He's the only one of the five bowlers who we can't replace like for like. Steven Mullaney is a decent enough seam allrounder, but he's not Ben Stokes. Not by a very long way. So there's every chance that replacing him will result in two changes occurring.
Ed Smith is a bit of a leftfield thinker so he will no doubt have a surprise up his sleeve. Anyone from Kent? Or even Essex?
Wish more Test matches were like this one, good win for England against a top team. Stokes is a match winner and Curran is very promising.
Other than maybe giving Broad one over too many, just as Pandya and Kohli were getting going, Root got his bowlers spot on throughout that whole innings. Iffy first summer for him as captain last year, but to start this series like that should give him a lot of confidence.
Just reading the Cricinfo article about availability of players on the county circuit ahead of next season, following Plunkett's confirmed move to Surrey: Rashid, Brooks, Lees, Duckett, Raine, Chappell, Joe Clarke, and Norwell. No indication of us being linked to any of them, alas, (We should be doing everything to sign Duckett. A young, yet experienced, keeper-batsman, who can score big and quickly as an opener in all three formats. Yes Ashwin had him on toast when he played out in India, but the fact that he was playing Test cricket tells you that he has ability.)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-45082248 Doesn't sound good for Stokes....got aggressive and mocked some gay men when told a club was shut. Most people would walk away if told a venue was closed, so suggests he is a belligerent drunk. Don't yet know if something else happened, but he knocked two men unconscious. Idiot.
From hero to zero personally, I can't really celebrate his achievements for England after reading that.
I know the guy who used to run the club it happened outside of and he got a load of info from the bouncers on duty at the time. It all happened about 2 mins walk from where I live as well so heard lots of rumours about what happened.
so who's taking his place for the rest of the series? and the next one. (but to be fair the defence haven't had their say yet)
He should hire Steven Gerrard´s lawyer, although in Gerrard´s case, (one reason why I hope Rangers are beaten not only by Celtic but also by Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen) he didn´t knock anyone out. If Stokes is found guilty, he probably gets a suspended sentence, and has to attend management anger courses. But what the tabloid papers will no doubt use is highly emotive words like "battered."
I was drawing comparison between Stokes and Gerrard: Gerrard didn´t knock anyone out in his fisticuffs when he had to endure trial for an alleged assault.
I had thought there were reports at the time that he was sticking up for a gay couple, who were getting grief from the other chaps. Clearly I got that wrong.
Haven't got to the end of the story yet....the injured men (who weren't the gay couple) have been charged with affray and bearing weapons.
Sorry, did not see this: yes there were some there from Middlesex but it was difficult to gauge numbers, though there was a good crowd size. I am not specifically a Surrey fan, however it is an easy ground for me to get to. Roy has looked good whenever I have been whereas Finch can be hit or miss (quite literally). His timing was superb the other night, however often he just seems to thrash and hope that he has enough power on it. I was surprised how toothless the Middlesex bowling side was, yet it was a batters day and Stirling also did well.
