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Ashes Squad 2025

VenisonsMullet said:
That's the odd one for me. Having said that, I don't think Bashir will play all 5 tests anyway as they may go with an all seam attack in the first 2 games
Would love to see us go with Archer, Woakes, Atkinson and Carse in the opener in Perth. Try and get amongst the Aussie batters and start fast.
Pope v Bethell is an interesting one, but as a few have said, if Pope can match his career average in this series, then we will have a real chance.

I'm always positive.....until the test starts. Always stay up and watch the first session, although that will be a challenge with it being in WA.
I remember just laughing my head off when Starc castled Burns first ball of the series last time - it 100% set the tone for the rest of the winter :lol:

This!

People twisting about Crawley when there is no-one else who has stepped up when tried. Duckett and Crawley average 45 for the first wicket which is better than a few other established openers down the years.
Yes, teh Jacks selection is odd, but I doubt he'll play a single minute of cricket on this tour, even then the reasoning (tall off spinners generally do better in Australia than shorter leg spinners) at least has some logic.
Everyone has their favourites, but people slagging off the McCullum era is absolute nonsense...
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Well that’s it, let’s make it clear I fully disagree with the selection of Jacks, as the high majority will

However the rest of the squad absolutely picks itself and 95% of the squad selection is right.

No mention of that just a mention of a player who I would be very surprised if he plays a single minute like you say.

Yes Ahmed, Leach, Dawson etc etc should have been selected instead of Jacks but will that selection mistake play any pivotal role in the outcome of series very high likely not.

What will is how fit we have our fast bowlers come the first test and throughout the series.

As for people not appreciating the McCullum era and what he has done transforming English test cricket continues to puzzle me,
 

The pure disregard for red ball peformance is definitely very galling in relation to Jacks over Rehan.

Rehan took 13/144 in one game this season which is more than the 12 FC wickets Jacks has in the last two seasons from 5 matches

Rehan has the same amount of centuries this season (5) as Jacks has played red ball games in the last 2 seasons. Also that being more FC centuries than Jacks has in his career.

But Will Jacks has 5 T20 Centuries at 155 SR so that's all that matters to play Test Cricket for England in this setup.
Voice of fair play said:
Well that’s it, let’s make it clear I fully disagree with the selection of Jacks, as the high majority will

However the rest of the squad absolutely picks itself and 95% of the squad selection is right.

No mention of that just a mention of a player who I would be very surprised if he plays a single minute like you say.

Yes Ahmed, Leach, Dawson etc etc should have been selected instead of Jacks but will that selection mistake play any pivotal role in the outcome of series very high likely not.

What will is how fit we have our fast bowlers come the first test and throughout the series.

As for people not appreciating the McCullum era and what he has done transforming English test cricket continues to puzzle me,
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Why would we mention that when the rest of the squad picks itself, with the exception of Potts.

Like Roy Keane said "It's like praising a postman for delivering his letters, isn't it? It's his job."
 
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VenisonsMullet said:
That's the odd one for me. Having said that, I don't think Bashir will play all 5 tests anyway as they may go with an all seam attack in the first 2 games
Would love to see us go with Archer, Woakes, Atkinson and Carse in the opener in Perth. Try and get amongst the Aussie batters and start fast.
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Woakes isn't going so nee chance of that.

VenisonsMullet said:
I'm always positive.....until the test starts. Always stay up and watch the first session, although that will be a challenge with it being in WA.
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Perth games start at 10pm over here in the UK, others a bit later.
 
VenisonsMullet said:
Everyone has their favourites, but people slagging off the McCullum era is absolute nonsense.
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Voice of fair play said:
As for people not appreciating the McCullum era and what he has done transforming English test cricket continues to puzzle me,
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I doubt that many aren't appreciate of the improvement under Stokes and McCullum most notably transforming a team devoid of morale into a fighting,confident outfit. It should however be put in perspective. We've yet to win a series against the generally accepted leading countries India and Australia,hammered in Pakistan and India, victories over lesser nations with perhaps victory in New Zealand the only truly commendable achievement.
Long term success is only achieved by always seeking improvement even if it's only tinkering with tactics and selection. Complacency sets in otherwise and if seeking or suggesting improvement is regarded as negative,slogging off,twisting,,it certainly won't lead to further progress.
There has been,and still is,areas where improvement can be made and should be sort, suggested and welcomed.
 
mackembhoy said:
The pure disregard for red ball peformance is definitely very galling in relation to Jacks over Rehan.

