New test series starting today. Bairstow starting with Sam Curran and Ollie Robinson coming in but no Stokes due to his withdrawal. Here's hoping to a better result than in India
Lucky we won the toss with that bowling line up. Tough series for England. Have to hope that the top 3 start scoring some runs regularly.
Preview of the pitch here, they reckon it could be green to help the seam bowlers (probably to get back at the spin friendly wickets India prepared) :- https://www.hindustantimes.com/cric...st-india-vs-england-test-101627867365143.html Yep top 3 definitely need to put a marker down in this series
We never replaced Strauss, then we never replaced Cook. Only 3 of our top 7 are good enough and one of them is now on indefinite leave.....
The bowling unit looks very light. Curran is a good bits and pieces all rounder but no spearhead, Robinson is still making his way and may come good and Broad and Anderson can't be relied on forever and if India get a partnership in then it could be a very long day for them. As I was typing this I see Burns has gone already - our top three really are uninspiring. Sadly there are not many pushing them for their slots - I'd be tempted to be having conversations with A Cook from Essex ahead of the Ashes tour!!!!
Curran and Robinson are in for their batting as much as their bowling. The Coach knows that the top order is fragile and we have to bat deep. The fact Crawley and Sibley are stil in the team is a joke and displays the lack of alternatives Needless to say, Stokes is a MASSIVE miss
I reckon that T20 cricket has screwed Test cricket over - players playing tip and run and going for big shots all the time rather than being patient and building an innings. Now we've got this Hundred competition as well, I can't see where the next good test batsman is going to come from. What I would give for a Strauss, Cook, Boycott, Gooch, Atherton, Smith, Gower or Lamb right now!
India 5/2 to win this test. I presume it’s only because of the poor forecast over the next few days?
Some of these dimissals are schoolboy stuff! How the hell have they managed to make their way this far up the ladder? Give Graham Thorpe a bat and let him have a go, he can't be any worse than these idiots and he's been retired for years!
Our batting has been poor for over 10 years. Our middle order isn't helped by generally being in within 15/20 overs and being exposed to the new ball but still they have to do better. I guess with the invention of T20 everyone growing up now just wants to belt 6s off every ball and its only the poorer batsmen that attempt to develop into test match batsmen as they feel it's there only opportunity. Weve been very lucky to have Broad and Anderson fit and firing for so long. Once those 2 retire we will be back to the mid 90's of being above only the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the test rankings.
and entirely predictable.... Sibley doesn't look like he knows how or where to score runs - he can block all day, but as soon as he tries to score runs he gets in trouble Crawley looks out of his depth - take away that one massive score and his average is 19.33 Bairstow has been tried and tried again and sadly he just isn't good enough for test match cricket - he can get away with an average in teh low 30s if he's keeping, but not as a top order batsman. Lawrence - doesn't look a Test batsman Each time a top class batsman has retired, we've failed to replace him - Strauss, Cook, Trott - all gone and none of their replacements are close to being good enough.
Yeah, you cant defend the top 6 at all apart from Root. They look like rabbits in headlights. I'd rather Bairstow over the others as at least he looks confident and plays shots.