Nemo
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« Reply #120 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 11:13:13 » |
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Crawley had a long run in the side pretty recently as an opener/3, scored that one monster 270-odd against Pakistan but otherwise not much good. I have a mild hunch he might do okay on Aussie pitches, but no real evidence for that.
Bairstow and Lawrence are both lower order players. Could send them in to open, but it'd be a heck of a risk.
To a point, opening in Australia and opening in the UK is super different technically - in the UK you need to be wary of swing so play at the ball a lot to avoid it bowling you as you leave , in Aus there's less swing and more bounce so you want to play less to avoid it taking the edge as you play. This is part of why Warner was absolute shit in England last time out and is imperious in Aus.
Not sure what the answer is in any way really. Cricket has become so different in different locations now that competing abroad is stupidly hard against anything like a competent side.
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Hunk
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« Reply #121 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 11:29:05 » |
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Crawley had a long run in the side pretty recently as an opener/3, scored that one monster 270-odd against Pakistan but otherwise not much good. I have a mild hunch he might do okay on Aussie pitches, but no real evidence for that.
Bairstow and Lawrence are both lower order players. Could send them in to open, but it'd be a heck of a risk.
To a point, opening in Australia and opening in the UK is super different technically - in the UK you need to be wary of swing so play at the ball a lot to avoid it bowling you as you leave , in Aus there's less swing and more bounce so you want to play less to avoid it taking the edge as you play. This is part of why Warner was absolute shit in England last time out and is imperious in Aus.
Not sure what the answer is in any way really. Cricket has become so different in different locations now that competing abroad is stupidly hard against anything like a competent side.
Cheers for that Nemo, really insightful. Am I right in saying Bairstow has opened before, but without much success?
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Nemo
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« Reply #122 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 11:35:25 » |
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Not on a long term basis in red ball cricket, he does it all the time in white ball cricket but it's basically a different sport. I think we have chucked him in once or twice in a "Tom Broadbent up front" type hail mary though, which may be your memory.
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Posh Red
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« Reply #123 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 11:59:24 » |
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It’s not just this team though is it, how long is it since we have won a test in Australia?
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RobertT
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« Reply #124 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 13:11:41 » |
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Central Contracts were once a game change for out Test team - enabling the cream of our talent to be coached, looked after and focused on improving their game without having to divert that attention away (yes, they still played County Cricket, but it made England like a top tier club).
Since then what has changed for us to become so utterly feeble? The rise and change of the sorter forms of the game. Playing a few 20 over games in India is far more of a career choice than getting an England Central Contract and playing any of the shorter forms a better choice for a player than adding a few County 4 day games to get some time in the middle. The One Day game of yore used to be just a faster version of Test cricket, but with the focus has now become a different sport with completely different techniques being developed by players.
That has impacted other Countries as well, it's not just us. Even this Aus team would take a serious beating from those that came before it. I think, to the points made above, the technique issue is now showing up the variation in where you play as well.
Overall, nobody is really knocking on the door to replace this lot, which means we have a few years of abject batting to come.
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swindon74
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« Reply #125 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 13:47:39 » |
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The selection has been so odd, why are we putting leach in the team if we aren’t going to even bowl him! Should have picked wood, he would have caused all sorts of issues with his bounce and pace. And then just have root as our main spin bowler.
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Hunk
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« Reply #126 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 14:14:14 » |
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The selection has been so odd, why are we putting leach in the team if we aren’t going to even bowl him! Should have picked wood, he would have caused all sorts of issues with his bounce and pace. And then just have root as our main spin bowler.
Agree about Root being our main spin bowler. He might be technically as good but he seems to get wickets and batsmen might be more wary of him precisely because he isn’t as technically good as Leach. Fear of the (relatively) unknown and all that
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Nomoreheroes
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« Reply #127 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 15:26:00 » |
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Problem is that we have an ageing bowling attack and a technically flawed batting line up.
We have made village cricketers like Labuschene and Smith look like world beaters.
Burns is technically flawed. Hameed played one or two good innings before breaking his arm several years ago and has done little since. Quite how he has made it into the England side with a 1st Class average of 32 I'll never know!
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You're my incurable malady. I miss the pleasure of your company.
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Nemo
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« Reply #128 on: Friday, December 17, 2021, 16:18:51 » |
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We have made village cricketers like Labuschene and Smith look like world beaters. They are world beaters, they have respectively the 2nd and 4th highest averages in the entirely history of test cricket. Might be a bit lower if we could catch mind.
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Hunk
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« Reply #129 on: Saturday, December 18, 2021, 06:30:15 » |
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I’m going to be quiet this time
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Legends-Lounge
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« Reply #130 on: Saturday, December 18, 2021, 06:46:32 » |
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I’m going to be quiet this time
I was just thinking this is going rather well. Root, what were you thinking?
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Nemo
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« Reply #131 on: Saturday, December 18, 2021, 08:10:32 » |
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Not quiet enough Hunk, seemingly.
I know it's not the only thing but Aus just don't drop catches. It makes so much difference that they have to take ten wickets and we have to take 15 or more.
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Nomoreheroes
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« Reply #132 on: Saturday, December 18, 2021, 08:54:26 » |
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There's noone to bring in! Burns, Hameed and Pope have to go.
All England have to bring in are Crawley and Bairstow.
But the fact Woakes has been ineffective suggests Wood will come back (if fit). The net effect of those 3 changes would be to weaken the batting line up.
Looked at the Lions squad and don't see any names I would bring in! Livingstone could potentially come in as a lower order option, but, is he better than Bairstow or Buttler (who for me are both number 6 or 7s in a decent team)?
The Vicar of Sibley is another failed opener who turned down the Lions tour.
Bracey showed he was waaaaaay off Test level.
I might as well get my pads out of the loft if we are looking further down the list!
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Nemo
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« Reply #133 on: Saturday, December 18, 2021, 11:03:13 » |
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Woakes has been ineffective with the ball but has also been our fourth highest scoring batsman.
We've played Leach in the wrong test, it's spinning pretty significantly here. Swap the bowling attacks for the two tests and we'd have done better in both I'd have thought...
Of course, we could bowl for brain-dead runouts.
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Nemo
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« Reply #134 on: Sunday, December 19, 2021, 08:01:54 » |
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Here we go by again. Woke up to Malan bowling, walked the dog and back just to see him take guard.
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