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Australia v England, 3rd Test, 16th December , 23.30

Voice of fair play said:
I do think Smith is someone we need to back for the long term.

Young players tend to go through some inconsistencies, and he still young for the amount of test matches he has had.

Bags of talent imo
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Yeh but back to basics. Spell batting early order for Surrey in CC in next season's CC. Forget bazball,learn to play the situation i.e proper cricket 😀
 

Voice of fair play said:
I do think Smith is someone we need to back for the long term.

Young players tend to go through some inconsistencies, and he still young for the amount of test matches he has had.

Bags of talent imo
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I would consider a 23 year old or younger a young player. Smith is 25, Crawley and Pope 27.
Paddy O'Dors said:
Just read that Stuart Broad has a higher average than Pope in Australia. :rolleyes:
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Checked it on Howstat and Pope is slightly ahead on 17.2 versus 15.9. Jofra, Craig Overton and Chris Woakes are ahead of him, however. Also Dawid Malan, Michael Carberry and various other batsmen kicked to the kerb after a half dozen matches.
 
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Voice of fair play said:
I do think Smith is someone we need to back for the long term.

Young players tend to go through some inconsistencies, and he still young for the amount of test matches he has had.

Bags of talent imo
Click to expand...
Agree that we should back Smith long-term. Too talented to discard.

Crawley and Pope need binning. Then we need an opener and a 3. I like James Rew. Bats 4 for Somerset, but looks a proper player with decent technique. Now Bazball’s dead, I’d bring back Sibley for the opener spot. Think he’s a much better player than before.
 
Classic94 said:
Agree that we should back Smith long-term. Too talented to discard.

Crawley and Pope need binning. Then we need an opener and a 3. I like James Rew. Bats 4 for Somerset, but looks a proper player with decent technique. Now Bazball’s dead, I’d bring back Sibley for the opener spot. Think he’s a much better player now.
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I would definitely give Rew a go, but not Sibley his test average bad, and that’s without even playing the Aussies even once, would imagine it would be even worse if he had.
 
Classic94 said:
Agree that we should back Smith long-term. Too talented to discard.

Crawley and Pope need binning. Then we need an opener and a 3. I like James Rew. Bats 4 for Somerset, but looks a proper player with decent technique. Now Bazball’s dead, I’d bring back Sibley for the opener spot. Think he’s a much better player than before.
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The problem is the top 3 are all prone to getting out very cheaply. All top 3’s will get out quickly in their careers, but ours all do it very quickly.

We made a decent start last night, but once one fell you just knew Pope wouldn’t last long. It’s all well and good having the likes of Brook, Smith & Stokes in the middle who can play shots, but the top 3 have to see off the new ball.

Rew has to come in for me. Tribe also has a shot at 3, if we want to play Rew at 7.
 
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At least you have to have the top 3 get some sort of start,..then maybe a bit of bazball, but you need a solid start...its like a house of cards at the minute, not even competing..Brook for instance, if you can play a bloody ramp shot off a 90mph ball a forward defensive occasionally should be dead easy!...surely?
i'm getting sick of watching it
 
smoker said:
I would consider a 23 year old or younger a young player. Smith is 25, Crawley and Pope 27.

Checked it on Howstat and Pope is slightly ahead on 17.2 versus 15.9. Jofra, Craig Overton and Chris Woakes are ahead of him, however. Also Dawid Malan, Michael Carberry and various other batsmen kicked to the kerb after a half dozen matches.
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Not quite Pope career average against Aus is 17.66 and Broads is 18.87 @Paddy O'Dors

In Aus Pope averages 15.90 and Broad 15.85

Granted Broad played a lot more times in Aus and overall!

Pope has the third worst average for top 7 batsman that's batted 10 times or more as an Englishman in Aus

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Parkside said:
Yeh but back to basics. Spell batting early order for Surrey in CC in next season's CC. Forget bazball,learn to play the situation i.e proper cricket 😀
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That's the weird thing - on the Pakistan tour, he looked like a proper cricketer who prized his wicket. Stubborn, determined and talented. What happened?
DonaldDownTheWing said:
The problem is the top 3 are all prone to getting out very cheaply. All top 3’s will get out quickly in their careers, but ours all do it very quickly.

We made a decent start last night, but once one fell you just knew Pope wouldn’t last long. It’s all well and good having the likes of Brook, Smith & Stokes in the middle who can play shots, but the top 3 have to see off the new ball.

Rew has to come in for me. Tribe also has a shot at 3, if we want to play Rew at 7.
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Pope is a 6. I'd almost feel sorry for him if he didn't get himself out so many times.
 
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Randy Ostrich said:
That's the weird thing - on the Pakistan tour, he looked like a proper cricketer who prized his wicket. Stubborn, determined and talented. What happened?

Pope is a 6. I'd almost feel sorry for him if he didn't get himself out so many times.
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Is he though? Even at 6 you have to be able to middle the ball, which he seems incapable of doing.
 
Parkside said:
Yeh but back to basics. Spell batting early order for Surrey in CC in next season's CC. Forget bazball,learn to play the situation i.e proper cricket 😀
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I think first and foremost thats the thing that will make the most difference with almost zero effort and zero difficult decisions on personnel or management... let them, in fact  ensure they bloody play cricket for their counties. Get them playing some proper cricket when they need to find some form, not another month not playing for England but blocked by the ECB from playing the Championship either. Last season Atkinson was sent back to Surrey to find some form and they didn't even pick him!

The centrally contracted players are far too insulated and wrapped in cotton wool. What do they do all year when not playing internationals or the shitty IPL?

Of course that'll be no good if they need to find some form between mid July and late August... but that farce won't last forever. Maybe one day they will have to find a way to play the CC in August while they also hold their silly pink and green branded pantomime.
 
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anth said:
Anyone else just convincing themselves that these matches aren’t being played?
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I don't have TNT, I check the stories every morning and that's it. I'm sick of the lot of them. I now feel they deserve everything they get and if only a big 5-0 can bring about meaningful change, then so be it. Even that might not do it, given the arrogance of the current ECB hierarchy. But a 4-1 consolation would let them peddle a positive narrative they scarcely deserve and would delay the reform that is needed.

And if that reform involves Harry Brook becoming captain then God help us
 
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