England tour of the Caribbean 2015, April 13-May 5

[Aidan11]

"Panic on the streets near The Oval, Panic on the streets near Edgbaston".

[Alviro Patterson]

Picking 6 from Yorkshire is really unfair, it only remains to be seen how many sit on the bench and make their selection even more unreasonable.

Conflict of interest from Mick Newell to ensure Notts have every chance of beating Yorkshire in the County Championship. They have Smith, Lumb, Hales, J.Taylor, B.Taylor, Patel, Wessels, Read and Gidman to choose from. Compare that to Lees, Younus, Gale (after serving his suspension against Worcestershire), Leaning, Hodd, Pyrah, Hodgson and Tattersall.

[Durhamfootman]

I think Trott will be straight in at 3. No messing. Lyth is in, and rightly so, to open with Cook. I also think Rashid will make the side in the absence of Moeen, (unless England think they can get a few overs of spin from Root and Lyth, but I don't think so) Assuming that Root stays, and Bell isn't discarded, that gives

Cook
Lyth
Trott
Root
Bell

Buttler
Rashid
Plunkett (or Jordan)
Broad
Anderson

then it's a straight shoot out between Stokes and Ballance for the final slot. Stokes would bat 6, Ballance, Root and Bell could be shuffled around

[Gingerfinch]

Ballance will consider himself a tad unfortunate if he does get dropped, after he had such a good summer.

[Durhamfootman]

Ballance will consider himself a tad unfortunate if he does get dropped, after he had such a good summer.

he also had a shocking winter. Even with the different format it might be felt that his confidence has taken too much of a hammering.

England in 'ruining promising young player' shocker!

With England cricket on its knees, I don't think they can afford anything other than a crushing series win, ahead of a tough old summer.

[Alviro Patterson]

Ballance will consider himself a tad unfortunate if he does get dropped, after he had such a good summer.

he also had a shocking winter. Even with the different format it might be felt that his confidence has taken too much of a hammering.

England in 'ruining promising young player' shocker!

With England cricket on its knees, I don't think they can afford anything other than a crushing series win, ahead of a tough old summer.

Had Ballance (and Root) not had a barnstormer of a summer, English cricket would have gone to total meltdown.

Four miserly innings in the World Cup hardly constitutes as a shocking winter and doesn't warrant a player averaging 60 in tests with 3 centuries in 8 matches to be dropped.

[rich1uk]

Had Ballance (and Root) not had a barnstormer of a summer, English cricket would have gone to total meltdown.

Four miserly innings in the World Cup hardly constitutes as a shocking winter and doesn't warrant a player averaging 60 in tests with 3 centuries in 8 matches to be dropped.

agreed , even by the standards of this lot it would be a nonsensical decision

so almost certain to happen

[rich1uk]

whitaker said this when talking about KP today so will be interesting if one of them then gets dropped to get trott back in

"We've produced some good middle-order players with Gary Ballance, Joe Root and Ian Bell continuing to perform well, so we are happy with where we are in the middle order."

[Alviro Patterson]

Had Ballance (and Root) not had a barnstormer of a summer, English cricket would have gone to total meltdown.

Four miserly innings in the World Cup hardly constitutes as a shocking winter and doesn't warrant a player averaging 60 in tests with 3 centuries in 8 matches to be dropped.

agreed , even by the standards of this lot it would be a nonsensical decision

so almost certain to happen

Imagine the reaction...

Geoff Boycott blue in the face whilst venting all sorts on TMS
Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon in a scatching attack with the ECB, demands his Yorkshire players to come back home and play County Cricket.
Colin Graves finally speaks out and prepares P45s for Moores, Downton, Whittaker and Cook.
Aidan's axe reported missing.

[Durhamfootman]

Had Ballance (and Root) not had a barnstormer of a summer, English cricket would have gone to total meltdown.

Four miserly innings in the World Cup hardly constitutes as a shocking winter and doesn't warrant a player averaging 60 in tests with 3 centuries in 8 matches to be dropped.

I agree with you about the summer, disagree with you about the winter.... not sure how it can be seen as anything else. If he does play it'll be interesting to see whether the confidence of 6 months ago can overide the shrivelling nature of his world cup and subsequent dropping. I hope you are right, but fear that I may be.

[Durhamfootman]

and it isn't a Durham thing, either

Until the heirarchy changes, the England dressing room will be a pretty corrosive place for young players. I'd much rather the 2 Durham boys were kept well away from the beatings heading England's way this summer

[Arthur Crabtree]

I've only seen Rashid on tv in limited overs games over the past year, but my experience was that he was hardly bowling leg spin, but has reinvented himself as a Narine type bowler, bowling offspinners, topspinners and carom balls out the front of his hand. It'll be interesting to see what he bowls in a Test.

[Durhamfootman]

I've only seen Rashid on tv in limited overs games over the past year, but my experience was that he was hardly bowling leg spin, but has reinvented himself as a Narine type bowler, bowling offspinners, topspinners and carom balls out the front of his hand. It'll be interesting to see what he bowls in a Test.

and how well he bowls them

I'm in 2 minds about Dilly. part of me is excited to see how he goes (I like a good Lazarus story... see Plunkett), and part of me thinks that, almost whatever he does, he'll be dropped like a stone once Moeen is fit again

[andy]

hmm intresting squad...

Good to see Trott back, he will probably open, meaning Lyth will carry the drinks.. Ballance to sit at 3, exceptional start to his test career. Glad that Stokes is in there, think he will bat 6, and be the 4th seamer. Dissapointed that Bairstow is there, thought Billings should have gone... don't see the point of Tredwell being there, should have took Riley as the 2nd spinner, Happy that Rashid is in, make or break time for him, can he make the step up?.. Intresting that Wood is there, but i dont expect him to get a game... also hugely dissapointed that James Taylor isn't in there.. think this will be the side..

Cook
Trott
Ballance
Bell
Root
Stokes
Buttler (wk)
Rashid
Broad
Plunkett
Anderson

[Arthur Crabtree]

I've only seen Rashid on tv in limited overs games over the past year, but my experience was that he was hardly bowling leg spin, but has reinvented himself as a Narine type bowler, bowling offspinners, topspinners and carom balls out the front of his hand. It'll be interesting to see what he bowls in a Test.

and how well he bowls them

I'm in 2 minds about Dilly. part of me is excited to see how he goes (I like a good Lazarus story... see Plunkett), and part of me thinks that, almost whatever he does, he'll be dropped like a stone once Moeen is fit again

England need a second spinner, so he has plenty to gain here. I don't think he's an international quality bowler, but it would be fantastic if he proved to be. Borthwick's return from the dead is still some way off.