The Cricket Thread

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Given that the current regime like to give players one too many tests, rather than one too few, I think that wicket of Amla's will get Dawson another test.
 
Stuck a tenner on there to be a five wicket haul in an innings at 9/2. Well done Moeen.
 
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st_brendy said:
Probably not. But that's just because Dawson has sadly set the bar quite low, rather than Rashid being anything special. Instead of playing in this match, Rashid took 2-74 off 13 (economy of over 5) and 0-47 off 10 (economy of over 4).

I'd have never picked Dawson for this match. But equally I'd have never picked Rashid either. I'd have picked a proper number 3, with Ballance down at 5 and the others all shifted down a place. Five bowlers is sufficient, we don't need six.

Rashid had his chance in India, and for me - as I said at the time - he totally below it. So until he goes away and starts banging the door down through performing for Yorkshire (just like Ballance), he doesn't back into for me.
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I would also have left Ballance out in favour of a top order player. I'm not sure what I'd do beyond that. The spin department is a big problem, even taking into account Moeen's performance here.

I think Dawson is worth a try as a Giles-type bowler who can keep it tight and block up an end but he failed to do that in the first innings here and this second innings almost has to be set to one side because of the pitch (and some relatively poor batting). I won't be at all surprised if he gets another go seeing as England have crammed 6 bowlers into the side (plus 2 decent part-timers in Jennings and Root) but he needs to at least keep the runs down. I'm not as down on Rashid as you and feel he deserved a shot this summer. He tailed off in the winter but did quite well at the start of the India series (interestingly, this was while Saqlain was around). It's quite telling that his county colleague doesn't want him in the side though so I don't expect him to come back now.

It's not really the right time to say this but for me Moeen Ali has actually been a problem in this England side. Yes, he's taken a hatful of wickets today (on a minefield of a pitch) but he's had a long run in the side and his bowling has basically been shown not to be good enough for a first choice spinner. I'm sure there was talk at the start of this game that Dawson was picked as first choice spinner so England may also have taken that view. So for me Moeen needs to be getting in the side as a batsman. I'm not totally convinced he's good enough to do that but he's been moved up and down the line-up so much he deserves a chance to prove himself, probably at 5. Bairstow then bats at 7 and you're left with that problem of who your first choice spinner should be. Jack Leach may force his way into the team at some point but England won't want Broad batting at 8 so I suspect he'll have to wait until Woakes gets back in the side.
 
Leach has only taken six more D1 wickets than Dawson this season, despite having played two more matches and having a spin friendly home surface. Behind the kolpak Harmer, they are leading the wicket stakes for spinners in either division.

Throw in the fact that only Parry has a better bowling average than Dawson (of English spinners to have bowled at least 100 overs, in either division), and the stats are in Dawson's favour.

If we insist on playing two spinners, then I'm fine with picking Dawson. But ideally I'd rather we didn't insist on that.
 
Same 15 man squad for tomorrow night (which is live on Sky, by the way). Same XI I would imagine, unless they want to rotate the bowlers and give Wood a go (Abbott and Berg have got to rest at some point, surely).
 
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st_brendy said:
Same 15 man squad for tomorrow night (which is live on Sky, by the way). Same XI I would imagine, unless they want to rotate the bowlers and give Wood a go (Abbott and Berg have got to rest at some point, surely).
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I hope that they pick the strongest XI and hopefully keep winning then we can rest a few if we can qualify early.
 
And he's just merrily continued doing so. After a quiet first over, these two are back to how they were vs Glamorgan.
 
I don't quite understand what Sussex are doing replacing Van Zyl with Garton by the way. Look painfully short on batting now - relying too much on their selection of bowlers who can hold a bat. So much pressure on Nash and Wright to get them off to a good start, when they come to bat.
 
Two excellent overs. Four very average overs. But at least no wickets down.
 
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