Swanny talking some good sense on five live

Why has Stokes not bowled...?

comment by Liverpoolwhoelse17 (U16825)
posted 36 minutes ago
Candlestick the England test rankings is taking a massive nose dive..
Its a pretty pathetic joke if you ask me..Nearly has bad has the 1990s.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, the batting is bad, which is odd because they did the switch that most people wanted with Root moving up to 3. However we moved Malan when we probably should have moved Bairstow up to 4. Not that any of this makes any difference of course as it's an absolutely shocking score and nothing to do with the order the batsmen came out in.

This'll be over on Day 3.

White ball cricket we're a great team, red ball we struggle hard

Stokes aint bolwed because they are protecting their prize asset,. That's why England picked an extra bowler.
Stokes is the MAIN man. gets out for naught and in is up on an assault charge back at home. BUT STOKES IS RARING TO GO. HES THE MAN.
you need to look at his record at test level apart from massive innings now and then. Hes done naught like most of the top 6 in the last few years.

I honestly don't get it.. They pick Vince and take him to NZ and don't play him. They call up Livingstone and have no intentions of playing him. Why the heck take 2 batsmen and don't play either?? they didn't because Stokes cant bowl. Its all about protecting his right to play. You wanna bet stokes bowls tomorrow? . pretty nailed on.

How many people are of the view that captaincy in the long run is not good for root? If England fail to win this series surely just within a season of being captain he would be on the hammer from most press and fans. England’s batting is brittle as it is, can’t afford to lose root’s capability as a batsman.

Root shouldn't have taken the captaincy imo,

Liverpoolwholelse - That's nonsense re Stokes. His average was 45.20 in 2016 when he scored that 258 and his average in 2017 was 43.91 so he's been very good since he made that score especially when you factor in what else he brings to the team. Even if he can't bowl, he's awesome in the field and worth a place in the side.

Re: the captaincy, I don't think anyone thought Root was the wrong choice at the time although he was pretty much the only choice.

The other candidates were:
Stokes - He might be great on the pitch but there's no chance he'll get the role due to what he does off it.
Broad - Smart cricketer and if he didn't look to review every one of his appeals then he may have been a good choice.
Anderson - Probably the next best choice after Root but his age meant there was no chance he was going to lead a "new" England.

I can't see England taking a punt on someone far less experienced.

An absolute shocker from England. I've got to think that a lot of it is mental. Burn-out? Shattered confidence? Overton did all right!

It has almost been overlooked but well done to Stuart Broad on getting his 400th Test wicket.

Just damage limitations now, the test is all but over

I reckon for some the England players they must be dreading to go back home. They have been down under since the ashes, and have played quite a few meaningless series in between.

Maybe the weather will save England in this Test.

Anderson and Woakes have bowled well, Jimmy has been a tad expensive for his 20 overs,

thank goodness for english type weather

Theres slight difference between Anderson and woakes though. Anderson takes wickets.
Looks like rain for the next couple of days. The problem is there is soooo much time left.. and the way England don't care when they bat. Theres no way England will save the game

Theres slight difference between Anderson and woakes though. Anderson takes wickets.

100% this

Since Woakes came back into the test against west-indies and the ashes.. His record of wicket taking is awful.
He gets picked for his batting. And England still get 58. Its time the top order took responsibility and actually did their job.
Englands batting in the last 4/5 years as been a joke..If it wasn't for our bowling we would be down in 8th position in the test rankings.

If England wanna beat Australia at a home. we need to produce slow wickets. something like Cardiff.
It will negate their quick bowlers. and their batsmen struggle on slower pitches.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

No we haven't got the batting to cope if we lose the toss. we need to bat long and on a slow wicket.. If Australia go in with 4 bowlers. we need to get over the bowlers first and second spells. The only way we will beat Australia is on slow flat wickets.. we leave grass on the pitch and are batting first. we will get hammered.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Trevor Baylis was brought into improve the white ball game, the red ball game didn't need anything bar minor improvement, mad how quickly we have regressed as a test team.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

GT

When you look at it from that perspective I agree, we've lost some key players over the last 3-5 years (KP, Swanny etc) the money in the shorter form of the game is eating away at any potentially good test players.

Sad to say but unless they reinvigorate the test game it will die, and I wouldn't want to see that.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator