There may be troubles ahead: England selection issues.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Are England going to play 2+2 in WI.

[rich1uk]

Are England going to play 2+2 in WI.

not sure we will really ever be playing 2+2 again in the near future , not because I think we wont play 2 spinners but with the likes of moeen and stokes around I think you have your wish of playing 5 bowlers most of the time going forward

given the timing of the WI tour I think it would be hard to throw someone in on debut as a specialist spinner not having played any cricket for 7 months, depending on what happens with the lions tour of course

[Dr Cricket]

if they go with 4 seam bowlers + Ali in West indies their are stupid especially with most or all pitches being similar to Subcontinental pitches.
They have to pick 1 specialist spinner in the squad and play him in the team.
3+2 should be the way in West indies.

[Gingerfinch]

if they go with 4 seam bowlers + Ali in West indies their are stupid especially with most or all pitches being similar to Subcontinental pitches.
They have to pick 1 specialist spinner in the squad and play him in the team.
3+2 should be the way in West indies.

I would agree, but have we got a decent spinner?

[Arthur Crabtree]

I guess it's different in the WI, but in India, we saw that it was a waste of time going in with three seamers. Only one of them was getting to bowl, apart from briefly in Kolkota. And that wasn't down to the pace bowlers being bad, though they had limited scope to succeed (no swing, n reverse, no pace, no bounce )but just the spinners being far more likely to take a wicket. If England played another Test now on the pitches in Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Mumbai, they should go in with pace bowler, a reverse swing specialist, Moeen and two specialist spinners...

But it won't be quite like that in WI.

Slightly provocative team for imaginary tour of India...

Cook
Robson
Ballance
Bell
Root
Moeen
Stokes
Buttler
Trewell/(Rashid...)
Anderson
Panesar

[Dr Cricket]

A decent or any spinner would be better than a 4th seam bowler in those conditions.
Ahmedabad 2012 test a great example.
England picked 3 seam bowlers and one spinner all 3 looked toothless sometimes having a 2nd or 3rd wicket taking option makes a difference to the bowling attack.

[Arthur Crabtree]

if they go with 4 seam bowlers + Ali in West indies their are stupid especially with most or all pitches being similar to Subcontinental pitches.
They have to pick 1 specialist spinner in the squad and play him in the team.
3+2 should be the way in West indies.

I would agree, but have we got a decent spinner?

Also agree. Pick your best spinner.

[Dr Cricket]

But would the 4th seam bowler actually do better than a decent spinner that the question ?
I would probably pick Rashid for the West indies tour and team.
he would need to play in UAE or future Asian tour and I believe England will be touring Asia at least every winter in the next FTP so England would need to blood a new spinner eventually.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I can't see Rashid playing Tests again without playing quite a bit of Lions cricket first. I'd guess he's maybe a bit closer to a limited overs surprise pick. Good bet for the SA A series. I wonder if playing club cricket in India is a possibility? Probably not.

[Dr Cricket]

He could play Ranji trophy games but Subcontinental team don't like foreign players.
Bangladesh is the only option but not sure that is worthwhile.

England would need to pick one specialist spinner in the squad for WI so they might just send one to the lions in SA or try and make a deal with BCCI.

[Arthur Crabtree]

:pak I would have thought one out of Riley or Ravi Patel would go with the Lions. I guess Rayner could be an option. Rashid would have to overtake a few options, mainly based on half a season's form. Could be worth a gamble. Though they're all punts really.

[andy]

IMO Rashid deserves a go.... shame Borthwick hardly bowls these days....also a shame that Rafiq has gone completely backwards..

[Durhamfootman]

Has Rafiq gone backwards (I really have no idea), or has he simply been unfortunate that his time out of the game last year due to injury coincided with the stunning reinvention of Rashid as a top quality county allrounder?

Not sure how many young spinners could keep Rashid out of Yorkshire's starting XI atm

[Arthur Crabtree]

Last season, Yorkshire were playing two spinners in the late season games, so it might be that Rafiq was failing to oust the fourth seamer, like Rich Pyrah at times. Also, Rafiq wasn't breaking into the limited overs side, which he has previously done. Probably best Rafiq gets a chance as a lead spinner elsewhere. But where?

[Dr Cricket]

Rafiq I think is looking for a new county.
Tweets from Hopps confirms it.
@AzeemRafiq30 How's the county hunt going? OK I hope.