The Ashes & Hampshire Cricket Summer Thread

That went well. I hoped they wouldn't get a lead much above 100, but even better. Now we need the batsmen to do their business.

 

Root bowled for 2 . 17-1 .

In fairness to Root , TMS saying it was a hell of a delivery , and the best batsmen would have struggled with it .

 

Root shouldn't be a opener tho.

 

It was an absolute Jaffa to be fair, but Root shouldn't be opening yet, he needs to bat lower down for a year or two.

 

ENgland imploding effectively 18-3

 

Cook and Trott both gone for 22 and 23. 49-3. Same old top order batting from England...

 

True, only 18 runs in front. Need a lead of at least 200 to stay competitive.

 

Unclear what is a decent lead in this match. I would snatch your hand off for 200 now, though.

 

Absolutely, two new men at the crease.

 

One or both need q major innings. Think we need around 260 lead

 

Trott has batted very oddly this series. He is known for his slow style of play, and doing it his own way with a strike rate around 30 or 40. This series he is batting at around an 80 strike rate, getting about 30, and getting out cheaply. Usually Mr reliable.

 

We either need to bat til about an hour or two before close tomorrow or get a lead of about 280, you'd have to assume doing the first would lead to the second and more. Anything between about 200-250 is game on, anything above that and we'll be well in the driving seat. 200 is the benchmark but if we leave them 90+ overs to chase it and all they'd need to do is bunker down and play sensibly and it'd be England with all the work to do.

 

Hard to get a big score on this pitch. We had an apparently awful score (though not far off par for Chester-Le-Street) and the Aussies did little better with only a couple of players posting a decent score. Could be any result (except for a draw). This game will finish Monday.

 

We need KP to do, well the good KP stuff, not the imploding KP.....

 

Has a captain ever been dropped?

 

Cook is a good batsman, but has had a poor series by his standards. He is a confidence player and needs a century to get him going I think.

 

Cook's doing well as a Captain...great as an opening batsman if he could do the business, but, as long as we keep winning series, dropping him isn't an option.

 

You would drop Root and Bairstow b4. Cook

 

Bairstow needs to do something. Potentially a big innings for him. Root's position as opener is up for debate. I heard Alec Stewart mention Carberry earlier as an opener. Been in such good form, in all formats of the game. Would be a sensible choice.

 

It's troubling, but even the best players have bum series. The trouble for us is that his and Cook's are occurring at the same time, add a youngster finding his way both as an England cricketer and an opener into the top three and it is a lot more fragile than it has been when Cook and Trott were in run-machine mode. Add Bell and KP who are world-class players but also stroke-makers prone to over-extending themselves early in their innings and Bairstow who's really struggling to find his feet and our order is not as solid as it has been. The class is still there, but the base of our order has been an absolutely rock-solid top three and without those foundations everything gets a bit wobbly. Compton's sluggish, steady batting was unnecessary when Cook and Trott were providing the same and much more but as it his solidity in place of Bairstow's frailty may be very beneficial, whether he comes in at six or swaps with Root. Personally think we've moved Root too early but now we have we should stick with him, chopping and changing would be even more detrimental to him, we've made our bed and we'll have to take a little bit of a rocky transition to come out of the other side with a very classy opening batsman.

*EDIT* On Cook, he could go another three series like this before even a question of dropping him would appear in the selector's head. He's one of the best players in world cricket and by the time his career is done he should be England's leading run scorer by an absolute mile not to mention leading century maker, and probably the most successful captain and greatest England cricketer of all time. Four matches without a century doesn't change that!