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Cricket: Industrial Action Edition


ljkeane

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Well, India is getting totally spanked. Not that surprising considering they never toured well. But still, I had hope they would do better considering how strong their batting lineup is.

This could be even more one-sided than the current Ashes match. But the low score matches are always more interesting anyway!

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Charitable declaration by Smith. His bowlers won't be happy with him - now they have to bowl half the day in this heat, albeit split by the tea break.

Some truly awful figures from England's bowlers...Mason Crane, 1/193 off 48 overs. What a way to make your debut.

I've been reading the comments on cricinfo and a few people want all this England team dropped and the senior players forced into retirement. But I really don't think it is going to solve their problems and I have been turned around from my previous thoughts of having Cook/Broad et al dropped.

For example, the calls to drop Cook - fine, but where are you going to find another opener? Stoneman is on thin ice as it is, you don't want to have to search for two at the same time. Broad should be dropped only if you can find a better pace option, and Woakes/Curran haven't exactly been outbowling him (whatever happened to Steve Finn?). The one person I think probably should be dropped is Ali. It's clear his current form isn't good enough to be a frontline spinner and he's made no contribution with the bat (not even a half century all series). It'd be better to play three pacemen and a spinner (Anderson, Broad, one of Woakes/Overton/Curran and a Spinner) and have a proper batsman at 6 with Bairstow back at 7. It'd still be a decent batting lineup as the pacemen (minus Anderson) can all bat a bit.

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I wouldn’t make wholesale changes for New Zealand. Ali isn’t the first spinner to get annhilated in Australia - it has happened to other, better bowlers too. And Moeen was still England’s second-highest wicket-taker in 2017, despite hardly taking a wicket on this tour. He was outstanding against South Africa for example, helping England defeat them for the first time on home soil for ages. I would drop Vince like a gun, maybe try Malan at first drop or elevate Root. 

And yeah, England need a new bowling attack to replace their aged stars. But you can’t just wish that into existence. Finn went home injured on this tour, but he isn’t the answer. Perhaps Roland-Jones might be worth another stint when he’s fit.

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At some point, England will have to stick with some players through their low and let them learn. Hopefully they will get better over time (assuming young enough).

Same with Australia really. While the bowling stock is fine, the batting not so much. Aussies still need a settled opener to partner Warner. Khawaja needs to get better overseas and Australia needs to stick with him and let him learn. Shaun is relatively old and will need a replacement at some point (but he has done enough to seal the spot). Mitch needs to be consistent and so far this series he looked decent, but he needs to perform under pressure and there wans't a lot of it this series when he joined. Paine is okay so far, but has been lucky that other batters have put on some big ones so there wasn't a lot of pressure on him either. Still a lot of unanswered question for this new batting lineup for Australia. 

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I still think it was a mistake not keeping Renshaw in the lineup. Sure he had a couple poor shield games in the lead up, but he's young, needs experience, and otherwise his form for the last year has been excellent. And Bancroft has not been particularly impressive.

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Steyn injury is a bit of a blow for South Africa. It will be a big boost for India for the next innings.

I wonder what the Proteas will do, get another bowler or go for a specialist batsman? Considering how good India's batting can be (if they ever fire overseas.....) Saffers might be in need of another batsmen to solidify their lineup. Or stick to the aggresive option of going for another express fast bowler (if they have one in the bag).

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Dropping Renshaw was harsh but they picked him on form and the other selections worked out but really I think Renshaw is the better option and he did well last summer and then in India was probably second best to Smith.

Paine was unlucky with the injury to his finger in 2011 and has had a horror run because of that for the 6 or so years after that happened. I think he may have almost lost the finger at one stage. Seems like the selectors saw that he was fit again and batting well enough to be selected for Tasmania as a batsman when Wade was keeping and they decided that it was time to give him another shot. He was next in line after Haddin when he was injured and has shown how good a wicket keeper he is through the series.

