Firstly, we don't panic. These days there is now a big gulf between home and away series, which is a concern and something the ICC need to look into. Had we played in England I reckon we would win, however by the odd test.
Secondly, all credit Australia. A superb bowling attack and the key Smith making the difference. Ruthless.
Now to England. Our preperation in terms of the drunken issues have been shambolic. The selctions in the summer in terms of the failure to give the likes of Craig Overton, Foakes, Tom Curran, Vince, Crane any game time is comical and poor planning.
My main concern with England is that from a bowling perspective we lack pace which you need on flat wickets in Oz and Sub conditions and a genuine spinner like Panasar was -Who guaranteed wickets when the wicket span.
I think the time is right to invest in this area. Crane and Bess are genuine spin talents. Get one of them in and stick with them. In the pace area we have more concerns. Jamie Overton is the stand out but injury prone.Wood's technique cannot hack 5 days and he loses pace after his first spell. Garton looks a real playrer but isnt a regular for his county yet. Other pace options like Stone are injury prone and Helm, Tongue are raw too.
Also the coaching need to get a rip and stop messing about with players actions. They messed up Finn and nearly did the same to Hameed whose dad did a great job with him.
After his performance in India, Hameed should have been a mainstay of the Ashes line up but has had to revert to the County game to find himself again.
Finally, we have become to used to letting our middle and lower order bail us out. Its been found out in Australia where they cannot handle the pace. Why purposefully wait until 2 or 3 or 4 down to bring in key batsmen? Surely it adds pressure and means they are already facing bowlers who are firing and confident? Fight fire with fire - get the best men in early, more likely to fend off their best bowling so the lesser batsman then come in when the attack is tired and lacking confidence.
Our best two batsmen are Root and Bairstow. They must bat top.4.
I would look to go something like this and aim to find a side for all conditioms as opposed to being so home driven:
Cook
Hameed
Root C
Bairstow
Malan
Stokes
Foakes WK
C. Overton
J. Overton (If fit)
Crane
Anderson.
Squad:
Lawrence
Ali
T. Curran
Broad
Woakes
Where do England go from here?
posted on 20/12/17
they went with the wrong aussie
shud have went with gillespie not bayliss
posted on 20/12/17
Disarray is the only word to describe English cricket at the moment. Never mind all the talk about selection, form or basic class/ability, double standards abound.
Ask one simple question. OK, Ben Duckett was a very silly boy, and has been punished accordingly, but ask yourself this. If it had been Anderson who had poured a pint over Duckett, would the sanction have been exactly the same? Others may think so, but personally I think not.
posted on 20/12/17
Also, why is Hameed not playing? He had a good debut series in India. Last I knew he had injured his hand but not returned to the England squad?
posted on 21/12/17
Hameed went downtown with his bf KP!
posted on 31/12/17
Most of us predicted an Australia win so it shouldn't be taken out of proportion. Better England sides than this have been white washed there. It does though ask the question about whether England can move forward in these tough away tours without a better spinner.
Personally I'm quite impressed with Smith as a captain as well as a batsman. Australia certainly have a chance of an away Ashes victory. That would be pretty destructive for English cricket.
posted on 31/12/17
No. Need to find a spinner pdq. Take leech to NZ and give him the 2 tests. Best record in county cricket so earned it. Would help having stokes available for balance of the side to make that pick cook, stoneman, root, malan, Vince, stokes, bairstow, woakes, broad, Anderson, leech.
posted on 31/12/17
I see Bayliss as a direct comparison to Hodgson when he was England manager
dull & lacking in any star quality...
posted on 31/12/17
Bit harsh on Bayliss as England have improves massively int he shorter formats and rightly favourites to win the ICC 50 over world cup on home soil in 2019.
also they have the most dangerous T20 team in the world
however in Test Cricket needs some changes.
Cook is a legend - there is no doubt about his legenday status however i still believe he should go.
Broad & Anderson are still living on borrowed time
Root has shown that he is not really a captain material. It has completely affected his batting.
However he is still relatively new in the captaincy role and will improve with experience.
posted on 2/1/18
I disagree with a lot of that.
England changed their approached before Bayliss came in when they had that run fest of a series against New Zeland. That was a catalyst for a change in our batting which we have maintained since. However I think our bowling needs to improve if we're to win the 2019 world cup. Our batting is very good for T20 but our bowling is not good enough compared to some of the other top sides.
Cook is still the best opener in the country. If you drop him, who do you replace him with? If he was to retire then I'd suspect England may recall Jennings to the side to open with Stoneman. They could be a good combination as they played together at Durham but I wouldn't be happy to see this combination if Cook was available for selection.
Anderson is still the best bowler in the country. He proved that over the summer and he has had a good series here. Our depth in bowling is pretty good but we'll be a worse side if you take Jimmy out. Broad has been off the boil for a while but his performance in the last test will buy him some time. He needs to find consistent form though.
Root has had a tough series I agree but I think he'll come back stronger and his batting will get back to his consistent level. Whether he can elevate that like Smith and Kohli have done will be the big question.
posted on 3/1/18
I agree with a lot of that which has been said in the OP. Crane should come in as the spinner, and England should stick with him for a while, give him a real go.
I think England should go with a horses for courses style of selection, in England selecting all fast-medium swing bowlers is fine, but overseas they MUST mix it up a bit. Plunkett should have been on this ashes tour. The official line from the ECB is that he is a specialist white ball bowler. That's the kind of rigid, restrictive logic that needs to change. I'm not saying that he would have made England favourites for the series, but he would have been something different.
As for batting, I'd give Nick Browne a go at three. He's been a consistent performer for Essex over the past few years and looks like a solid player, a good foil to the attacking intent of the middle order.
My XI for New Zealand would be (if Stokes is around):
Cook
Stoneman
Browne
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Ali
C Overton
Broad
Crane
Anderson
If you're in Aus or the Subcontinent swap in Plunkett or Wood (if he's ever fit) for overton.