Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Michael Holding says the ECB pullout from Pakistan is an example of "western arrogance".....

Not sure tax dodgers who moonlight as after dinner speaks for offshore accounting companies get to talk about the moral compass of others.

Whispering Death tends to think with his emotions.

But the ECB does suffer from an excess of entitlement.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Whispering Death tends to think with his emotions.

But the ECB does suffer from an excess of entitlement.

If he wants to slag off the ECB then he can join the queue. But saying its an example of western arrogance seems a bit strange a month after the BCCI did the same thing.

England's Ashes squad.


Joe Root (Captain, Yorkshire), Jimmy Anderson (Lancashire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Dom Bess (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)

Jack Leach. Why bother!

Familiar names.

No Foakes.

Presume Curran is unfit.

Gentle Ben still missing, as we knew.

I'm predicting whatever Glenn McGrath is predicting.

Not a single new cap, which feels a little insane when only a very small amount of players justify continued selection.

I guess the selection can be summed up by Malan and Leach receiving central contracts. Malan is probably one or two bad tests away from a permanent end to his career and the selectors treatment of Leach is hard to understand. Another they ignore constantly, then give him a full central contract.

If the squad was intended to minimise hope and anticipation, I think the selectors have done a great job.

sussexpob wrote: the selectors treatment of Leach is hard to understand. Another they ignore constantly, then give him a full central contract.

might be a consequence of the Mo retirement

In an interview yesterday (ABC radio), Michael Vaughan was talking up a McGrathesque scoreline for the Ashes.

In Aus' favour, of course.

GarlicJam wrote:In an interview yesterday (ABC radio), Michael Vaughan was talking up a McGrathesque scoreline for the Ashes

If you forced me for a prediction, I would probably say Australia win 4 tests out the 5, but the one thing that England have going for them is they have at least played cricket recently in the longer format. I read an interview with Nathan Lyon that said a large proportion of the expected test team havent played a game of any format since Jan/Feb/Mar (dependent on who), with a few going on the T20/ODI tours to BD and Windies.

With the Afghanistan test looking ever more in danger of being cancelled, Australia's team could be going into the game stone cold. And if thats the case, England must target the early series to get momentum.

But lets face it, with the quality of the Australia attack, I think they could take 10 years of and still plough into this batting line up

GarlicJam wrote:In an interview yesterday (ABC radio), Michael Vaughan was talking up a McGrathesque scoreline for the Ashes.

In Aus' favour, of course.

Not going to get good odds.

The bowlers are a real concern.

Wood is the only person with any pace, and when is the last time he played more than 2-3 tests in a row without breaking down? And when is the last time he had a prolonged run of form too? Averaged 55 in the winter, 35 vs NZ, and only managed one bowling innings before injuring his shoulder v India. And yet, England have boxed themselves in needing to rely on him.

Woakes is also never fit anymore. Broad has spent the majority of the summer unavailable. Overton is a question mark.

And what is the thinking with Bess? He wasnt good enough to bowl on pitches turning right angles in the winter apparently, but then they pick him to play in a country that has been a graveyard for every half decent finger spinner in history?

They only took 17, so certainly room for 1 or 2 other players, and certainly would have taken Leach alone. Id have picked Saqib, Carse or even someone like Garton as an extra x-factor pick..... someone you can at least throw the ball to on a docile pitch and get the hurry up on a batsman. Wood I guess is that option, but ask him to bowl 25 overs in an innings and you have to book his bed in the medical tent again

And if the pitches are like they were last time, not sure Anderson is going to get any help from the ball unless its underlights. At 39 too, does he have enough in the tank to play all 5 games, some of which might require long travel and no days rest inbetween (if the schedule does indeed go to WA after Sydney, but at the moment thats up in the air). At some stage the admirable Anderson will start to show his age.

The batters are obviously uninspiring, but until they fix county cricket pitches, no one is going to score enough runs to stand out.

The bowling averages from this years CC look Victorian era-esque. Cook had nearly 60 wickets at 13 a piece, and cant get into a squad. And the amount of bowlers who averaged under 20 a wicket is a massive long list.

Averaging 20-22 would usually be a ticket to the test side - this year it would barely get you a game in some county second XI sides

Hopefully Australia can organize a hard fought practice match to replace the Afghanistan test

This English team does not inspire much.

Will Stokes play again?

yuppie wrote:Will Stokes play again?

Its purely personal speculation, but something doesn't feel right with Stokes' situation. They have been keen to stress its a fitness issue and he needed surgery, an injury that existed at the time he stepped down from the team; which begs the question of why they put him in the position of telling the press he was struggling with some mental issues and didnt feel right enough to play the game, when he could have hid that behind an existing physical injury and saved himself the public gaze on his personal issues. Of course, we live in more accepting times so maybe the player felt comfortable or a need to speak out. But generally you'd expect coming out in the press to admit you have problems would place a lot of pressure on yourself, and whether you like it or not, some idiot will slam it back in your face as soon as you start to struggle for the rest of your career.

I just hope for his sake the injury story is real, and its not being used to cover up a longstanding mental health issue that is forcing him to miss the tour.

Obviously I have made some negative comments in the past about him, but it would be really nice to see him successfully recover and back in an England shirt asap.