Fourth Test: England vs India 2018

[Slipstream]

@bbctms

All rounder @chriswoakes has tightness in his right quad & isn’t training today.
England will take a view on his fitness tomorrow, but aren’t expecting to bring anyone into the squad at this stage.

If Stokes and Woakes are doubts I think it will be Ali and Curran with Stokes playing as a batsman. Bairstow is fit to bat and trying out keeping in the nets

[andy]

Wouldn't play Stokes purely as batsman, i know not many would agree, but for me he is in the side as an all-rounder, not a specalist batsman, Woakes happy to rest, he's not been fit much recently so give him longer to get fit

[Durhamfootman]

I think they will play Stokes as a batsman only and move him up the order

they should pick Moeen, because of the form he's in, but they made such a massive statement of intent with Rashid that I don't think they will... unless it's a 2 spin pitch, of course

Curran back in presumably. Probably shouldn't have been left out of the 3rd test

Cook, Jennings, Root, Stokes, Pope, Bairstow (wk), Butler, Curran, Rashid, Broad, Santiago

[Durhamfootman]

Apparently they've been doing fielding practice with Root at 2nd slip, but still with Cook and Jennings at 1st and 3rd, so perhaps Buttler will take the gloves after all.

that then might see JB1 move up to 5 and Pope down to 6

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cook, Jennings, Root, Stokes, Pope, Bairstow (wk), Butler, Curran, Rashid, Broad, Santiago

Has the look of a transient collection of ill matched ranks. We will later look back on this side (still in transition after five years!) and wonder what was going on. What was going on with the three keepers, we'll say. And, I didn't know Rashid played Test cricket.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Different kind of way of looking at Kohli's batting supremacy.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... i-joe-root

Interestingly Root does as well by the same measure.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not obvious why Bradman is not leading that list.

[Arthur Crabtree]

In the light of this, look at the England batting stats with Honest Joe as captain! No one who has played more than five games averages more than 35.5, save Joe himself at 47. No one apart from Root (16 times) has gone past fifty more than eight times (Bairstow in 33 Innings).

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

The bowling isn't particularly great, Anderson (18) apart, with only he averaging under 30 having played more than 5 games.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=bowling

[Arthur Crabtree]

Two man team.

Sort of. Stokes is doing well enough if you consider he bats and bowls. As is Broad (as a bowler). Bairstow is doing ok if we factor in that he's keeper.

Half a team.

[alfie]

Didn't really need the stats to tell us that , though , did it ? Root Bairstow Stokes Anderson Broad were always automatic selections ...add in Cook for past credit despite being in apparently terminal decline ...and the other five spots have been thrown around fairly indiscriminately for the last year or so...
Woakes and Moeen , when fit and in form , have arguably merited selection and would have played more - and improved Arthur's stats - if not for injury effects.

Anyway we can only start from where we are . No real sign Smith is making a big push forward since he has mainly recycled previous discards so far ; but he has given Sam Curran a run and tried Pope so maybe there is hope yet...

For this match we need to see if Bairstow and Woakes are fit and decide from there. I will leave that to them since I am neither a physician or omniscient , unlike many on BBC HYS

[Arthur Crabtree]

It does underline how little support Root is getting from the batters though (aside from himself). His stalwarts and his most productive bats, Cook, JB1 and Stokes are averaging 33-35. That's WI and BD levels. Or England in the nineties when the at least the bowling was much better.

We always hear that batters should play their natural game, but how do they adapt to Test cricket if that's the case? Surely you should learn from what works and what doesn't (what to play and what to leave) and learn to clock on for long periods? As I said above, Mark Nicholas made Buttler's four hour innings sound like Atherton at Jo'burg. If four hours is a marathon innings, we're losing the context by which they might succeed.

Still, a captain is most exposed in the field, and his bowlers are doing OK (and Anderson brilliantly) though the catchers (those batters again) are doing very poorly.

[KipperJohn]

Far to many of our top order batsmen are guilty of playing that irritating flat footed push towards third man, which may yield many runs in ODI s but is recipe for disaster in Tests against good bowling. That is not be confused with a proper straight bat defensive stroke. on both front or back foot and played with soft hands under the eyes. That, and judging what to leave, should be the back bone of practice for a Test innings in England at least.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Pope is out, and Mo is in.

JB2 keeps and JB1 just bats.

Curran comes in for Woakes.

[Durhamfootman]

I'm looking forward to England turning to Mo instead of Rashid when they need to give Broad, Curran and Santiago a rest

My guess is that Root will be instructed not to bowl Mo under any circumstances, for fear of making the head selector look like a *modded* chump

[KipperJohn]

I'm looking forward to England turning to Mo instead of Rashid when they need to give Broad, Curran and Santiago a rest

My guess is that Root will be instructed not to bowl Mo under any circumstances, for fear of making the head selector look like a *modded* chump

A very underwhelming attempt to addresss England’s batting issues.