England wont go with 6 bowlers. Leg spinners always struggle in Oz (ignore the legend Warne). Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma and Yasir Shah all got pelted in recent tours.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
Drop root to 3? Surely keep him at 4?
2&3 is definitely the biggest question mark, with Stoneman doing enough for 2 but I've got no clue who should go 3.
Root wants to stay at 4 and has done very well there so that should be that.
I'd be reluctant to play young Hameed as he's generally been in terrible form this season - but I'd keep an eye on him for whatever's left of the county season as the other batting choices aren't really convincing.
Looks like Stoneman will go - so be it. There's a doubt about Malan and more of a doubt about Westley. The other batsmen might come from guys who have already been discarded and Ballance, for example, has failed several times.
As for the bowlers Wood would surely go if he was fit and in form - but he hasn't been. As regards a second spinner, Rashid seems to have been dumped and young Crane looks like he's in favour.
Isn't Australian cricket team going to be short of top Australian cricketers during Ashes due to a pay dispute? It hasn't been resolved so far!
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
I think I'd go with Cook, Stoneman, Westley, Root, Hales, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Roland-Jones, Broad, Anderson for the first test. Then I'd have Hameed, Butler, Rashid, Woakes, Ball and Wood in the squad.
I understand the reservations on Hameed but he's shown promise lately with a couple of half centuries, the latest being a hard earned 80 odd in really tough batting conditions where the next highest score was 40 odd against Essex who had a fired up Porter who is in absolutely ridiculous form at the moment. It's just a shame Amir wasn't playing well otherwise it would have been a really formidable line up to test himself against.
I'd love to see Hales in the side, he's a pure attacking batsman,
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
Cook needs his form back, he's averaged 44 in 7 tests, take away the 243 in the first test & he'd average around 30 this summer... Not good enough.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 28 minutes ago
comment by Afridi14.... You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 1 minute ago
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
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No Mitch Johnson for a start and a middle order that's nearly as weak as ours.l
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Fair point, but I just think with Starc, cummins and hazelwood Aussies probably have the better bowlers given the conditions (and Anderson and broads history in Aus) - top 3 for England must come to the party to get England to 450+ in the first innings so the bowlers have something to bowl at
Saw the program well 45 mins of it. My team. Stoneman, cook, hameed, root, Hales, stokes, bairstow, Ali, Jones, broad, Anderson. Reserves Ballance, butler, Patel, Finn, woakes.
Crane
Cook
Stoneman
Root(even though he'll bat 4)
Ballance
Hales
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Woakes
Broad
Anderson
Res: TRJ, Wood, Rashid, Buttler, Malan
comment by Afridi14.... You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 15 hours, 8 minutes ago
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure why you think Hameed has got no chance. If he hadn't already played for England then it's unlikely he would go. However, in the few innings he played, he showed a lot of class, courage and looked at home in test cricket. He's obviously rated highly and it would surprise me if he wasn't at least in the squad.
Cook's stats show he averages 49.53 in 27 innings across 3 series against Australia in their neck of the woods. I think he'll cope.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
comment by The Candlestick Maker (U8959)
posted 27 minutes ago
comment by Afridi14.... You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 15 hours, 8 minutes ago
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure why you think Hameed has got no chance. If he hadn't already played for England then it's unlikely he would go. However, in the few innings he played, he showed a lot of class, courage and looked at home in test cricket. He's obviously rated highly and it would surprise me if he wasn't at least in the squad.
Cook's stats show he averages 49.53 in 27 innings across 3 series against Australia in their neck of the woods. I think he'll cope.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hameed because he's had a poor season and didn't get selected lately despite problems up the order. He shouldn't be in as a squad player either for my book... England lions touring at same time so I'd get him as part of that team
Cook overall stats reading good.. but 2/3 series he averaged below 26. Overall average improved because I think it was the 2011 tour where he scored that 235 not out and a couple of other hundreds so had a very good tour. Still got a point to prove..... esp going there this year with an inexperienced team around him
I think they'll go with Stoneman at 2, Ballance or Westley for 3 and keep Root 4 and Malan 5. Hameed will miss out, he's young and hasn't played for England in a while. While they'll take Hales, as replacement to open or go in the middle order. Rest of side picks it self, they'll opt for Woakes for TRJ at 9 for the batting depth on batting pitches.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
Hameed because he's had a poor season and didn't get selected lately despite problems up the order. He shouldn't be in as a squad player either for my book... England lions touring at same time so I'd get him as part of that team
Cook overall stats reading good.. but 2/3 series he averaged below 26. Overall average improved because I think it was the 2011 tour where he scored that 235 not out and a couple of other hundreds so had a very good tour. Still got a point to prove..... esp going there this year with an inexperienced team around him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hameed has shown some form of late. Not ridiculous form but he's starting to play like he did last season and his few innings in India. Too often he was getting out playing rash wafts outside off stump potentially trying to up his SR. I think on that basis, England will want to get him back into the set up fairly soon as they and we all saw a lot of potential there.