Rehan took 13/144 in one game this season which is more than the 12 FC wickets Jacks has in the last two seasons from 5 matches

Rehan has the same amount of centuries this season (5) as Jacks has played red ball games in the last 2 seasons. Also that being more FC centuries than Jacks has in his career.

But Will Jacks has 5 T20 Centuries at 155 SR so that's all that matters to play Test Cricket for England in this setup.

Why would we mention that when the rest of the squad picks itself, with the exception of Potts.

Like Roy Keane said "It's like praising a postman for delivering his letters, isn't it? It's his job."
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That’s fair enough up to a point.

However I originally commented on this thread in response to a poster who stated ‘ awful’ squad

Don’t think anyone on here disagrees that Jacks was the wrong selection.

However don’t think it will factor the outcome of the series or anyone picked instead of him would have made a difference to the outcome either.

In fact if conditions allow would not play our first choice spinner never mind the second one
 
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Paddy O'Dors said:
I think we've got a decent first 11 tbh. But we'll be calling on the back up with the inevitable injuries and that's when it'll fall apart.
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I find with the down-under series hope seems to end after a few days and we get stuffed in the 1st test.

I agree re our first XI.
 
Parkside said:
I doubt that many aren't appreciate of the improvement under Stokes and McCullum most notably transforming a team devoid of morale into a fighting,confident outfit. It should however be put in perspective. We've yet to win a series against the generally accepted leading countries India and Australia,hammered in Pakistan and India, victories over lesser nations with perhaps victory in New Zealand the only truly commendable achievement.
Long term success is only achieved by always seeking improvement even if it's only tinkering with tactics and selection. Complacency sets in otherwise and if seeking or suggesting improvement is regarded as negative,slogging off,twisting,,it certainly won't lead to further progress.
There has been,and still is,areas where improvement can be made and should be sort, suggested and welcomed.
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Well it depends how you look at, I genuinely look at it differently, we would have beat Australia because of rain, we drew with India and in both them series imo the opposition had better quality players overall than ours.

And it was actually because of the mentality, team spirit and style of the McCullum set up,we managed to draw them home series against better players, that imo under a different regime with them same players would have lost.

Pakistan and India away were different especially Pakistan who doctored the wickets soo much spinners opened the bowling in the last two tests

The last two tests in that series a joke really.

New Zealand away terrific result.

There of course games like in any sport football, cricket or whatever where you can look back and say wish we done things differently in that particular game and a result may have been different which they admittedly has been for England under McCullum.

But equally there has been many more games won that would not have been historically won had it not been for McCullum and the style he has introduced.

While accepting that there is always room for improvement and adapting to game situations, which occasions again admittedly we could have done better

I do continue to be puzzled by people actually not wanting McCullum to lead this test team when you look at the bigger picture and what he has done for the England cricket test team.

In conclusion the positives far outweigh the negatives
 
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Voice of fair play said:
Well it depends how you look at, I genuinely look at it differently, we would have beat Australia because of rain, we drew with India and in both them series imo the opposition had better quality players overall than ours.

And it was actually because of the mentality, team spirit and style of the McCullum set up,we managed to draw them home series against better players, that imo under a different regime with them same players would have lost.

Pakistan and India away were different especially Pakistan who doctored the wickets soo much spinners opened the bowling in the last two tests

The last two tests in that series a joke really.

New Zealand away terrific result.

There of course games like in any sport football, cricket or whatever where you can look back and say wish we done things differently in that particular game and a result may have been different which they admittedly has been for England under McCullum.

But equally there has been many more games won that would not have been historically won had it not been for McCullum and the style he has introduced.

While accepting that there is always room for improvement and adapting to game situations, which occasions again admittedly we could have done better

I do continue to be puzzled by people actually not wanting McCullum to lead this test team when you look at the bigger picture and what he has done for the England cricket test team.

