Know nothing of Stoneman or Crane....


Hope they're better than those they've dropped....we should smash the Windies anyway

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

I know it's not a favoured move...but i'd still open with Root and Cook

Bring Buttler back in, as keeper if need be...promote Bairstow up to 3 or four

Cant see Crane playing.. would be daft . 4 seamers and 2 spinners?? 2 seamers wouldn't get any overs.. only change I see happening is Stoneman for Jennings.

Yeah, Stoneman for Jennings will be the only change. There won't be any need for 2 spinners in the first test. Crane may get a chance later on in the series if we get a load of hot dry weather. Woakes may come in for TRJ, but he doesn't deserve to be dropped.

Guess rashid is definitely done as a test cricketer now. Not ideal for root to open because like cook had to put up with yo do the toss, interview by sky, then test match special then channel 5, then you have to go put the pads on and prepare to bat. No better off at 3 or 4. Like to see Stokes bat 5 rather than malan and go with woakes at 8 and have 6 bowlers. Less overs then for Stokes who should concentrate more on his batting who is awesome at the moment. The opening position is ridiculous now. Each opener is given a series then dropped and never brought back. Odds are that someone completely new will be brought in like carberry for the last ashes away. Suggests we don't know what we are doing.

comment by Bennythedip - Living The Dream (U9359)
posted 7 minutes ago
Guess rashid is definitely done as a test cricketer now. Not ideal for root to open because like cook had to put up with yo do the toss, interview by sky, then test match special then channel 5, then you have to go put the pads on and prepare to bat. No better off at 3 or 4. Like to see Stokes bat 5 rather than malan and go with woakes at 8 and have 6 bowlers. Less overs then for Stokes who should concentrate more on his batting who is awesome at the moment. The opening position is ridiculous now. Each opener is given a series then dropped and never brought back. Odds are that someone completely new will be brought in like carberry for the last ashes away. Suggests we don't know what we are doing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think England are really wanting to get Hameed back into the side and I believe he will be the eventual partner to Cook. Stoneman is surely just another stop gap but I think he should have played the SA series with Jennings at 3.

I think picking 4 seamers and taking overs off Stokes might not be such a good thing. Like Bairstow, they thrive at being involves and if you take the gloves from Jonny and make Stokes a batsman who can bowl a few overs if needed, might affect their batting. Difficult to know but Stokes wants to be involved all the time, that's the kind of character he is.

Seems a bit harsh on Rashid to be bypassed by Crane. Crane averages 41 in county cricket despite playing at Hampshire which is known to be spin friendly.

I don't really get what seems to be an exile of Rashid in the test arena. England at the moment seem a bit clueless on their handling of spinners and openers. Rashid is probably worth having in the side if we're going to pick 2 spinners on the basis that he seems pretty good at getting through the tail.

Back to the current squad, I'd actually be game for bringing Woakes in at 8 and taking Malan out of the side and shifting Stokes, Bairstow and Ali up a place. Those 4 at 5-8 have far less pressure on them to score runs due to what else they bring to the team. I still think we need a guy who can grind and knuckle down because of our apparent lack of will to try and get draws when there's no chance of a win. Plus I think giving Stokes less of a bowling role might not be the best thing for him.

I hope Stoneman goes well, he's got plenty of experience and a lot of runs under his belt. Hopefully he just goes out there and plays his natural game, too many openers are coming in and looking to be more obdurate and watchful for England, maybe not Duckett, but the rest just seem to get bogged down.

Cook
Stoneman
Root
Westley
Malan
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
TRJ
Broad
Anderson

Malan only question mark for me but WI have poorer bowlers than SA so who knows he could stake a claim

Ali is number one spinner and has proved that in test arena. No problems with cook, root, stokes and the quick bowlers are a plenty. Usual problems at 2, 3/4, 5. I personally prefer root at 3 and bairstow at 7, the keepers position especially with all rounder stokes at 6 you can pick two extra batsmen.

England need to stick with Westley he didn't shame himself. Ballance when fit would play at 5 for me, and the secletors need to stop chopping and changing too much

Root doesn't want to bat at 3 (or open). Let Westley have another go in the same slot and we'll see what happens.

Ballance has had a lot of chances and personally I'd be reluctant to let him have another one at this stage, even at 5.

Leave Root where he is.. and can anyone honestly see Ballance scoring masses of runs for England? even if he bats 5 he will have issues coming up against the spinners. he kept chipping the ball around the corner to leg slip previously and that happened numerous times

I would be interested to see England's approach to the windies bowlers.. the likes of Holder will bow 3 feet wide of the stumps. do we attack that line or let maiden after maiden go by??
England should be very attacking in my opinion.. we really need to show some arrogance(with some thoughtfulness involved)
Put them to the sword from ball one..theres no excuse to play boring plodding cricket..

The Windies may not be a great side but they need to be treated with some respect. I suspect we'll play the same we did against South Africa, we'll go on the attack, look at the batsmen we have, they're all positive and sometimes reckless.

I'm not a fan of Ballance but he scored masses of runs for England when he first came into the side. It wouldn't surprise me if England go back to him if Malan doesn't produce in this series.

I doubt they will go Ballance again, he's already been re-called 4 times..time for someone else...Hales at 5 maybe? Bats there for Notts, just scored a run a ball double hundred...give him a go at 5?

This time around was only his second recall wasn't it? If he hadn't of broken his finger, he wouldn't have been dropped so he hasn't had a fair chance to reclaim a spot in my view. That's not to say I'd favour a Ballance return, but I just sense that's where the selectors are at.

If people are going to scrutinise Ballance for his technique then surely Hales is in the same boat. Hales is a destroyer when he gets going but he never showed an ability to get going in test matches. Tough as an opener to do that but he got in a few times and then the fireworks that people expected never materialised.

Pink ball...day-nighter....poor West Indies side

Should be interesting

The forecast isn't looking too bad which is good as the weather so far in August has been awful.

I'm going on Thursday, forecast says it'll be dry from 12:00, which I'd take since it's a day/night test I think?

Yeah, it kicks off? bowls off? starts at 14:00 and finishes at 21:00, although with teams being unable to get their overs in, will probably go on till 21:30. Lunch at 16:00, tea at 18:40, or whatever they call the breaks in the day/night games.

I'm going to a festival from after work on Thursday till Monday so I'm literally going to catch the first 2 sessions of this match as I can't see it reaching Monday. Hopefully we'll bat first so I can see how the top order get on.

Interesting, it'll be my first day at a test match. Figures since it's Edgebaston and it's a day/ night match it'll still be a good day out.

Have tickets for the T20 final there too, that's always a good day.

That'll be a good couple of days out. Edgbaston usually has a pretty good atmosphere, even though it's just the Windies. Everyone's always up for the T20 finals so that'll be a good crack too.

I've just read that Ashwin is set to joins Worcestershire for the rest of the county season as India look to get a few of their test players some county cricket ahead of their tour next summer. Kohli wants some practice too, bet he'll end up at Yorkshire.

Woakes should have came in for one of the batsmen instead, Stokes, Bairstow and Mooen can all then move one position up. No disrespect to the West Indies but it's not as if England are really going to need another batsmen against them now is it. None of West Indies senior players will play in the test series so I would be very surprised if they challenge England.

comment by Arsenal_49 (U10665)
posted 7 hours, 28 minutes ago
Woakes should have came in for one of the batsmen instead, Stokes, Bairstow and Mooen can all then move one position up. No disrespect to the West Indies but it's not as if England are really going to need another batsmen against them now is it. None of West Indies senior players will play in the test series so I would be very surprised if they challenge England.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Could be quite embarrassing....We'll see