I agree that Cook needs to have a good series as he'll have a inexperienced top order batting with him but I don't think he's got a point to prove. He's already proven to be one of the best opening bats there's ever been because he's scored runs everywhere. Yes his stats are bumped up by his awesome performance in the 10/11 series but that's the kind of player he is. He can have a bad series but his strong mental character allows him to bounce back.
Cook tends to raise his performance against the Aussies, remember in the 2009/10 Ashes he was under so much pressure pre Ashes
comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Phenom (U20037)
posted 9 minutes ago
I think they'll go with Stoneman at 2, Ballance or Westley for 3 and keep Root 4 and Malan 5. Hameed will miss out, he's young and hasn't played for England in a while. While they'll take Hales, as replacement to open or go in the middle order. Rest of side picks it self, they'll opt for Woakes for TRJ at 9 for the batting depth on batting pitches.
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That's a weird thought process though. On batting pitches you expect your batters to be able to make the runs. Taking 20 wickets is the key. To be fair, Woakes has been fantastic for us the last 12 months but he needs to find the extra 3-4 mph he was bowling at before his injury. We need someone who is regularly bowling at 85 plus with Jimmy and Broad.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree, if we lose matches on flat decks because our batters fail and we are reliant on our lower order bailing us out then quite frankly we deserve to lose.
We've only really got Wood and Stokes as our quick bowlers but I don't think we should underestimate Roland-Jones, his accurate line and length bowling along with his height is similar to that of McGrath. He's obviously not on McGrath's level but his style could cause the Aussies a few problems.
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Ashes XI's
Page 1 of 3
posted on 11/9/17
England wont go with 6 bowlers. Leg spinners always struggle in Oz (ignore the legend Warne). Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma and Yasir Shah all got pelted in recent tours.
posted on 11/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/9/17
Drop root to 3? Surely keep him at 4?
2&3 is definitely the biggest question mark, with Stoneman doing enough for 2 but I've got no clue who should go 3.
posted on 11/9/17
Root wants to stay at 4 and has done very well there so that should be that.
I'd be reluctant to play young Hameed as he's generally been in terrible form this season - but I'd keep an eye on him for whatever's left of the county season as the other batting choices aren't really convincing.
Looks like Stoneman will go - so be it. There's a doubt about Malan and more of a doubt about Westley. The other batsmen might come from guys who have already been discarded and Ballance, for example, has failed several times.
As for the bowlers Wood would surely go if he was fit and in form - but he hasn't been. As regards a second spinner, Rashid seems to have been dumped and young Crane looks like he's in favour.
posted on 11/9/17
Isn't Australian cricket team going to be short of top Australian cricketers during Ashes due to a pay dispute? It hasn't been resolved so far!
posted on 11/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/9/17
I think I'd go with Cook, Stoneman, Westley, Root, Hales, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Roland-Jones, Broad, Anderson for the first test. Then I'd have Hameed, Butler, Rashid, Woakes, Ball and Wood in the squad.
I understand the reservations on Hameed but he's shown promise lately with a couple of half centuries, the latest being a hard earned 80 odd in really tough batting conditions where the next highest score was 40 odd against Essex who had a fired up Porter who is in absolutely ridiculous form at the moment. It's just a shame Amir wasn't playing well otherwise it would have been a really formidable line up to test himself against.
posted on 11/9/17
I'd love to see Hales in the side, he's a pure attacking batsman,
posted on 11/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/9/17
Cook needs his form back, he's averaged 44 in 7 tests, take away the 243 in the first test & he'd average around 30 this summer... Not good enough.
posted on 11/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/9/17
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
posted on 11/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 11/9/17
comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 28 minutes ago
comment by Afridi14.... You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 1 minute ago
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
No Mitch Johnson for a start and a middle order that's nearly as weak as ours.l
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fair point, but I just think with Starc, cummins and hazelwood Aussies probably have the better bowlers given the conditions (and Anderson and broads history in Aus) - top 3 for England must come to the party to get England to 450+ in the first innings so the bowlers have something to bowl at
posted on 11/9/17
Saw the program well 45 mins of it. My team. Stoneman, cook, hameed, root, Hales, stokes, bairstow, Ali, Jones, broad, Anderson. Reserves Ballance, butler, Patel, Finn, woakes.
posted on 12/9/17
Crane
Cook
Stoneman
Root(even though he'll bat 4)
Ballance
Hales
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Woakes
Broad
Anderson
Res: TRJ, Wood, Rashid, Buttler, Malan
posted on 12/9/17
comment by Afridi14.... You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 15 hours, 8 minutes ago
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure why you think Hameed has got no chance. If he hadn't already played for England then it's unlikely he would go. However, in the few innings he played, he showed a lot of class, courage and looked at home in test cricket. He's obviously rated highly and it would surprise me if he wasn't at least in the squad.
