• The forum upgrades are now largely complete.
    Please read this thread for more details.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.

The Post-Ashes Inquest Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jack Torrance said:
Agree on Jimmy. He's done alright this series and is still devastating at home. And Jake Ball seems to be the selectors choice for the future
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be trusting the opinions of our selectors

Lot of sense being talked here by Gillespie

You must be logged on to see external links


It is bowling where England may worry most looking ahead. They don’t have anyone making an unanswerable case for selection ahead of those used. The fact is, the selectors picked the best of their fit and available bowlers and they just couldn’t inflict enough damage.
You might chuck names like Liam Plunkett and Mark Wood around – and I love watching these guys bowl – but the former is 32 and the latter struggles to stay on the park. Jamie Overton will one day follow his gutsy twin brother into Test cricket but he wasn’t fit and is unproven.

Jimmy Anderson has been the most threatening, not least when he got his length right with the pink ball (having been one of those who previously made Root’s decision at the toss look poor). But we knew he would not be as effective here as home. The stats backed this up and it has simply come to pass again, for all his efforts.

Stuart Broad, for me, is a concern. He seems to be trying to get the ball to angle into the right-handers, and across the lefties. That to me seems to be a move away from what made him an all‑time great for England. And pace‑wise, he hasn’t clicked consistently enough. You wonder what the future holds here, which is strange when he is the younger of the two. But he’s the type of character who should never be written off.

Chris Woakes is a fine bowler but he needs to go a foot fuller for me to fulfil his potential. I know I am a broken record on this front but you have to get batsmen defending off the front foot. Craig Overton showed raw promise but Moeen Ali has been rendered totally ineffective, such that, with nothing to lose, they have to consider Mason Crane for Melbourne and Sydney.
But it does come back to the chief point of difference on hard Australian pitches: pace. In England, 80mph seamers get rewards at county level.

There are decisions made by coaches and groundstaff in light of the success demanded and jobs being on the line. The groundstaff should not cop it too much when so much cricket is played in April, May and September either.

Now as a coach, I would rather have a fast bowler give me 15 overs of gas in a day over 20 at fast-medium but there just isn’t the incentive to bowl fast due to conditions and pitches. This is not about workloads – I hate that word – just some pragmatism that, in the case of a few clubs, comes before a holistic England-focused approach.

In Australia we push for pace early too, with the first bowler picked for the under-17 or under-19 level state teams always the quickest around, with other attributes sought thereafter. If they are quick, they are in. Is that happening in England? I don’t know but it might be a place to start.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:

Silly Point said:
I just get the feeling this is it for Cook. He's been through these runs before but apart from the double hundred against a pretty average Windies side (yes I know they beat us but all that does is emphasises our state as a poor Test side) I can't remember his last significant score. Bad news for the other counties as he'll see out his career piling on the runs for Essex!

I'm dreading the day jimmy packs it in. Hope he can last a couple more summers but time not on his side. I'd be tempted to leave him out of the last two Tests and any future tours tbh, including NZ where it might swing.
Click to expand...

Why would you leave our best bowler out of the NZ tour? He'll be excellent there.

If you permanently plan for the future you'll constantly be shite in the present. And isn't winning the point of it all?
 
NorthCountryBoy said:
Why would you leave our best bowler out of the NZ tour? He'll be excellent there.

If you permanently plan for the future you'll constantly be shite in the present. And isn't winning the point of it all?
Click to expand...
Agree. I'd let Jimmy manage his workload, he knows his body and what is best for him. Good luck trying to rest him on a tour against a weaker team, with some green wickets and damp, overcast conditions. We do need to start planning for life without him which is probably the scariest thing since Botham retired
 
Toblerone Jones and Jamie Porter will thrive in English conditions (and NZ). I've no answers on the real quicks though. Footitt, Plunkett and Wood are plagued by injury.
 
NorthCountryBoy said:
Why would you leave our best bowler out of the NZ tour? He'll be excellent there.

If you permanently plan for the future you'll constantly be shite in the present. And isn't winning the point of it all?
Click to expand...
No other reason but rest I suppose. Seen a lot of Test cricket in NZ on Sky in recent years and pitches there have a tendency to start off with a bit of movement but get flatter and flatter, plus there's not as much swing as you get over here either. There'll be nowt in it for him by day 3/4.
 
Ageing trundler said:
Toblerone Jones and Jamie Porter will thrive in English conditions (and NZ). I've no answers on the real quicks though. Footitt, Plunkett and Wood are plagued by injury.
Click to expand...
Therein lies the problem. Add Tyrone Mills to that lost too. English cricket destroys anyone who bends their back and bowls at 90MPH
 
FWIW, 4th test I'd go
Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Bairstow, Woakes, Overton, Wood, Anderson, Crane

If Overton not fit, then I guess Curran plays, unless they go for 6 batsmen and Foakes comes in
 
Wood is our quickest bowler but injury prone. Body can't stand the rigours of 4/5 day cricket. Best suited to one day stuff.
What happened to that meaker lad???
 
Steak Pie said:
Of all the things that I've learned today that have surprised me, The Lions coming back with 4 weeks of the tour left is just staggering.
Click to expand...

I sincerely hope (rather than expect) Jennings, Curran and Wood have stayed with the full squad.
 
I do hope if crane is selected, he doesn't go the way of Scotty on the last tour debacle over there
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top