God help me - the Test Cricket thread

[LP]

Calling Burns a club cricketer is an insult to a club cricketer EB.  And Jimmy might have a zillion test wickets but his bowling has fair dinky stunk this test and his scowling and grumpy old man schtick is wearing thin.  I can see why the Aussie bowlers peppered the tail ender's... Not much love there.

Just because they are smiling, joking and laughing with each other doesn't mean things won't degenerate into an "Eye for an Eye!"

[ElwoodBlues1]

Calling Burns a club cricketer is an insult to a club cricketer EB.  And Jimmy might have a zillion test wickets but his bowling has fair dinky stunk this test and his scowling and grumpy old man schtick is wearing thin.  I can see why the Aussie bowlers peppered the tail ender's... Not much love there. 

Fair point Prof, this is one of the worst English teams I have seen....Anderson and Broad are done and should not have toured especially with their mediocre record in Aus. Stokes is banged up having to hold the team together and apart from Root and Malan who I cant believe couldnt get a game for 4 years are their only decent batsman.
Butler isnt a good keeper and like I keep saying when you have the best gloveman in the world in Foakes there must be some political reason he isnt playing.
Andersons body language is terrible,at least Broad looks competitive.....our attack wasnt great either and thats what makes it worse for England and dont get me started on their fielding which is high school standard.
Some of Englands one day specialists in Vince and Livingston would walk into this team IMO, both ideally suited to Aus and both great in the field and the latter can bowl handy leggies.
Silverwood is a useless coach and clueless selection wise, you want an ashes series competitive but this will be a whitewash given how poor England are on and off the field.

[LP]

Some of Englands one day specialists in Vince and Livingston would walk into this team IMO, both ideally suited to Aus and both great in the field and the latter can bowl handy leggies.

There is your problem [member=57]ElwoodBlues1[/member]‍ , why bother with Tests when they can go and play T20 somewhere and earn 3x the money for 1/5th the effort!

I doubt the ICC has the balls to rein in the BCCI to stop what it is doing to cricket, too many on the international panel are pigs at the trough!

[capcom]

... but this will be a whitewash given how poor England are on and off the field.

Gotta admire the Barmy Army though ... without their humour, there'd be little joy in the tour.

And at least, clean your bloody test caps England and look like a side.

[Milhanna13]

Butler isnt a good keeper and like I keep saying when you have the best gloveman in the world in Foakes there must be some political reason he isnt playing.

They’ve picked butler and woakes for their batting.  You know you are jumping at shadows and don’t trust your top order when you don’t pick ur best keeper and seamer, because you want 7 and 8 sured up.  Real club cricket stuff - where you see the specialist no8

[ElwoodBlues1]

They’ve picked butler and woakes for their batting.  You know you are jumping at shadows and don’t trust your top order when you don’t pick ur best keeper and seamer, because you want 7 and 8 sured up.  Real club cricket stuff - where you see the specialist no8

Agree their selections are always negative imo and show no faith in their batting lineup. They have two decent young leg spinners in Crane and Parkinson but were too scared to bring them. They also have three quicks in Norwell. Mahmood and SA born Brydon Carse who I would have brought over given Archer and Stone were injured and unavailable. Norwell played for the Lions team and did well in the Aus A game. Yet we get the old blokes plus Woakes, Overton and Bess. The latter three can all hold the bat but won't be bowling out too many decent batting lineups in Aus and as you say are here because they can
provide support for that rubbery batting lineup.
Their selections for Aus and defensive mindset give them little hope. Stokes will make a good captain if given the opportunity full time.

[LP]

Sack Carey, it's always, always, always the keepers catch! :o

[Professer E]

If the poms are serious Jimmy would be on the plane home and Broad not far behind.  Might be a happier camp too.  Other than maybe Hobart, remaining pitches are going to be dry and flat,  and if Stokes isn't going to bowl many overs then they need someone who can can bowl a lot. Wood for some shock value with the new ball might help as well.

[ElwoodBlues1]

If the poms are serious Jimmy would be on the plane home and Broad not far behind.  Might be a happier camp too.  Other than maybe Hobart, remaining pitches are going to be dry and flat,  and if Stokes isn't going to bowl many overs then they need someone who can can bowl a lot. Wood for some shock value with the new ball might help as well.

I could pick three English quicks at least like I said before who would do better in Aus than Broad and Anderson....what is with the English being slow learners. Woakes is a good cricketer but no good bowling in Australia on flat roads, Butler is probably the 3rd best keeper and Leach spinning into the pads of the Aussie lefties on flat tracks was always going to end in tears.
Stokes should be captain......
Root and Silverwood are clueless selection wise, England have more batting and bowling coaches than players but technique wise you have Burns playing everyball around his pads and Hameed on the front foot with his hands low looking shocked when the ball bounces on him.
Malan looked more dangerous than Leach bowling his part time leggies and they have Parkinson and Crane sat back in England when clearly they are the type of leg spinner on bouncy wickets that would cause more problems here in Aus.
I'd only play Broad in Melbourne and leave Anderson out......ins Wood, Bess, Crawley, Lawrence outs Anderson, Woakes, Burns and Hameed. Cummins should come in for Neser who looked a bit military medium at times....

[LP]

Broad got the ar5e, Anderson remains!

Boland in, good selection in my opinion, we need one bowler who is a workhorse type and can bowl more than 3 overs before having a rest, Boland is perfect as a 20+ over per day type! It's OK having sprinters when the track suits, but you need a cart horse to fill in the gaps! Hoff has done that job for years as well as being able to take early wickets, but he is not so reliable anymore injury wise!

It's a pity Boland is only being given an opportunity as a 32 year old, he should have been given an opportunity 4 or 5 years back, so should have Nesser! Then they could have rotated guys like Starc or Cummins in and out as will to keep them cherry-ripe and fresh!

For me though it is not just about Boland or Nesser opportunity, it's about making sure they don't break Richardson or Green before their career even gets started!

Back in the day our generation would bowl 12, 15 or 18 overs day just in 65 over matches. Someday we did that in the afternoon after having already bowled or limit in the Unders in the morning! Nowadays they restrict the kids to 6 or 8 overs in a day, and while they claim that protects them from stress related injuries I'm not sure it weeds out the durable from the fragile like the old days did! They get to a high level never having needed to bowl more than 8 or 10 overs in  a full days play!