Cook's stats show he averages 49.53 in 27 innings across 3 series against Australia in their neck of the woods. I think he'll cope.
posted on 12/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 12/9/17
comment by The Candlestick Maker (U8959)
posted 27 minutes ago
comment by Afridi14.... You gotta love it!! (U2805)
posted 15 hours, 8 minutes ago
Not sure sure why some think hameed will be in the team or even the squad - he's got no chance. And it's pointless having proposed England team on there with Root at number 3 - he doesn't want to bat there. The end.
Problem for England is that cook, root, Anderson and broad and played in Aus a few times now and their stats show that they've struggled. What hope for the rest?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure why you think Hameed has got no chance. If he hadn't already played for England then it's unlikely he would go. However, in the few innings he played, he showed a lot of class, courage and looked at home in test cricket. He's obviously rated highly and it would surprise me if he wasn't at least in the squad.
Cook's stats show he averages 49.53 in 27 innings across 3 series against Australia in their neck of the woods. I think he'll cope.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hameed because he's had a poor season and didn't get selected lately despite problems up the order. He shouldn't be in as a squad player either for my book... England lions touring at same time so I'd get him as part of that team
Cook overall stats reading good.. but 2/3 series he averaged below 26. Overall average improved because I think it was the 2011 tour where he scored that 235 not out and a couple of other hundreds so had a very good tour. Still got a point to prove..... esp going there this year with an inexperienced team around him
posted on 12/9/17
I think they'll go with Stoneman at 2, Ballance or Westley for 3 and keep Root 4 and Malan 5. Hameed will miss out, he's young and hasn't played for England in a while. While they'll take Hales, as replacement to open or go in the middle order. Rest of side picks it self, they'll opt for Woakes for TRJ at 9 for the batting depth on batting pitches.
posted on 12/9/17
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 12/9/17
Hameed because he's had a poor season and didn't get selected lately despite problems up the order. He shouldn't be in as a squad player either for my book... England lions touring at same time so I'd get him as part of that team
Cook overall stats reading good.. but 2/3 series he averaged below 26. Overall average improved because I think it was the 2011 tour where he scored that 235 not out and a couple of other hundreds so had a very good tour. Still got a point to prove..... esp going there this year with an inexperienced team around him
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hameed has shown some form of late. Not ridiculous form but he's starting to play like he did last season and his few innings in India. Too often he was getting out playing rash wafts outside off stump potentially trying to up his SR. I think on that basis, England will want to get him back into the set up fairly soon as they and we all saw a lot of potential there.
I agree that Cook needs to have a good series as he'll have a inexperienced top order batting with him but I don't think he's got a point to prove. He's already proven to be one of the best opening bats there's ever been because he's scored runs everywhere. Yes his stats are bumped up by his awesome performance in the 10/11 series but that's the kind of player he is. He can have a bad series but his strong mental character allows him to bounce back.
posted on 12/9/17
Cook tends to raise his performance against the Aussies, remember in the 2009/10 Ashes he was under so much pressure pre Ashes
posted on 12/9/17
comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Phenom (U20037)
posted 9 minutes ago
I think they'll go with Stoneman at 2, Ballance or Westley for 3 and keep Root 4 and Malan 5. Hameed will miss out, he's young and hasn't played for England in a while. While they'll take Hales, as replacement to open or go in the middle order. Rest of side picks it self, they'll opt for Woakes for TRJ at 9 for the batting depth on batting pitches.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a weird thought process though. On batting pitches you expect your batters to be able to make the runs. Taking 20 wickets is the key. To be fair, Woakes has been fantastic for us the last 12 months but he needs to find the extra 3-4 mph he was bowling at before his injury. We need someone who is regularly bowling at 85 plus with Jimmy and Broad.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree, if we lose matches on flat decks because our batters fail and we are reliant on our lower order bailing us out then quite frankly we deserve to lose.
We've only really got Wood and Stokes as our quick bowlers but I don't think we should underestimate Roland-Jones, his accurate line and length bowling along with his height is similar to that of McGrath. He's obviously not on McGrath's level but his style could cause the Aussies a few problems.
Page 1 of 3