Livingstone looked a bit overwhelmed during his innings. Hopefully it was just debut nerves rather than him being out of his depth.
Just reading that Crane is available for selection tomorrow and Tuesday (despite being with the t20 team today), but not for days 3 and 4 due to England Lions duty. So if we do select him, we would have to name his replacement before the match starts. With this match being a somewhat day-night match, with a pink ball, we might not select him from the outset. But if we do, it'll be interesting if the uniqueness of the match leads us to picking a non like-for-like (ie Taylor) replacement. If we think it might be a low scoring thriller for example, and only last three days, might an extra batter come in for example, to cover for a potential tricky 4th innings run chase? Obviously there will always be an element of luck involved in picking a non like-for-like replacement, because you can't predict the future.
It's a team sport and you shouldn't point fingers (but I will )....it crossed my mind that in such a close game we'd probably have won if he'd been further down the order. In fact he was caught out earlier, but not spotted by the umpire....which was strange as you could hear it from my sofa (later confirmed by ultraedge). Probably debut nerves though.
No need to ponder the Crane substitution any more. Topley has replaced him in the squad, whilst Dawson replaces Carberry. Assuming that Topley goes straight back into the XI, then it's between Wheal, Salisbury and Holland for one slot. I would be going with Wheal.
Agreed on Wheal. It's going to swing massively so no Crane is not such a bad thing. Seam bowling is the way to go with Dawson in support.
There's also a lot of talk about how the pink ball can sometimes lose it's colour, which can make it particularly tricky to pick out (for batters and fielders) during the period of floodlights replacing natural lights (although whether we get such a period in these matches, given it's late June and the theoretical end time each day is 9pm, is questionable). If that does happen, you don't want to facing pace - and I suspect that Wheal is the fastest of the three (although I'm not certain, having seen nothing/little of Holland and Salisbury).
Roy tried his best to get out in the 1st over....skyed it, but it bounced off a passing aeroplane and the keeper couldn't reach it.
Now if Malan can ultimately become a regular fixture in the England team, I'll be very happy. Not just because I massively rate him, but also because it might reduce the number of times he can play, and score, against us for Middlesex!
With so much batting talent (including a middle order who pretty much all play all three formats), it'll be some time until Livingstone plays for England again. If ever.
