There may be troubles ahead: England selection issues.

[Durhamfootman]

The selectors really should be having an actual plan. Actual plans and consistent evidence of their thinking filter downwards. IF you pick Bell-Drummond and SNE for this tour, you actually say to everyone below "score runs, get picked....simple". You might then have scores go up as people start caring again.

only if they are able to adapt to late March and early October conditions

[dan08]

As someone who's watched Kent quite a bit over the last few years, I'd say Crawley is an excellent prospect. Good technique and plays some lovely straight drives. I don't think he's ready yet, but will be good for him to get some experience being around the squad on this tour.

Denly has scored plenty of runs in recent seasons and was the overall county MVP in 2018 (as well as T20 MVP and One-Day Cup MVP). Has earned his chance and has done alright so far. Probably isn't going to have a long Test career and is just a stop gap until we find a younger, better prospect at number 3.

Bell-Drummond has had an impressive season, but before this year we was only just about clinging onto his spot in the Championship team (many Kent fans were giving up on him in FC cricket). I don't think his technique could stand up to international cricket.

Northeast has been a consistent run scorer for several years and can't be far away from the Test squad. Not the best looking player but he's pretty effective. I reckon his time will come at some point.

[Arthur Crabtree]

It was an odd means of getting into the team for Denly. In the ODI squad as a spinner primarily and then a long shot as a third spinner in SL who might bat down the order. It felt like he got a go up the order just because he happened to be around while everyone else failed and there was a gap rather than anyone thought he was next in line to open or bat at three. Especially as he no longer opened in CC. He did quite well in the second half of the Ashes though.

[Slipstream]

Flower was sacked as England coach years ago, or he's been sacked today as shadowy presence on the peripheries of coaching?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/crick ... Giles.html

[sussexpob]

Denly has scored plenty of runs in recent seasons and was the overall county MVP in 2018 (as well as T20 MVP and One-Day Cup MVP). Has earned his chance and has done alright so far. Probably isn't going to have a long Test career and is just a stop gap until we find a younger, better prospect at number 3

Not sure I would say a player averaging 28 is "doing alright" for a top 3. He's way off an acceptable performance mark so far, and is another series of averaging 28 away from the usual expected cut off point of a career. Malan and Stoneman produced similar numbers, and Jennings was not that far off..... these arent players I'd have said have done alright. His limited overs bat numbers are terrible, and he's hardly bowled either. Nothing much suggests yet that hes anywhere near the required level across the formats.

Denly averaged 42 in a three year period to his selection, but all of this was in Div 2.... someone like Ben Brown beats that, but you dont hear him knocking on the doors (averages far more over his career too). Sam Northeast has averaged 10 more in the same period, 2/3rds of that in the same team and with one year at a higher level. Hassan Asad, Livingstone, Dent....all producing similar or better numbers in recent times, with stronger career levels, not getting mentioned.

Its the classic case of people saying "nah, cant pick him, Division 2 runs mean nothing".... then every now and then they forget about that and tell us someone is good enough, while ignoring a whole host of others on the basis they arent playing at the same level, even when in SNE's case, they play in the same team and are facing the same stuff at the same time.

[sussexpob]

It was an odd means of getting into the team for Denly

Well its handbrake thinking for the selectors, isnt it? They dont want to pick a bat like Denly and say he's there to score runs only, they have to construct some other narrative that creates a fall back for them when the punt doesnt work, and in this case it was the notion that the guy can also turn his arm and be useful as a spin option.

Sadly, history tells us these types of picks have zero to minimal use. For a start, if someone like Denly is handed the ball, you have to assume the team are in total dire straits anyway. If the game is going well or your in the match, you are never giving Denly the ball. And at the point you are turning to no hope options, whats the point of reserving a place in the squad for that situation? Makes little sense.

Secondly, there is no evidence that players of this level can take wickets. Off the top of my head, Samit Patel/Bopara/Trott/Bell/Collingwood/Shah/Afzaal/Tresco/Ramps/KP are all players who fulfilled the "can turn their arm if needed" requirements, but their combined records in tests must be tragic, verging on comical.

Moeen is one of the only historical examples of a guy that managed it well, but he was picked as a front line spinner and cant qualify...... id hazard a guess that the most successful is Joe Root..... who is already in the team.

Do we need Root and Denly to bowl? Nope.... in the 300/0 situation, the difference between a root and Denly hardly matters.

Denly has bowled a fair bit, but yet to take a wicket.

[sussexpob]

Flower was sacked as England coach years ago, or he's been sacked today as shadowy presence on the peripheries of coaching?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/crick ... Giles.html

Good riddance. Although it inflamed me to read he is discussing "his severance package" on his massive wage. Bloody leach has bled us dry for long enough without producing anything, why should he get a pay off for being sacked!

