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Second Test - England v West Indies (Old Trafford)

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chunkylover53 said:
Well that’s stupidity from the ECB then
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I think it's reasonable to expect adults to behave as adults, especially when they are highly paid to do the job they do (and therefore should be expected to follow the rules)
Get in the car, drive to Old Trafford. Don't stop anywhere. It's only a 4 hour trip FFS
 

Frankel said:
Can they call Wood up?

Or would it be:

Curran
Woakes
Bess
Broad
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Robinson is in the squad as well

Doubt they will pick Wood or Jimmy now, unless it happens to rain all day and they start tomorrow
TopCat said:
I think it's reasonable to expect adults to behave as adults, especially when they are highly paid to do the job they do (and therefore should be expected to follow the rules)
Get in the car, drive to Old Trafford. Don't stop anywhere. It's only a 4 hour trip FFS
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Oh me too! But given the need for a secure bubble, and all the work they have put into it, you’d think they wouldn’t leave anything to chance
 
Frankel said:
Can they call Wood up?

Or would it be:

Curran
Woakes
Bess
Broad
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I'd assume they always intended to rest Wood from this match to make sure he's fit all summer. I think they'll be very prescriptive about which games he's available for. That attack plus Stokes is probably looking pretty ideal in the current conditions.
 
chunkylover53 said:
Robinson is in the squad as well

Doubt they will pick Wood or Jimmy now, unless it happens to rain all day and they start tomorrow

Oh me too! But given the need for a secure bubble, and all the work they have put into it, you’d think they wouldn’t leave anything to chance
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I suppose they wanted to keep the risk of infection low by not having all 20 players in the same vehicle. Just imagine one of them had picked up covid from someone in the last test, then before you know it, the series is cancelled because they all have the virus by the time they get to Old Trafford.
Liverpool Beachball said:
You must be logged on to see media items
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Idiot
 
Does his breach not mean the whole of the bubble has been compromised ?

Having said that, how did Root returning not breach the bio-secure area ?
 
TopCat said:
I get the feeling we will always be talking about Jofra Archer, in the same way we were always talking about Kevin Pietersen.
I'm not totally convinced Archer is in love with Test Cricket and do wonder whether his move to England (aged 20) was more about raising his profile in the game and making him more attractive to franchise cricket

Can't remember who said it, but there was a South African interviewed during the recent series who laughed when someone suggested Kevin Pietersen was English - the quote was something along the lines of "he was only ever "English" when he wanted to play Test Cricket. He's South African again now...."
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You could well be right. He's not doing himself any favours here. Without wanting to get into a big KP debate, I think he was committed to England and 'being English' in the early stage, but his ego & personality being what they are meant he became impossible to manage and that's what led to his downfall.

While he has to take full personal responsibility for his actions here, I can see the same traits applying with Archer and wouldn't like to see it (KP scenario) repeated. It's not easy but it takes strong management, I wonder how much Root is up to the task & I wonder if Archer would have done something like this under Morgan for instance.
 
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TopCat said:
I get the feeling we will always be talking about Jofra Archer, in the same way we were always talking about Kevin Pietersen.
I'm not totally convinced Archer is in love with Test Cricket and do wonder whether his move to England (aged 20) was more about raising his profile in the game and making him more attractive to franchise cricket

Can't remember who said it, but there was a South African interviewed during the recent series who laughed when someone suggested Kevin Pietersen was English - the quote was something along the lines of "he was only ever "English" when he wanted to play Test Cricket. He's South African again now...."
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I think even Darren Gough said the same about Pietersen, and he was best man at his wedding!

Archer is a great talent but he doesn't strike me as someone who's going to consistently rock up and be on the money. It's nigh on impossible to bowl quickly test match after test match, but there is evidence so far that he struggles to back up one good performance with another and I'm not sure if that a motivational or conditional issue.
 
From cricinfo

10am: Weather update: It's raining in Manchester
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:rolleyes:
Looking at the rain radar it's an isolated shower
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Salem Street South said:
It’s ideal for English conditions though. Stokes can bang it in if required but I’m not sure it’ll be that sort of pitch. Left arm variation and hopefully Broad and Woakes if selected are fired up.
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Decent batting line up with Bess coming in a 10

Burns, Sibley, Crawley, Root(c), Stokes, Pope, Buttler(w), Woakes, Curran, Bess, Broad

Assuming it's the expected 3 that get the nod
 
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10.32am: Toss delayed, and it's looking a bit miserable in Manchester (no jokes). The groundstaff apparently reckon it will take around 90 minutes to get the pitch ready, once the rain clears through. So could be a lengthy delay this morning
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