There may be troubles ahead: England selection issues.

[Dr Cricket]

Probably worth noting that I believe the 2008 series had no warm up provided, something that the ECB were very vocal about. After the Mumbai attacks England went home, then went to the UAE for a training camp, before the last minute decision to play. So they hardly got a chance that time round. In 2011 they were pretty upset with the rubbish opposition given and the scheduling of the venues.

So its not like you can sit here and say "oh the is ECB this and that" without any evidence. Its hardly like the BCCI have been doing nothing but provide the best for their opponents, so how you can make a giant leap of faith to think they were happy to provide it this time is beyond me

not sure how you can expect their to be warm up games in 2008 when their was a terror attack in india and england went home early.
but they were warm up games scheduled in 2008 but never took place because of the attacks in india.

Also isn't it funny england complain about rubbish opposition in 2011 even though only one warm up game out of 3 was a poor side but always give awful county teams year after year to touring sides, what irony.

Also please highlight me with the issues of the venues?
Eden Gardens, Wankede, Ahmedabad and Nagpur not sure why ECB will have any issues with those grounds.

[Dr Cricket]

Also think we all agreed Sri lanka are the weakest team lions could face with probably alongside Bangladesh yet in the past 6 yrs England lions mostly play both those nations a lot.

2010 Bangladesh
2011 sri lanka
2011/12 Sri lanka/Bangladesh
2013 Bangladesh
2013/14 Sri lanka
2014 Sri lanka
2015/16 Sri lanka
2016 sri lanka
2016/17 Talks again with Sri lanka.

9 times in the past 6 years, but no series With india in the last 5 yrs and only 2 series with Australia and that too was in the contract for the double Ashes deal in 2013.

Forgot to add India in 2010, Australia in 2012 + 2012-13, South Africa 2013-14, New Zealand 2014, Pakistan 2015-16 + 2016

Still doesn't change the fact england lions have mostly played Bangladesh and Sri lanka 9 series compared to the 7 mentioned there.

plus the chances of England lions playing india and australia is like 1% and are not scheduled to play england lions in the near future so the fact still remains Sri lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the favoured teams for the lions.

so in the past 6 years they only had 3 series with the big 3 and 1 more with SA so about only 4 series against the top or richer test playing nations and only scheduled to play SA next year.
so 5 series in the past 6 years have been against the top test nations or richer boards.

[Dr Cricket]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/ ... st-attacks

England's cricket team will fly home from India tomorrow, but will return in December to take part in the two-match Test series against India. The two fixtures will take place as scheduled, albeit with the second match being moved from Mumbai to an alternate venue in the south of India. The first match is due to start in Ahmedabad on December 11. It is not yet clear when exactly England will return to India or if they will play any warm-up fixtures, such as the one due to begin on December 5 in Baroda.

[Making_Splinters]

Was it 2012 when all of England's warm up games were on pitches that didn't offer any turn and India A didn't play a front line spinner in a tour match?

[sussexpob]

In fact, the 2008 tour might be a huge example of the ECB helping out the BCCI, as they could and probably should have pulled out that tour. The fact they stayed and showed solidarity with the Indians should be celebrated. But yes, the tour match was cancelled, and no new one was scheduled. In the end England were stuck in Dubai for a period of time waiting for security arrangements to be confirmed, while Modi was more concerned with business as usual and getting the first test played in Chennai. England clearly wanted a delay but were forced into travelling to Chennai, landing and playing.

Probably worth noting too that Englands development squad was due to play and stay in Mumbai, in fact at the hotel that was targeted. I think they were due to arrive at the time of the attacks, or very shortly after, as they had a game in Mumbai a couple of days after the attack. It might even been against India A.

The significance of that might explain why England are happy to tour Sri Lanka but not India. The security arrangements probably cant be guaranteed for a lower level squad, or deemed too costly for such a minor series.

[andy]

hmmm...does Morgan slot straight back into the side...arugably duckett and billings should/could start against India, in Morgan's position..

[ianp1970]

hmmm...does Morgan slot straight back into the side...arugably duckett and billings should/could start against India, in Morgan's position..

Assuming Ben and Jos take 5 & 6, then than only leaves 4 batting slots, of which Roy and Root seem certain of 2. Hales, Duckett, Morgan, Bairstow and Billings are therefore battling for the other vacancies, with the assumption that Vince is now a gonner...

[Making_Splinters]

Yes, Morgan does slot straight back into the side, he's the captain and will be back. No one has had a good enough series to replace him.

[ianp1970]

Yes, Morgan does slot straight back into the side, he's the captain and will be back. No one has had a good enough series to replace him.

Not sure I'd want to play under a leader who backed out of the difficult assignments.

[m@tt]

Hales, Morgan and Root all come back in. Hales and Root both have plenty of form behind them. Morgan's is more patchy - his average since the World Cup is 45 (third highest after Root, Taylor and Buttler, so more than Hales, Roy, Duckett etc) but he has really struggled at times. But being captain, he'll get until the Champions Trophy. After that, who knows.

Duckett and Billings have both shown excellent accounts of themselves. Duckett could have risen above Bairstow as the next-in-line batsman, having matched his half-century count in 15 fewer innings. Both have certainly risen above Vince who second-next-in-line, and whom we won't see in an England shirt for a while, I'd suspect.

I hope they get more opportunities to play. Billings had to wait nearly 18 months following his debut series last year to play again.

[Gingerfinch]

Our skipper comes back into my team despite not going to Bangladesh. The team has improved with since he has taken charge, and he can still give it a biff.

[Slipstream]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricke ... paign=1490

It did not sound like an entirely confident endorsement, and Anderson – who has taken 55 Test wickets in Asia at 28 apiece – may have to prove his fitness with either the England Lions or Under-19 side before he is risked again in the Test team.

Probably not playing at all in India but I can see him playing the 3 day match in the UAE v Afghanistan or getting white ball practice with the Lions.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Somewhat surprisingly, Ben Duckett has been dropped from England's limited overs squads.

England ODI squad

Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes.
England T20 squad

Moeen Ali, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey.

[Making_Splinters]

So Duckett plays 3 ODIs scoring two 50s and doesn't even get a place in the squad.

Yes, Morgan and Hales and Root were always likely to come back, but, surely it would have been good to keep him in the squad as a spare batsman / opener especially when Billings has kept his place.

[rich1uk]

its disappointing for duckett but not that surprising

the only batting spot really available in that squad is morgan's but he was never going to get dropped given he is captain