This being the ECB too, they sack the bowling coaching team that produced an Ashes attack that averaged well under 30, while retaining a batting coaching team that cant get a single batsman looking decent..... hurrah to Giles.

Using the fact they cant get the two men made of glass fit is..... well .....

Have Stone and Wood ever been fit?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Vaughan might have been one of the better England can-bowl-a-bit batters.

They can have their day -see Michael Clarke and Allan Border- but not that you'd rely on.

[sussexpob]

See, when I read that I thought you might have been right, but Vaughan averaged 93!! Certainly remember him looking a half decent spinner, and once ripping out Tendulkar's stump with a blinding turner... but the stats suggest otherwise.

But I think the Border's and Clarke's of this world arent comparable to the names mentioned. Certainly if Clarke hadnt become the most important batsman, and hadnt had issues with his back from an early age, he'd have bowled a lot more. Aside from the 6/9 he took on a pitch Australia failed to make a target of 100 on (that pitch fell apart brutally, and Clarke was turning it round people legs)....he always looked a player who, had he decide to focus on bowling, he could have been a viable option. And Border was sub 40 a wicket in the shield and tests, so that is verging on all rounder territory in an era with few stand out spinners.

Border for instance must have been about JE's career average, and he was England's front line spinner.

[Arthur Crabtree]

See, when I read that I thought you might have been right, but Vaughan averaged 93!!

I thought it might be about 50! But as you say above, they tend to come on in hopeless situations.

[Slipstream]

Talk about Bairstow back for SA. Dropped because of his Test form and then when Denly was injured Bairstow called up from T20 squad. Would have played ahead of Crawley too. How does that work? Bairstow is not a number 3. Crawley should have been in if Denly was out.

Now also talk about Ali could be back for SA. He hasn't played any first class cricket either or Anderson or Wood. There is a training camp for 2 weeks. Included is Anderson, Wood, Stone, and J Overton. Bairstow is said to be in this. Coaches Chappell, Killeen and Trott.

Just seen on Cricinfo
However, speaking to ESPNcricinfo in Abu Dhabi, Moeen himself said that, after a gruelling few months of high-pressure cricket with England, he was enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere on the franchise circuit, and indicated that his international comeback could even be delayed until next summer's visits of Pakistan and West Indies.

"I want to play at some stage but I haven't decided when or anything," Moeen said. "I'll just take it as it comes. Obviously Leachy is in the side and bowling really well, so I've also got to get back in the side as well.

"It could be South Africa, could be Sri Lanka [in March], it could be just the summer," he said of his anticipated return. "There's no sort of timeframe on it.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England's 55 man squad for the summer. I wouldn't be surprised if even given the huge selection, they pick players not in this programme over the summer.

Batsmen and wicketkeepers: Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Sam Billings (Kent), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Joe Denly (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Laurie Evans (Sussex), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Sam Hain (Warwickshire), Will Jacks (Surrey), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Yorkshire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Phil Salt (Sussex), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), James Vince (Hampshire)

Fast bowlers (including all-rounders): James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Henry Brookes (Warwickshire), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Richard Gleeson (Lancashire), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Tom Helm (Middlesex), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Jamie Overton (Somerset), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Ben Stokes (Durham), Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Reece Topley (Surrey), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)

Spin bowlers (including all-rounders): Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Dom Bess (Somerset), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Jack Leach (Somerset), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Amar Virdi (Surrey)

Good to see Topley is back.

I'll be interested to see if Amar Virdi makes progress.

Crane and Willey are back too.

Sorry to see that Alex Hales is still out of favour.

[sussexpob]

Is there a less deserving player to be picked in an England setup than Mason Crane? His FC average is now over 50, he looked as far out of his depth in his test debut as anyone I have ever seen, and he returned 5 wickets last year at over 100 a piece while being taken for well over 5 runs an over. He cant bat or field, and he is way out of his depth in the county cricket and only getting worse and worse.

Hampshire had a younger spinner who played the same amount of games, scored a century with the bat, and averaged 15 with the ball. Hes pretty much the third best spinner at his county by some distance. And I doubt anyone would be lining up to take him in county cricket, his returns are no better than some batsman who can bowl.

I dont get it. Does he have compromising photos of Graves on his laptop?

[alfie]

Will be interesting to see what sort of team plays these West Indies Tests. Lack of match form to go on for obvious reasons and I heard a hint there might be a bit of "rotation" ?

You'd think the initial XI will be similar to the last outing though , fitness permitting. Appears Root will sit it out so the batting gets a tweak for now...guess this practice match may help sort things out a bit.

[Slipstream]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cri ... 03166.html

What I found interesting
'A fast bowler tends to put between five and nine times their body weight through their front foot at the crease – a concept barely understood when Anderson was making his mark on the global stage at the 2003 World Cup. His “load of impact” is between four and five on that measure, whereas Mark Wood, for instance, is closer to nine'.

also
'that they can cover as much as 55 kilometres across a Test match'.