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Willey has improved a lot, last 5 ODIs 11 wickets at 19.27 and Morgan gave him a go at bowling at the death.

There's no fast bowler in the squad that you look at and think he shouldn't be playing.

There is the IPL where bowlers can pick up injuries. I think last time Stokes and Woakes came back injured.

Ali
Curran S
Billings
Willey
Buttler
Stokes
Archer
Bairstow
Denly

Suggestions that Jason Roy will be opening against Ireland and the Aussies looks like a typical England pick of recent times. A selection short on logic but long on intuition.

Slipstream wrote:Willey has improved a lot, last 5 ODIs 11 wickets at 19.27 and Morgan gave him a go at bowling at the death.

There's no fast bowler in the squad that you look at and think he shouldn't be playing.

There is the IPL where bowlers can pick up injuries. I think last time Stokes and Woakes came back injured.

Ali
Curran S
Billings
Willey
Buttler
Stokes
Archer
Bairstow
Denly

Doesn't seem so long since Stone was going to be England's secret weapon at the WC, according to Morgan in SL.

Since the start of 2018, Willey is the most economical of England's pace bowlers.

The WC is not the time to make changes. Mostly this squad has been together for a long time, won most of their games together. Bat all the way down to 11 so can afford 6 specialist bowlers. I can't see any other team who has this. The perfect squad who just need to use their brains on different pitches.

Slipstream wrote: The perfect squad who just need to use their brains on different pitches.

Use their brains?

they had that coached out of them a long time to go..... Flower started the trend of bringing all the thinking into the centre.... there is no problem in cricket that can't be sorted out 2 hours too late over a nice cuppa. If players did anything stupid like thinking for themselves there'd be no need to have all those coaches in the back room, and that way, anarchy lies

If we assume the starting XI is going to be:

Roy
Bairstow
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Moeen
Woakes
Rashid
Plunkett
Wood

That leaves 4 squad places available: one will be taken by a spare batsman (Hales) and another by an additional spinning all-rounder (Dawson?)
Fortunately, as we already have two wicket-keepers, both of the remaining slots can be allocated to fast bowlers. These are likely to be fought between the incumbents Willey and Curran against Archer, Stone, or anyone else?
IMO Willey should get a place - in case we have a very different English summer than last year! - as he could thrive under possible overcast conditions.
The final selection is more tricky.
FWIW I would probably go with Archer as a wildcard option over Curran, who is unlikely to be picked ahead of any of the starting bowlers.

Slipstream wrote:Willey has improved a lot, last 5 ODIs 11 wickets at 19.27 and Morgan gave him a go at bowling at the death.

There's no fast bowler in the squad that you look at and think he shouldn't be playing.

There is the IPL where bowlers can pick up injuries. I think last time Stokes and Woakes came back injured.

Ali
Curran S
Billings
Willey
Buttler
Stokes
Archer
Bairstow
Denly

Very interesting stat on Dave Willey in his last ODIs. His death over bowling against Lancashire in last years One Day Cup was pivotal when the Red Rose nearly chased 380 in what was a must win game for both sides.

Slipstream wrote:The WC is not the time to make changes. Mostly this squad has been together for a long time, won most of their games together. Bat all the way down to 11 so can afford 6 specialist bowlers. I can't see any other team who has this. The perfect squad who just need to use their brains on different pitches.

Spot on, England strength and depth in all departments that rival teams can only dream of.

Archer should be classed as one for the future and will get his World Cup spot in time. By the 2023 World Cup Stokes will be 31, Wood 32, Willey 33, Woakes 34, Plunkett 37.

I agree that keeping the number 1 team together makes sense. Got no issues with picking Archer for future squads, particularly with an eye on the 2020 T20 world cup and perhaps as a capable back up to the current attack.

Alviro Patterson wrote:

Slipstream wrote:The WC is not the time to make changes. Mostly this squad has been together for a long time, won most of their games together. Bat all the way down to 11 so can afford 6 specialist bowlers. I can't see any other team who has this. The perfect squad who just need to use their brains on different pitches.

Spot on, England strength and depth in all departments that rival teams can only dream of.

Archer should be classed as one for the future and will get his World Cup spot in time. By the 2023 World Cup Stokes will be 31, Wood 32, Willey 33, Woakes 34, Plunkett 37.

In 2020 the T20 World Cup will be in Australia. England play twenty T20s before that and that is where I see Archer fitting in but England will play him in the Pakistan ODIs with Jordan. Stokes always plays so that leaves room for 1 other fast bowler from Woakes, Willey, Wood, Plunkett and T Curran.

Wood's ODI record is very poor, so I'd have a light trigger on leaving him out. But he did well v WI, so he can stay in for now. With Woakes, Stokes and Plunkett but it makes sense to see who is bowling well in the summer, so that might change. Curran and Willey to make up the squad.

ianp1970 wrote:If we assume the starting XI is going to be:

Roy
Bairstow
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Moeen
Woakes
Rashid
Plunkett
Wood

That leaves 4 squad places available: one will be taken by a spare batsman (Hales) and another by an additional spinning all-rounder (Dawson?)

Isn't Denly ahead of Dawson now?

seems to be

Slipstream wrote:The WC is not the time to make changes. Mostly this squad has been together for a long time, won most of their games together. Bat all the way down to 11 so can afford 6 specialist bowlers. I can't see any other team who has this. The perfect squad who just need to use their brains on different pitches.

Spot on, England strength and depth in all departments that rival teams can only dream of.

England have the 2nd worst bowling record since 2017 began, and thats probably only because the worst team (SL) had to bowl to England's batsman, while England's bowlers in return got the worst of the established test sides to bowl at. Remove the games between these sides, and England come out worse. Calling this team perfect is frankly crazy. Saying they have strength in depth in all departments is a mystery to me..... do England have a tried and tested spinner who didnt play in this series? Do they have a tried and tested paceman who holds his own outside of the current projected XI? Apart from Hales who will probably be dropped, where is the established batting depth?

Which England bowlers would get into India's line up? None.... India have about 4-5 spinners with better econ rates than ours, and better or similar averages. India's worst paceman for econ is still below all of England's established crop.

England have a terrible bowling attack. We on average give away nearly 50 odd runs per innings more than Pakistan.

Arguing you shouldnt change the team is pretty much the equivalent of arguing you have a brilliant and irreplaceable defence in football, because you are scoring 5 goals a game, but only every 1 in 3 matches do the opposition score 6, when on average they just score 4. In this instance, its pretty obvious that your defence is crap, and that your success is entirely based on how brilliant your forwards are.

Its been stated on another thread recently that the reason for England's massive econ rates is a natural response to teams having to slog to match our totals, meaning its a bit artificial.... So why does one of our spinners average 47? Why do two of our pace bowlers who play every match average well over 40? Surely if teams were risking it all, then they'd lose wickets? But England's bowlers have terrible rates at taking wickets too...... its almost like the answer is, teams score runs and dont lose wickets, because our bowlers are bloody useless.

Pakistan v South Africa recently.... how many of the 10 bowlers on display had a ODI econ over 5..... 1 from both sides, and its dubious whether or not the gentleman in question is in the side on merit.
India.... I think only Shami has an econ over 5 out the specialists.
New Zealand have a few players that are just approaching the 5.5 range, but these would be team leaders for England.