In conclusion the positives far outweigh the negatives
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Totally agree although I've never seen an actual direct quote claiming McCullum shouldn't be leading the team. How much leadership is Stokes or McCullum,of course, we outsiders don't know. There's always room for improvement in any aspect of life. However,this is a cricket forum and how England cricket can improve should be a relevant and permissable topic. Ideas,suggestions for improvement should be welcomed and labelling them twisting,negative and other insults is in itself negative.We all have different perspectives,but respect others right to express without recourse to insult.
 
Parkside said:
Totally agree although I've never seen an actual direct quote claiming McCullum shouldn't be leading the team. How much leadership is Stokes or McCullum,of course, we outsiders don't know. There's always room for improvement in any aspect of life. However,this is a cricket forum and how England cricket can improve should be a relevant and permissable topic. Ideas,suggestions for improvement should be welcomed and labelling them twisting,negative and other insults is in itself negative.We all have different perspectives,but respect others right to express without recourse to insult.
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Post 33 on this thread states his time is up.

Never realised they were many insults getting thrown about.

But absolutely welcome debates and different opinions that what makes this board interesting.

Imo though for what it worth there is more negative comments in general towards McCullum than positive ones.

Which continues to puzzle me considering what he has brought to England test team.

It also puzzles me some of the comments towards Campbell considering what he has done for Durham

But like you say each to their own
 
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Voice of fair play said:
Post 33 on this thread states his time is up.

Never realised they were many insults getting thrown about.

But absolutely welcome debates and different opinions that what makes this board interesting.

Imo though for what it worth there is more negative comments in general towards McCullum than positive ones.

Which continues to puzzle me considering what he has brought to England test team.

It also puzzles me some of the comments towards Campbell considering what he has done for Durham

But like you say each to their own
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Welcome debate and differing opinions “my arse”
 
Voice of fair play said:
Post 33 on this thread states his time is up.

Never realised they were many insults getting thrown about.

But absolutely welcome debates and different opinions that what makes this board interesting.

Imo though for what it worth there is more negative comments in general towards McCullum than positive ones.

Which continues to puzzle me considering what he has brought to England test team.

It also puzzles me some of the comments towards Campbell considering what he has done for Durham

But like you say each to their own
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Yeh,when things are going smoothly they tend to get passed by without comment, "they're only doing what they're paid to do".So adverse comments will be prevalent. Mind,it's North,not Campbell,that the knives are out for-and justifiably so. As always in sport,past success is quickly forgotten.
 
Voice of fair play said:
Post 33 on this thread states his time is up.

Never realised they were many insults getting thrown about.

But absolutely welcome debates and different opinions that what makes this board interesting.

Imo though for what it worth there is more negative comments in general towards McCullum than positive ones.

Which continues to puzzle me considering what he has brought to England test team.

It also puzzles me some of the comments towards Campbell considering what he has done for Durham

But like you say each to their own
Click to expand...
Welcome debate and differing opinions “my arse”
 
Parkside said:
Yeh,when things are going smoothly they tend to get passed by without comment, "they're only doing what they're paid to do".So adverse comments will be prevalent. Mind,it's North,not Campbell,that the knives are out for-and justifiably so. As always in sport,past success is quickly forgotten.
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Yeah guess that my general opinion with most things when things go well not much praise ‘ they only doing what they paid to do’ yet when going bad lot more criticism.

Personally never got that and think unfair on teams, managers, etc etc, to assess them that way.

And should past success be quickly forgotten?

IMO no


The latest white ball games bear the criticism over praise argument out imo, we scored 304 in a 20 over game and won a one day international in another by a record score ever.

If we were on the receiving end of them in my humble opinion the criticism would have been more widespread and insulting to the players managers etc than the praise when we do stuff like that
 
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Voice of fair play said:
Yeah guess that my general opinion with most things when things go well not much praise ‘ they only doing what they paid to do’ yet when going bad lot more criticism.

Personally never got that and think unfair on teams, managers, etc etc, to assess them that way.

The latest white ball games bear that out we scored 304 in a 20 over game and won a one day international in another by a record score ever.

If we were on the receiving end of them in my humble opinion the criticism would have been more widespread and insulting to the players managers etc than the praise when we do stuff like that
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Exactly,you're not going to change people, just accept it.
Posting on here is intended to be friendly discussion -with amicable differences in view.
 
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