I don't see the problem with Cook announcing his retirement ahead of the game.

It means that the fans at the Oval can give him a great reception knowing it's the final time they'll see him in an England shirt. He's earned that for the career he's had even if he gets a king pair.

comment by Liverpoolwhoelse17 (U16825)
posted 12 minutes ago
Haak its likely Woakes will replace Rashid (if Woakes is fit that is)
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Well then, that leaves no room for Burns since they're very unlikely to drop Jennings now Cook is retiring. So that's utterly silly.

Oh well, not sure why I expected anything other than silly from England's selectors.

slightly different angle here, but would anyone be able to stop ed smith picking himself ?

comment by TCM (U8959)
posted 3 hours, 12 minutes ago
I don't see the problem with Cook announcing his retirement ahead of the game.

It means that the fans at the Oval can give him a great reception knowing it's the final time they'll see him in an England shirt. He's earned that for the career he's had even if he gets a king pair.
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yes indeed....absolute legend

We need to be identifying the next batch a bit fackin sharpish too

Ramprakash needs to be replaced too

Said it before, I'll say it again...

Bayliss out (for Tests anyway), Stewart in
Ramprakash out, Collingwood in

are you working on the principal that Collingwood will be able to coach batsmen not to be capable of dashing strokeplay ?

You cant teach the likes of Jennings to bat better.. the best batsmen always take a forward press then back and across.. Jennings just plays square of the crease.
Hes probably batted like that since he was a young man..

comment by Liverpoolwhoelse17 (U16825)
posted 9 minutes ago
You cant teach the likes of Jennings to bat better.. the best batsmen always take a forward press then back and across.. Jennings just plays square of the crease.
Hes probably batted like that since he was a young man..
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at what point are you talking there, re the back and across ?

better question... are you talking about short pitched bowling ?

im sure you know your cricket Liverpool, but im a bit confused there. are you talking about foot movement ?

when you say forward press, I think of gooch. but his feet dont go back and across, unless he's playing a square cut or a backwards defensive shot do they ?

...square drive, late cut. flick off the toes, leg glance perhaps...

you press forward then go back if the ball is shorter and across into line if the ball is outside off stump. if the ball if full you don't go back but drive the ball on the front foot..
Jennings all he does is go square of the crease.
He will never score runs on the leg side. he plays the ball through the gully area..

yeah, that clarification makes your comment make a bit more sense.

take your point about Jennings. now you mention it, he does kind of look like he's just been plonked there. a bit like a golfer taking a bunker shot without sinking his feet into the sand a bit.

Trescothick managed a decent career against some top quality bowling with no foot movement. It makes it harder though and Jennings obviously does what works for him in County cricket. He's just not good enough to make the step up but he's going to get more chances.

Says more about country cricket and the standard.
Jennings scored 1 hundred and even then he was dropped on 4. Its pretty obvious hes not good enough after 11 tests.
Though England have stuck with him for the final test.

Squad for The Oval test:

Joe Root (Yorkshire), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jimmy Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Sam Curran (Surrey), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham) Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

Vince released, why was he called up in the first place?

Moeen to bat at 3 from what I heard from Bayliss.

Team for the 5th test:

Cook
Jennings
Moeen
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Pope
Buttler
Curran
Broad
Anderson

We should be able to pick batsmen with solid technique and work out any small kinks. Batsmen with massive, exploitable technical deficiencies, like Jennings, really ought not to be called up in the first place.

My desire to see Collingwood called up is based on the fact he can coach the mental discipline for Test batting. Certainly a damn sight better suited than Ramprakash. Plus Colly was a sensational fielder. Still is, even.

comment by I Kante Drinkwater (U15973)
posted 1 minute ago
Squad for The Oval test:

Joe Root (Yorkshire), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jimmy Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Sam Curran (Surrey), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham) Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

Vince released, why was he called up in the first place?

Moeen to bat at 3 from what I heard from Bayliss.

Team for the 5th test:

Cook
Jennings
Moeen
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Pope
Buttler
Curran
Broad
Anderson
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Actually I've got Buttler at 8 lol, maybe Woakes comes in for Bairstow.

Don't see Pope playing personally.

Sigh. Jennings retained and Moeen bumped up 4 - yes, FOUR - positions, because apparently getting 9 wickets means you become a better batsman. He only got 49 runs, for fecks sake. That's fewer than Root, Stokes, Buttler and Curran got in the match.

There is just no plan. So, so sick of it.

I think Pope will play as its his home ground

Root wants to bat at 4, so someone has to move up to 3, it's where Moeen bats for Worcs

Assuming Rashid is dropped, Woakes will come in before Pope, surely, home ground or not.

Moeen bats at 3 for Worcestershire but he plays in one day mode. There's no plan to build an innings or occupy the crease. If he can do that for England with an average in the 40s then I'll be over the moon but I just don't see it happening. The way he plays for Worcestershire is what he can do at 7 for England but not at 3.

With that squad it's likely that Rashid and Pope will miss out with Woakes coming in for Rashid into the line up from the 4th test although I'd also bring in Pope for Bairstow due to his finger.

I'd go with Curran at 8 and Woakes at 9 but I assume they'll bat the other way around. Woakes hit an awesome century but Curran has been consistent throughout the series.

Oh, and a quick selection from the Championship this morning:

- James Vince nicks off with a loose drive for 10
- Jack Leach took a 1st-day 5fer
- Rory Burns currently 69* and making the selectors look like fools as he passes 1,000 county runs for the summer, having already made 1,000 first-class runs for the fifth consecutive season

Hildreth just in in Somerset v Lancs - bowlers massively on top! Aggregate of both innings thus far is 12 wickets for 118 runs (including Leach's 5fer)...