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8 hours ago, Jeor said:

I've been reading the comments on cricinfo and a few people want all this England team dropped and the senior players forced into retirement. But I really don't think it is going to solve their problems and I have been turned around from my previous thoughts of having Cook/Broad et al dropped.

For example, the calls to drop Cook - fine, but where are you going to find another opener? Stoneman is on thin ice as it is, you don't want to have to search for two at the same time. Broad should be dropped only if you can find a better pace option, and Woakes/Curran haven't exactly been outbowling him (whatever happened to Steve Finn?). The one person I think probably should be dropped is Ali. It's clear his current form isn't good enough to be a frontline spinner and he's made no contribution with the bat (not even a half century all series). It'd be better to play three pacemen and a spinner (Anderson, Broad, one of Woakes/Overton/Curran and a Spinner) and have a proper batsman at 6 with Bairstow back at 7. It'd still be a decent batting lineup as the pacemen (minus Anderson) can all bat a bit.

I agree, there have always been Internet commenters who think dropping people is always the solution to all problems, but often don't seem to consider whether there's a better replacement available.

I think I'd drop Vince (probably permanently) and Ali (although I think he'll be back). I think Anderson and Broad should probably continue to lead the bowling attack, and New Zealand conditions might be better suited to their bowling, I'm not sure who the other seamer(s) would be, since a lot seems to depend on how fit various players are going to be.

8 hours ago, Paxter said:

And yeah, England need a new bowling attack to replace their aged stars. But you can’t just wish that into existence. Finn went home injured on this tour, but he isn’t the answer. Perhaps Roland-Jones might be worth another stint when he’s fit.

I think once he's back Roland-Jones may well get back in the side, he bowled well in the English summer. He probably wasn't too much of a loss for the Ashes tour since I think he's a classical English bowler of the type that does best in home conditions. Mark Wood not being fit to play was maybe a bigger loss since he could have added a bit of extra pace that could have been useful in Australia, he's back in the ODI squad so I suppose it's possible he might get picked for the New Zealand Tests.

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And now Root’s not fit to start the day after going to hospital with dehydration, you’d have to think there’s a decent chance he won’t be batting at all if he’s not able to by now. 

This tour’s been pretty unrelentingly shite.

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Root's out there now and has his fifth half-century. Good on him. It's his last chance to turn one of these 50s into a 100, even if it's largely symbolic it would be a nice accomplishment for him if he can do it.

Yes I agree Vince should be dropped. He "looks good" but there's nothing in his first-class or Test career to suggest that this problem of "pretty 30s before nicking off" is going to go away. He's basically done that his whole career and nothing to indicate that's going to change. Maybe they'll give him the NZ tour so he has enough rope but his prospects don't look good.

Out of the Aussies, I think it's really only Bancroft who has to worry now. He was given a full five-Test series and hasn't really impressed so Renshaw may well get back in the equation. I'm yet to be convinced about Mitch Marsh as a top 6 batsman, but with two centuries he's done enough to secure his future for the short term. Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine are both in their early 30s so I think at some point the wicketkeeper situation is going to come up again.

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53 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Yes I agree Vince should be dropped. He "looks good" but there's nothing in his first-class or Test career to suggest that this problem of "pretty 30s before nicking off" is going to go away. He's basically done that his whole career and nothing to indicate that's going to change. Maybe they'll give him the NZ tour so he has enough rope but his prospects don't look good.

Vince has been picked in the squad for the T20 triangular series, in some ways maybe a format which doesn't really require playing long innings could be better suited to him.

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2 hours ago, ljkeane said:

This tour’s been pretty unrelentingly shite.

I know it’s a low bar, but I think it’s been a better tour than 13/14. Anderson, Malan, Root and Bairstow haven’t embarrassed themselves and there were no three-day tests. England won sessions and even entire days without capitalising. 

Australia is just the better side in these conditions, particularly with Smith scoring so heavily in almost every innings.

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