years time?

[dan08]

I would plan for the 2017 Champions Trophy. 2019 is just too far away.

[Making_Splinters]

There always seems to be this argument that you can't plan for a World Cup 4 years away, England always seem to go into the World Cup with a team with far fewer caps than the top sides and an unsettled side.

[sussexpob]

Players have to deserve to be capped a 100 times though, and selectors are right to be reactive when a player is taking a pounding. There was NO way Stokes could play another game when we was dropped, he was shot.

Yes there are settled teams, but those teams also have better players full stop. Its pretty easy to keep picking Virat Kohli

[SaintPowelly]

England should be planning for the next (post-WC) game, not 2019 or 2017, the best set of players on a series by series basis should be picked.

[Making_Splinters]

This seems to be very much a chicken and egg argument.