Second Test: West Indies v England, April 21-25

[rich1uk]

As for Tredwell, he defied his own numbers in OD cricket to become a pretty decent ODI player for England, and so far he contributed one innings that could have potentially won the first test, even if he wasnt the best in the 2nd.

I would give him a little run in the team

based on what ?

40 overs on a 4th/5th day pitch against a poor west indies batting lineup, he takes one wicket and gets outbowled by joe root

Based on the fact that the pitches are more conductive to spin, and I would play Tredwell/Rashid and Ali

if we are going to play 2 spinners then rashid has to play , all the talk has been about a lack of variation in our attack but we should go in with 2 off-spinners in tredwell and ali with root as another off-spinner as a part-time option

[sussexpob]

As for Tredwell, he defied his own numbers in OD cricket to become a pretty decent ODI player for England, and so far he contributed one innings that could have potentially won the first test, even if he wasnt the best in the 2nd.

I would give him a little run in the team

based on what ?

40 overs on a 4th/5th day pitch against a poor west indies batting lineup, he takes one wicket and gets outbowled by joe root

Based on the fact that the pitches are more conductive to spin, and I would play Tredwell/Rashid and Ali

if we are going to play 2 spinners then rashid has to play , all the talk has been about a lack of variation in our attack but we should go in with 2 off-spinners in tredwell and ali with root as another off-spinner as a part-time option

You can play all three with the batting talent Rashid and Ali share.... the later player is at 6 and can turn his arm, then you play Anderson and possibly Broad, Tredwell and Rashid.

[rich1uk]

so you would really go into the last with a team like this ?

cook
trott
ballance
bell
root
ali
buttler
rashid
tredwell
broad
Anderson


sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever to me

and iirc Jeffrey dujon on commentary said the third test should be the best venue for seam bowling of the three venues

[sussexpob]

so you would really go into the last with a team like this ?

cook
trott
ballance
bell
root
ali
buttler
rashid
tredwell
broad
Anderson


sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever to me

and iirc Jeffrey dujon on commentary said the third test should be the best venue for seam bowling of the three venues

Root and Ali bowled 30 overs of 73 in this innings, so its hardly like having the 4 seamers has meant anything. They arent being used because they are being ineffective.

So instead of Root and Ali bowling, you have two frontline spinners on

[rich1uk]

so you would really go into the last with a team like this ?

cook
trott
ballance
bell
root
ali
buttler
rashid
tredwell
broad
Anderson


sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever to me

and iirc Jeffrey dujon on commentary said the third test should be the best venue for seam bowling of the three venues

Root and Ali bowled 30 overs of 73 in this innings, so its hardly like having the 4 seamers has meant anything. They arent being used because they are being ineffective.

So instead of Root and Ali bowling, you have two frontline spinners on

going in with just 2 seamers risks over-using one or both of them if the ball does swing or reverse swing at any point

having 4 spin options, and I do include root in that given he has looked just as likely to take a wicket as either tredwell or ali, three of them off-spinners looks just as if not more redundant than 4 seamers

[sussexpob]

As for the venue of the 3rd test.

Last time South Africa played there they fielded two spinners in the 11...... not sure how many times a South African team in the last 15 years played two spinners.
Last time New Zealand played Craig bowled the most overs, and Benn took the best innings of the game
Last time Australia played there they ended up bowling 4 different spin options (Lyons, Warner, Clarke and Mike Hussey all bowled on a docile pitch)

Windies seem to have consistently played a double spin attack at Kensington.
Is it going to be seam friendly?

[sussexpob]

having 4 spin options, and I do include root in that given he has looked just as likely to take a wicket as either tredwell or ali,

Tredwell took 30% of Root professional career haul in the first test, so how do you equate that?

England arent going to take 20 wickets relying on batsman to bowl..... you have to play two spinners, and they have to be frontline bowlers.

[shankycricket]

Stokes has looked England's best reverse swinger with the ball in the series so far and batted well in the first Test. It'd be madness to drop him.

I wouldn't be particularly harsh on the seamers on this pitch. There is literally nothing in it for them. Even Jordan (whom I'd drop because I don't think he is the 3rd best seamer in general) has bowled well. Broad will always be an enigma, you've got to take the good with the bad. He was terrific on Day 2.

You expect your frontline spinner to step up in these conditions. England's frontline spinner has been entrusted to bowl 1/6th of the overs in this match. On the other hand, the West Indies frontline spinner bowled more than 1/3rd of theirs. If Moeen isn't gonna be entrusted with the role of a frontline spinner, he shouldn't be playing. His batting is not good enough to play as a batsman who bowls part time spin and you need a frontline spinner (ideally 2) in these conditions.

I have no idea why Riley, who was in the Lions squad vs SA A has been discarded after just 13 bad overs for them!

[Aidan11]

Final day's play coming up.


Just accept it.

[sussexpob]

Stokes has 1 wicket a 214....

[andy]

but he's done ok with the bat, and with him having mainly batted at 6 in the test side, he's doing ok with the bat, and so i wouldnt drop him..

[shankycricket]

Ali becomes the 3rd spinner in the side suggested by sussex. If he's not getting much bowling as the sole spinner, how much do you expect him to bowl as the 3rd spinner. You would largely be picking him for his batting, which would be epic lolz. Why not play Stokes, who is just as good a batsman, if not better and is a far better bowler than Ali? And whilst 2 spinners are ideal in the Caribbean, going in with only 2 seamers and 3 spinners would equally be madness, particularly on the most seam friendly surface of all and with one of your 2 seamers being so mercurial. It'd be madness!!!!

[dan08]

Since when did Shanky become a Stokes super fan?

[andy]

play about to start...you feel we need to take 4 wickets before lunch, to have any chance of winning this..

[hopeforthebest]

Cook
Trott (pity it won't be Lyth)
Ballance
Bell
Root
Buttler
Rashid
Plunkett
Tredwell
Broad
Anderson/Wood

Three seamers and two spinners. Rashid can bat as can Plunkett so there's enough batting.