The cricket thread

sixstringsupplies

3 straight swaps for me

Leach for Ali. 
Foakes for Bairstow
Archer for Anderson 

only 4 players came out of the first test with credibility for me: Burns, Woakes, Stokes and Broad. Everyone else was absolutely pathetic. 

sixstringsupplies

Heartfeltdawn said:

Jake Ball is out of the picture. 14 wickets in 7 CC matches at 46 in a season that has been good for seamers isn't the form to convince selectors you should be in a Test team when your international average is currently 114. Olly Stone and Lewis Gregory are injured so they are out. Archer is bowling well but I would feel somewhat worried about picking a guy who played a long tournament in agony for a five day match when we've just had Jimmy pull up lame during a game.  

TRJ is back to full fitness and has been bowling well. 19 wickets in his last 2 CC outings in July. Hat trick in the 20slog against Glamorgan. Lords is his home track and I'd have no worries about him going straight in there.  

Personally I'd go with this line up: 

Burns
Sam Curran
Root
Roy
Buttler (if he is absolutely blasted then give him a break. James Hildreth, Tom Banton, Sibley, Crawley, takes yer pick)
Stokes
Foakes
Woakes
Broad
TRJ
Leach

Only two of this side don't have first class tons: Curran and Leach. On paper, they can all bat. On a grass wicket in a Test match... 

Steve James advocated Roy at 4. Sure, I can go with that. There is an argument that Denly offers a 2nd spinner option: I don't think you'll need that at Lords. The weather is up and down over the next week and I'm of the mind that Lords will be a bit handy for the seamers. Sam Curran opening! Yes! I've touted this before and I'll do it again. The guy can bat. If he could do half the job the SA allrounder Andrew Hall did against India and Sri Lanka when he covered for Herschelle Gibbs, we'd be onto a winner. Curran opening wouldn't make our opening partnership any worse than it has been and his bowling would be a greater asset at Lords than Denly's legspin. 

I agree with Roy being moved down the order.  I like your team, I'd open with Woakes though. So swap Woakes and Curran around in the batting order. 

crunchman

sixstringsupplies said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

Jake Ball is out of the picture. 14 wickets in 7 CC matches at 46 in a season that has been good for seamers isn't the form to convince selectors you should be in a Test team when your international average is currently 114. Olly Stone and Lewis Gregory are injured so they are out. Archer is bowling well but I would feel somewhat worried about picking a guy who played a long tournament in agony for a five day match when we've just had Jimmy pull up lame during a game.  

TRJ is back to full fitness and has been bowling well. 19 wickets in his last 2 CC outings in July. Hat trick in the 20slog against Glamorgan. Lords is his home track and I'd have no worries about him going straight in there.  

Personally I'd go with this line up: 

Burns
Sam Curran
Root
Roy
Buttler (if he is absolutely blasted then give him a break. James Hildreth, Tom Banton, Sibley, Crawley, takes yer pick)
Stokes
Foakes
Woakes
Broad
TRJ
Leach

Only two of this side don't have first class tons: Curran and Leach. On paper, they can all bat. On a grass wicket in a Test match... 

Steve James advocated Roy at 4. Sure, I can go with that. There is an argument that Denly offers a 2nd spinner option: I don't think you'll need that at Lords. The weather is up and down over the next week and I'm of the mind that Lords will be a bit handy for the seamers. Sam Curran opening! Yes! I've touted this before and I'll do it again. The guy can bat. If he could do half the job the SA allrounder Andrew Hall did against India and Sri Lanka when he covered for Herschelle Gibbs, we'd be onto a winner. Curran opening wouldn't make our opening partnership any worse than it has been and his bowling would be a greater asset at Lords than Denly's legspin. 

I agree with Roy being moved down the order.  I like your team, I'd open with Woakes though. So swap Woakes and Curran around in the batting order. 

I'd go with Archer over TRJ.  He might stiffen the batting a bit as well - he has a first class batting average over 30.

Only problem with Curran or Woakes opening is that you are exposing Root early.  He's being exposed early anyway, so it won't be any worse, but I'm not sure you need 5 quick bowlers.  Sibley or Crawley are likely to make more runs than either of them, and you would still have 4 quick bowlers.

