The 'Summer' of Cricket thread 2013

[DMR]

Bairstow ain't good enough. Root not ready for opening. Get Compton back in.

As for carrying Chavi, at least he churned out some hundreds.

[leefer]

It took Bell years and being dropped twice. If Bairstow is good enough, he'll come back in future. Right now we're carrying him to the extent we were carrying Bopara in 2009, and he got dropped for a chap called Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott who's done quite well.

From what I remember (and startlingly in hindsight), Trott was considered more of a one day player too. First came to prominence in the T20!

Fair enough,i just feel a player averaging 32ish after a dozen or so caps including four half centuries shouldn't be dropped.

[Nemo]

Bairstow ain't good enough. Root not ready for opening. Get Compton back in.

I'm a huge Compton fan and I'm not sure that adding another defensive minded batsman in dubious form (all the county stuff recently has been T20 which hardly helps) is going to help the present situation. If you're arguing that we should get Compton back in to help us in Australia and it doesn't matter about this series as we've already retained the Ashes then I'd probably agree, but think Carberry is a better bet for this series.

Fair enough,i just feel a player averaging 32ish after a dozen or so caps including four half centuries shouldn't be dropped.

A player averaging the same with two tons was dropped to accomodate him

[TheMajorSTFC]

A poor batting display once again from England, but take nothing away from the Aussie seam bowlers who set up Nathan Lyon to get his 4 wickets today. England didn't do anything and they really need to find a way to smack Shane Watson about. This bastad has bowled more maidens than he's had runs scored off him in his overs this series, and he's a dibbly dobbler! I wouldn't have Nick Compton back as I don't think he's good enough either. As a Yorkshire fan (through family ties) it's hard to see how Bairstow got into the test side as whenever I saw him prior to his call up in the ODI's 2 years ago the lad couldn't hit off the square. I think he needs to go back, play county cricket, do some of the Lions tours and come back stronger. He probably has the 2nd innings as his last chance before someone else is brought in. It's strange to have so many top order batsmen out of form as England do right now, or is the fact the Aussies have bowled well at us? I think England threw their wickets away today, but it was built up by the Aussies not going for very many,

I'd have Carberry in. He bats 3 in the championship I believe (as Dawson/Adams open for Hants) and could slot in at 6. Another one I'd look at is Varun Chopra who must be on the verge of a call up, the bloke has been scoring runs in the CC for the past 3 seasons (he's having a quieter one this season by all means) and also James Taylor, who appears to be next in line.

Anyway, rant/discussion over! Long way to go in this test yet!

[Nomoreheroes]

The only thing about Carberry is that he's 33, while Compton is 30.

I suspect James Taylor, at 23, would be the one England will go with as 'one for the future'. Or maybe 28 year old Ravi Bopara...again!

[RedRag]

Not sure that changing newly selected openers after a poor-ish run of scores is the answer.  Would have extended Compton's tenure just as I would now keep Root.  Both have shown promise opening although I agree Root appears more comfortable as a middle order bat. 

[sonicyouth]

What aboit Gary Ballance?  Not seen him play but was mentioned as a potential replacement for KP for the third test.

[RobertT]

If Bairstow and Prior are not getting runs then it undoes a lot of the tactics the team is based on.  We always go for 4 bowlers because they are pretty damned good, but having 7 batsmen all capable of averaging 40 means those 4 bowlers should have decent targets to work with.  If only 5 are getting close to 40 then we are wasting at least one spot in the order, and if we don't get the runs the bowlers are under more pressure, so having a 5th would be useful.

It's a shame Broad hasn't been able to get a mid 30's average, I think we would have had him at 7 if he could.

As it stands, Bairstow is probably the weak link.  Someone with near guaranteed runs is needed if Prior can't click into gear, or another Bowler if we don't think that would happen.

For the England team though, they'll probably keep it the same.

When all is said and done, we are 2-0 up, and Aussies haven't been in bat yet.

[RedRag]

What aboit Gary Ballance?  Not seen him play but was mentioned as a potential replacement for KP for the third test.

Haven't seen him either.  I do know that being from Southern Africa wouldn't do his chances any harm.

[Nemo]

Warner b Broad 3 and we're on the scorecard. Need a big bowling performance today, it is swinging and it should turn too so I agree that we're not out of this just yet.

[ghanimah]

Perhaps our score of 238 doesn't look so bad now...convicts 12-2

[Nemo]

Really odd moment- Rogers is given out caught behind, he's not hit it and he's umpire's call on the lbw...so not out. Although the umpire didn't give a call on lbw whatsoever.

[sonicyouth]

DRS makes less and less sense to me now

[Nemo]

Agreed to an extent, I'm a fan of the concept but it's creating tension between players and umpires and I think it's lowering umpiring standards...although that may just be that Tony Hill is fucking dire. Bowden may a preening peacock but he's better than Hill but country miles.

Something needs to be done, not quite sure what though.

[DMR]

If Tony Hill ever umpires another test match I will be flabbergasted