bigfluffylemon wrote:Personally I'd drop Buttler, give Foakes the gloves and play Bairstow as a specialist bat. But not at 3 or 4...
Given Malan had to go, who else is there? Joe Clarke has been in good form and bats 4 for Worcs. James Hildreth is a top order bat and consistent county performer for years, but I've come to the conclusion that he must have shagged Andrew Strauss' sister or something, as it doesn't seem to matter how bad England's batting is or how well Hildreth plays, he's consistently ignored.
Not sure if there's anyone else really banging on the door demanding selection from the CC, but I don't watch a lot of it, so there could be people I've missed.
ianp1970 wrote:Nor can you pick two openers, Root, five number 6's, a spinner, Broad and Anderson and hope it will work!
alfie wrote:bigfluffylemon wrote:Personally I'd drop Buttler, give Foakes the gloves and play Bairstow as a specialist bat. But not at 3 or 4...
Given Malan had to go, who else is there? Joe Clarke has been in good form and bats 4 for Worcs. James Hildreth is a top order bat and consistent county performer for years, but I've come to the conclusion that he must have shagged Andrew Strauss' sister or something, as it doesn't seem to matter how bad England's batting is or how well Hildreth plays, he's consistently ignored.
Not sure if there's anyone else really banging on the door demanding selection from the CC, but I don't watch a lot of it, so there could be people I've missed.
I don't see the point in taking the gloves off Bairstow. He's turned into a pretty good keeper and brings a lot of energy to the position...and if he's not going to solve the top four problem I'd question what value having him as a specialist bat instead of a seventh - very good - run maker would bring. Foakes bats well for Surrey and might do a job but what if he didn't make the step up ? Engines in reverse ? I just don't think you mess with the parts of the team that are working well ...deal with the weak spots until you get it right.
If they can find a workable top four all other problems can be handled ...not perfectly , perhaps (90 mph bowlers and mystery spinners don't grow on trees) but to a reasonable degree. Enough to win regularly at home for sure ; and at least to compete away. If Pope is a first step towards that fix I will congratulate Smith & co....if not I'd expect the likes of Clarke to get a look in sooner rather than later.
backfootpunch wrote:alfie wrote:bigfluffylemon wrote:Personally I'd drop Buttler, give Foakes the gloves and play Bairstow as a specialist bat. But not at 3 or 4...
Given Malan had to go, who else is there? Joe Clarke has been in good form and bats 4 for Worcs. James Hildreth is a top order bat and consistent county performer for years, but I've come to the conclusion that he must have shagged Andrew Strauss' sister or something, as it doesn't seem to matter how bad England's batting is or how well Hildreth plays, he's consistently ignored.
Not sure if there's anyone else really banging on the door demanding selection from the CC, but I don't watch a lot of it, so there could be people I've missed.
I don't see the point in taking the gloves off Bairstow. He's turned into a pretty good keeper and brings a lot of energy to the position...and if he's not going to solve the top four problem I'd question what value having him as a specialist bat instead of a seventh - very good - run maker would bring. Foakes bats well for Surrey and might do a job but what if he didn't make the step up ? Engines in reverse ? I just don't think you mess with the parts of the team that are working well ...deal with the weak spots until you get it right.
If they can find a workable top four all other problems can be handled ...not perfectly , perhaps (90 mph bowlers and mystery spinners don't grow on trees) but to a reasonable degree. Enough to win regularly at home for sure ; and at least to compete away. If Pope is a first step towards that fix I will congratulate Smith & co....if not I'd expect the likes of Clarke to get a look in sooner rather than later.
The hope would be that since he isn't spending a lot of time working on his keeper the extra focus on his batting brings more runs
And let's be honest we need the extra runs more than his keeping which isn't any better than buttlers
If it doesn't improve his batting then yes it is pointless
But given the absolute disaster that is our batting line up it seems worth giving another go, it does though seem the adjustments he has made to radically improve his white ball game have negatively impacted his test batting
alfie wrote:backfootpunch wrote:alfie wrote:bigfluffylemon wrote:Personally I'd drop Buttler, give Foakes the gloves and play Bairstow as a specialist bat. But not at 3 or 4...
Given Malan had to go, who else is there? Joe Clarke has been in good form and bats 4 for Worcs. James Hildreth is a top order bat and consistent county performer for years, but I've come to the conclusion that he must have shagged Andrew Strauss' sister or something, as it doesn't seem to matter how bad England's batting is or how well Hildreth plays, he's consistently ignored.
Not sure if there's anyone else really banging on the door demanding selection from the CC, but I don't watch a lot of it, so there could be people I've missed.
I don't see the point in taking the gloves off Bairstow. He's turned into a pretty good keeper and brings a lot of energy to the position...and if he's not going to solve the top four problem I'd question what value having him as a specialist bat instead of a seventh - very good - run maker would bring. Foakes bats well for Surrey and might do a job but what if he didn't make the step up ? Engines in reverse ? I just don't think you mess with the parts of the team that are working well ...deal with the weak spots until you get it right.
If they can find a workable top four all other problems can be handled ...not perfectly , perhaps (90 mph bowlers and mystery spinners don't grow on trees) but to a reasonable degree. Enough to win regularly at home for sure ; and at least to compete away. If Pope is a first step towards that fix I will congratulate Smith & co....if not I'd expect the likes of Clarke to get a look in sooner rather than later.
The hope would be that since he isn't spending a lot of time working on his keeper the extra focus on his batting brings more runs
And let's be honest we need the extra runs more than his keeping which isn't any better than buttlers
If it doesn't improve his batting then yes it is pointless
But given the absolute disaster that is our batting line up it seems worth giving another go, it does though seem the adjustments he has made to radically improve his white ball game have negatively impacted his test batting
Has it though ? He was actually England's top scorer in the recently completed match with 70 and 28... Pretty handy in the context of a low scoring game. I do take note of the arguments that he has changed his technique and become more likely to chop on or edge to slip but I'd imagine he can work with the batting coach on this - and probably will.
I'd question the assertion that his keeping is no better than Buttler's ...I'd say it is , a little. But more to the point I'm still not sure that Buttler is good enough with the bat to command a place - even a protected one.
The "extra runs" are only potential. So far , Bairstow has looked a much better batsman with the gloves than he did before as a pure batsman. Who is to say taking them off him will automatically improve his scoring ? Much of this game is played in the head ; and returning him to batting duties only might actually have negative consequences.
Truth is we don't know. I for one would much rather see if we can't find a couple of bats fit for the future from among eighteen counties before fiddling around with one of the strengths of the team.
Arthur Crabtree wrote:Presume England aren't going to start rotating A&B. Resting Broad might though look uncomfortably like the axe.
backfootpunch wrote:Adi wrote:Drop Sam Curran, replace him.
We will drop him if you drop kohli
Deal or no deal?
Arthur Crabtree wrote:A lot of changes could be possible for India. Or alternatively, they might just give them another go. Their batting was really very poor again just good bowling.
Dhawan/Vijay/Rahul
Kohli/Karun Nair/Pant/Pujara/Rahana
Karthik
Ashwin/Jadeja/Kuldeep
Bumrah/Shami/Sharma/Pandya/Thakur/Umesh
Pujara might be a possible. Introducing Nair would be a gamble (this is why you need practice games). Alternatively, they might look to address the awful batting by changing the bowling. I've got a feeling Kuldeep will play and Umesh make way.
Arthur Crabtree wrote:A lot of changes could be possible for India. Or alternatively, they might just give them another go. Their batting was really very poor again just good bowling.
Dhawan/Vijay/Rahul
Kohli/Karun Nair/Pant/Pujara/Rahana
Karthik
Ashwin/Jadeja/Kuldeep
Bumrah/Shami/Sharma/Pandya/Thakur/Umesh
Pujara might be a possible. Introducing Nair would be a gamble (this is why you need practice games). Alternatively, they might look to address the awful batting by changing the bowling. I've got a feeling Kuldeep will play and Umesh make way.
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