I'd look at something like this:

Burns

Sibley/Crawley

Root

Roy

Buttler

Stokes

Foakes

Woakes

Archer

Broad

Leach

Heartfeltdawn

With no Anderson at Lords, Woakes will be needed to step up with the ball. Asking him to open the batting and open the bowling would be asking a huge amount from him. Curran would be first change bowler at best. 

TRJ's FC average is 22 so not awful and he's got a first class ton...  

Sibley/Crawley versus Woakes/Curran: it's a crap shoot. There's no certainty that two kids on debut at Lords with nerves a-plenty would get more runs than two established players who have already scored international runs. What you wouldn't get from the first two are any overs with the ball. If its wet over London in the run up to Lords, then it'll be a battle of the bowlers and we have nobody fit outside of Curran who is an out and out swing bowler. Weather forecast is fairly shit for the Wednesday, alas... 

scrumhalf

I don't think you can ask someone to make their debut at Lords in the Ashes when we're one down.

I'd swap Denly and Roy around. It may well be moving deckchairs on the Titanic, but there just aren't the openers available. 

Heartfeltdawn

In the case of Denly, I'm chucking that chair overboard. He's not good enough to get into that side as a batsman alone and I'd prefer a seam bowling all rounder at Lords. 

Heartfeltdawn

That noise you heard this afternoon is the sound of some county cheque books opening...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49284589

crunchman

Ali dropped for Leach.

12 man squad so most likely Archer to replace Anderson with Curran 12th man.

Bairstow has averaged 22.9 since the start of last summer.  Not picking Foakes is inexcusable.

sixstringsupplies

You can understand the loyalty to Bairstow, but he’s been poor for too long in test cricket.

i wonder if Foakes will end up like Chris Read. Undoubtedly the best gloveman in the country, consistently overlooked by England. Retires at 37-38 with a handful of tests to his name. 

scrumhalf

If we can get both Currans, Billings and Foakes into the team we could have a team made up solely of all-rounders and wicketkeepers.

RandallFlagg

Guys, guys...I've figured out how to solve England's woes and guarantee to regain The Ashes. I have a plan and it's quite brilliant. I can't quite believe no-one has thought if this yet. We need to keep Moeen in the squad, I'll give Trev a call and square that that up with him.

So, what I'll do is, sneak into the dressing rooms early on Wednesday morning and swap Steve Smith and Moeen Ali's kits over so Smudgy will come out as No.3 batsman for England in Moeen's kit. We'll pop the lyrics to God Same The Queen in his trouser pocket so he can mumble along to the national anthem and give Moeen the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda or whatever the Aussie anthem is.

No-one will be any the wiser and Smudger will bang out a couple of hundred runs for England. All I need in an egg and bacon tie, a blue shirt and a straw boater and slip into Lords early doors, swap the kits then sit back with a few glasses of champers chatting to John Major, Mick Jagger and Stephe Fry (who all live at the Lords Pavilion) and Bob's your uncle.

RandallFlagg

rain forecast for 1st day at Lords.

crunchman

Forecasts for Friday and Saturday not bad either.  Might get out of it with a draw!

scrumhalf

crunchman said:

Forecasts for Friday and Saturday not bad either.  Might get out of it with a draw!

Rain forecast for all five days, just not sure when and for how long.

Heartfeltdawn

scrumhalf said:

crunchman said:

Forecasts for Friday and Saturday not bad either.  Might get out of it with a draw!

Rain forecast for all five days, just not sure when and for how long.

It's currently 7.34am in Sutton. Meant to start around 8am here. I can see it in the distance from the balcony. Off on a train at 8am for Paddington to meet a friend then walking up to St Johns Wood. Am feeling less hopeful than our next Eurovision Song Contest entrant of having a successful day. 

Heartfeltdawn

7.51am. Light rain has begun. Coming in from the West. Picnic basket loaded, carrier bag of assorted alcohol ready. 

RandallFlagg

Heartfeltdawn said:

7.51am. Light rain has begun. Coming in from the West. Picnic basket loaded, carrier bag of assorted alcohol ready. 

and that's just for Jofra Archer

NorthernGooner

Heartfeltdawn said:

7.51am. Light rain has begun. Coming in from the West. