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Cricket 33: ODIs Still Aren’t Proper Cricket Edition


Paxter

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9 hours ago, Paxter said:

A fantastic article from The Cricket Monthly on India's upcoming test series:

http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1152156/what-india-need-to-do-to-win-in-england

15 things India need to do? That's quite exhaustive.:lol:

One thing that surprises me looking at that list is Pujara only averages 31 outside of Asia, I would have had him down as a lot better than that. I went and had a look and he's only averaged 14 for Yorkshire in the County Championship this year too.

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9 hours ago, ljkeane said:

15 things India need to do? That's quite exhaustive.:lol:

One thing that surprises me looking at that list is Pujara only averages 31 outside of Asia, I would have had him down as a lot better than that. I went and had a look and he's only averaged 14 for Yorkshire in the County Championship this year too.

Yeah, this was why so many Indian fans got stroppy earlier this year when they dropped Rahane. He’s really their only consistent batsman outside of home conditions (apart from Virat).

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It looks like we might get a rare example of England playing two spinners in home Tests with both Ali and Rashid in the squad for the first Test. Given the recent weather conditions, I think there's a good chance the pitches might be more helpful to spinners than swing bowlers. The selection of Rashid seems to have caused some controversy given that he told Yorkshire he wouldn't play any First Class cricket this year, so it's a bit odd that he's now selected for a Test. That said, I think it is pragmatic by the England selectors to choose someone who has been in good form in the ODIs and could offer a wicket-taking threat that many of the other alternatives might lack.

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25 minutes ago, Paxter said:

I’m thrilled for Moeen. Just hope he can deliver now!

He does have a good record in English conditions so I'm not too worried about him. It's touring that he hasn't really got the hang of.

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1 hour ago, williamjm said:

He does have a good record in English conditions so I'm not too worried about him. It's touring that he hasn't really got the hang of.

Yeah agreed. It would have been a shame to see him on the sidelines after he did so well against India in England last time around. 

Just looking at Ali's test stats, it's interesting to see how much he's changed in recent times. Under Cook's captaincy, he was was averaging a very handy 35 with the bat and a mediocre 42 with the ball. Under Root, his bowling average has improved to 36, but his batting average has slumped to 25.

Most test allrounders have a clear strength (think Kallis, Sobers with batting, Imran, Hadlee with bowling). But Ali seems to be see-sawing between the two. Maybe he will only really 'click' in this England team when he finally settles on his stronger suit. 

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19 hours ago, Paxter said:

Yeah agreed. It would have been a shame to see him on the sidelines after he did so well against India in England last time around. 

Just looking at Ali's test stats, it's interesting to see how much he's changed in recent times. Under Cook's captaincy, he was was averaging a very handy 35 with the bat and a mediocre 42 with the ball. Under Root, his bowling average has improved to 36, but his batting average has slumped to 25.

Most test allrounders have a clear strength (think Kallis, Sobers with batting, Imran, Hadlee with bowling). But Ali seems to be see-sawing between the two. Maybe he will only really 'click' in this England team when he finally settles on his stronger suit. 

England never seem to have really worked out what his role is as a batsman, I think he's batted in almost every position in the top 8 at one time or other.

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Nice to see JP Duminy lead South Africa to a much-needed win yesterday. I know that his test career is well and truly over, but I still think he has a lot to offer and is a player I always love watching. 

No chirps in here about the Rashid selection? It's an interesting one - I have heard some commentators say that this situation says more about Rashid's relationship with Yorkshire than anything more broadly about the importance of the County game. And will he even play a match in this series?

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I am skeptical about whether Rashid's selection is the right one on sporting grounds, but there is a rather sinister edge to the criticism he has been getting. He is being portrayed as the villain who is screwing over all the county players by stealing their test place and getting some rather personal criticism for it, when it should really be Smith and the other selectors as they're the ones who chose him. Also, you cannot be largely okay with Buttler getting back in the side solely on the back of his white ball form and then treat Rashid's call up as the death knell of county cricket.

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42 minutes ago, Philokles said:

 Also, you cannot be largely okay with Buttler getting back in the side solely on the back of his white ball form and then treat Rashid's call up as the death knell of county cricket.

In fairness Buttler doesn't really play County Championship games but he's theoretically available if he's not playing IPL or for England (the same with Stokes really), Rashid had the chance to play in the recent Roses game and refused. So it is slightly different but, like Paxter said, there's some suggestion it's something to with his relationship with Yorkshire.:dunno:

Anyway Rashid's, fairly surprisingly, the lone spinner for the first test so we'll see how it goes.

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1 hour ago, Philokles said:

Also, you cannot be largely okay with Buttler getting back in the side solely on the back of his white ball form and then treat Rashid's call up as the death knell of county cricket.

I think the argument could be that it sets a dangerous precedent: players no longer need to play County cricket to be considered for Test selection.  What's the point in doing so if you can travel the world making money from Twenty20 competitions and still be a Test contender?

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6 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Anyway Rashid's, fairly surprisingly, the lone spinner for the first test so we'll see how it goes.

I was a bit surprised by that as well, if he was going to play I would have expected it to be alongside another spinner (although I suppose Root can deliver a few overs of off-spin if needed).

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I’m going to go out on a limb early and say that India might be in trouble here. The pitch seems very benign and even Jennings looks fairly comfortable (!)

Root should be able to fill his boots.

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