quack quack for Banton

Harmer is just so good.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Almost a full session of play but that could be it for the day. It'll be a massive shame if the weather wins this week as it was glorious last week.

Bairstow left out of Test squad for NZ - Sibley in

Blimey, they've finally dropped Bairstow. About time.

England Test squad: Joe Root (Yorkshire) captain, Jofra Archer (Sussex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Jack Leach (Somerset), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Dominic Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

hopefully signs of things to come. Bairstow can fack off. is Foakes injured or something? should be our keeper.


Burns, Sibley, Denly, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler(wk), Curran, Broad, Archer, Leach

Anderson will surely have to pack it in at this point

Foakes hasn't had the best summer with the bat to be fair so they probably trust Buttler more at the moment.

My only worry is that Bairstow was given a red ball contract a few days ago which says to me he'll get back in the side if any of the new guys have poor games.

is Foakes injured or something?
----------------
He's playing for Surrey today. Pope is currently going well

comment by Phe'ndombele (U20037)
posted 24 minutes ago
hopefully signs of things to come. Bairstow can fack off. is Foakes injured or something? should be our keeper.


Burns, Sibley, Denly, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler(wk), Curran, Broad, Archer, Leach



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Agree with this line up, I'm glad Woakes is in the squad though but I'd go with Curran as the 3rd seamer initially.

Really pleased for Sibley and Pope. Sibley just has to open with Burns and Pope is a talented youngster who could be the next Root in terms of impact on being a long term test regular. He's someone who can score big which is what we need down the order.

Parkinson is a talent although is probably only going due to the fact that we're not going to need more than one spinner in NZ.

Mahmood is a bit left field when there's probably some 10 bowlers or so who I'd have picked ahead of him but he looks decent.

Bairstow is gone

I give it 2 tests before he's back in for S Africa

I missed the fact that he's signed a central contract across all 3 formats. There seems to be a view that because these 2 tests vs New Zealand don't score points towards the test championship, England have picked a bit more of a mixed team.

Therefore Bairstow will be back in the squad vs South Africa and will probably be first choice to start with

Maybe, but Ed Smith's comments are at least arguable on that point - he said he needs to go away, work hard and "come back a better player."

I can see how that could be read as assuring him of his place after a short break, but equally, it's a pretty clear criticism of his form

https://www.wisden.com/stories/opinion/no-more-kid-glove-treatment-for-axed-bairstow

Great article

A lot of jammy boundaries for Somerset this morning but they have to score quick and they have to do it in difficult batting conditions against the best spinner in the country and one of the best young bowlers in the country.

14 runs conceded from 14 overs by Little Chef. Terrific bowler but will probably need to up his pace a few mph to get on England's radar.

Not sure why the series vs New Zealand won't contribute towards test championship points.

comment by Amanda Hugginkiss (U11574)
posted 48 minutes ago
https://www.wisden.com/stories/opinion/no-more-kid-glove-treatment-for-axed-bairstow

Great article
----------------------------------------------------------------------
great read that

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

The weather is looking better for the next couple of days so reckon a result is on here.

comment by Idontlikemondays (U6377)
posted 13 minutes ago
Overton unlucky,but looks like its the third innings on the bounce Somerset will be all out for under 150,and 4 of last 5 under 200
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Your best bat is in now. 300 is on.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Somerset choking