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Post by highlandshrew on May 1, 2015 18:40:03 GMT 1
No he's not. He is mentally shot and the Aussies are the last team he should be put up against - home or away. It's time to move on and let Lyth open with Cook, with Ballance, Hales, Root and Ali to follow then a keeper (not convinced about Butler's keeping ability but he can bat) and four bowlers. He's got an issue with the short ball, that's not mentally shot. If he was mentally shot he wouldn't have averaged 40 in first class cricket and almost 70 in one day cricket. Plus he then went off with the lions and scored runs for fun. Totally agree with the second paragraph, bar your (presume mistaken) omission of a man with 107 tests and a batting average of 45! Taylor aside, I'm not convinced we have the batsmen to cover a few broken fingers which is a slight concern. However Hildreth's early season form is decent plus there's guys like Chopra and Vince who are very good players. No, omitting Ian Bell was not a mistake. A great player but the records show he is past his best. In the last 15 Test matches before his duck today he has scored 884 runs at a shade over 35 average with just 2 centuries in 25 completed innings - simply not good enough. The selectors should thank him for his service and replace him with someone younger (although at 33 I agree he is not old). As regards Trott, we will have to disagree about his mental state but anyone with a known problem against short-pitched bowling is not going to succeed against the Aussies in an Ashes series - particularly with their current line-up. They will be all over him like a rash - both verbally and with a bombardment of throat balls. Bringing him back for the West Indies series was a gamble - it has failed and thus they should move on, but as ever they are a game or too late in reacting to this reality.
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Post by vanner on May 1, 2015 18:51:56 GMT 1
He's got an issue with the short ball, that's not mentally shot. If he was mentally shot he wouldn't have averaged 40 in first class cricket and almost 70 in one day cricket. Plus he then went off with the lions and scored runs for fun. Totally agree with the second paragraph, bar your (presume mistaken) omission of a man with 107 tests and a batting average of 45! Taylor aside, I'm not convinced we have the batsmen to cover a few broken fingers which is a slight concern. However Hildreth's early season form is decent plus there's guys like Chopra and Vince who are very good players. No, omitting Ian Bell was not a mistake. A great player but the records show he is past his best. In the last 15 Test matches before his duck today he has scored 884 runs at a shade over 35 average with just 2 centuries in 25 completed innings - simply not good enough. The selectors should thank him for his service and replace him with someone younger (although at 33 I agree he is not old). As regards Trott, we will have to disagree about his mental state but anyone with a known problem against short-pitched bowling is not going to succeed against the Aussies in an Ashes series - particularly with their current line-up. They will be all over him like a rash - both verbally and with a bombardment of throat balls. Bringing him back for the West Indies series was a gamble - it has failed and thus they should move on, but as ever they are a game or too late in reacting to this reality. I presume you haven't forgotten his 144 in the first test when we were 34-3 then? I'd be staggered if he was dropped. Technically Bell has been our best batsmen for years and years and he averaged 100 for a year not long ago!
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Post by highlandshrew on May 1, 2015 19:00:01 GMT 1
No, omitting Ian Bell was not a mistake. A great player but the records show he is past his best. In the last 15 Test matches before his duck today he has scored 884 runs at a shade over 35 average with just 2 centuries in 25 completed innings - simply not good enough. The selectors should thank him for his service and replace him with someone younger (although at 33 I agree he is not old). As regards Trott, we will have to disagree about his mental state but anyone with a known problem against short-pitched bowling is not going to succeed against the Aussies in an Ashes series - particularly with their current line-up. They will be all over him like a rash - both verbally and with a bombardment of throat balls. Bringing him back for the West Indies series was a gamble - it has failed and thus they should move on, but as ever they are a game or too late in reacting to this reality. I presume you haven't forgotten his 144 in the first test when we were 34-3 then? I'd be staggered if he was dropped. Technically Bell has been our best batsmen for years and years and he averaged 100 for a year not long ago! 143 in the first test, but even with that currently averages less than 40 in this series against the second worst test side in the world. He averaged 100 in 2011 - 4 years ago! As I said, he was a great player but he is past his best and the selectors should be looking for his replacement in 'soft' series ahead of the tougher matches to come (NZ will be no pushovers before Australia).
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Post by vanner on May 1, 2015 19:18:51 GMT 1
Agree to disagree then. By your logic Cook should have been dropped too. Thankfully the selectors aren't quite as harsh and it seems Cook is getting back to his best slowly, haven't seen him bat this well for a long time.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2015 19:29:27 GMT 1
I'm in the Bell camp. I think he is going to have a key part to play for England this summer. He would be the least of my concerns at the moment, finding a reliable batsman to open with Cook is the priority at the moment.
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Post by vanner on May 1, 2015 22:04:07 GMT 1
Yes cooky!!! Delighted for him, top innings.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2015 8:04:49 GMT 1
Largely due to Bell that we won the last home Ashes Series. He carried our batting.
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Post by vanner on May 3, 2015 15:34:34 GMT 1
62-6 now. Game on... Need stokes and Buttler to be super positive imo. A couple of quick fire 30/40's could be match winning scores.
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Post by mrbunny on May 3, 2015 15:56:01 GMT 1
You'd still rather be us at present. 150+ lead with potential for a lot more. Also with the Windies dodgy batting line up you would n't fancy them chasing much on here if we bowl well.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2015 16:14:04 GMT 1
Just wish that we had a world class spinner (or two) available to us to exploit the conditions later on today...
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Post by vanner on May 3, 2015 17:05:13 GMT 1
Game will finish today. Superb stuff from the Windies. Buttler has to move up to 7 and Ali should go down to 8. Time for Ali and Jordan to produce the goods, they've been carried so far...
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Post by mrbunny on May 3, 2015 17:12:51 GMT 1
About time Stokes and Broad bowled a decent spell too.
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Post by vanner on May 3, 2015 17:22:17 GMT 1
About time Stokes and Broad bowled a decent spell too. Broad bowled well in the last test, 4-60 odd. Just wish he could remember how to bat!
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Post by mrbunny on May 3, 2015 17:27:52 GMT 1
About time Stokes and Broad bowled a decent spell too. Broad bowled well in the last test, 4-60 odd. Just wish he could remember how to bat! Maybe being harsh on Broad but he does have nearly 300 test wickets and still only performs once every 5 or 6 tests. Just wish he would do it more often. As for his batting, that looks to have gone, head totally gone and won't get any better with Southee, Boult, Johnson, Harris and others coming this summer. Maybe time for him to bat at 11?
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Post by northwestman on May 3, 2015 18:49:51 GMT 1
Poor performances from 2 poor teams.
West Indies need 192 to win. 35/2 at the moment.
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Post by vanner on May 3, 2015 19:34:38 GMT 1
Poor is very harsh. Excellent cricket, huge wicket for Broad that, great bowling before it too, 4 consecutive maidens leading up to it.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 19:56:13 GMT 1
From Cricinfo:
"His 52-Test career ended with innings of 0 and 9 in Barbados, bounced out in the first by Shannon Gabriel and lbw to Jerome Taylor in the second, and it was during the match that debate around his future started to swirl again, although it is understood Trott had decided during the preceding Test in Grenada that he would retire".
This makes not giving Lyth a go an absolute shocker of a decision.
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Post by vanner on May 4, 2015 20:01:23 GMT 1
Lyth will be a dead cert for the kiwi's. Big shame for Trotty, one of the best batsmen we've had in the last 25 years. Marcus Trescothick v2.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 20:41:40 GMT 1
From Cricinfo:
"His 52-Test career ended with innings of 0 and 9 in Barbados, bounced out in the first by Shannon Gabriel and lbw to Jerome Taylor in the second, and it was during the match that debate around his future started to swirl again, although it is understood Trott had decided during the preceding Test in Grenada that he would retire".
This makes not giving Lyth a go an absolute shocker of a decision. We have therefore missed a great opportunity to blood Adam Lyth during the Windies tour. What with the ill thought out comments of Colin Graves and England's conservative selection policy it doesn't bode well for the summer of test cricket.
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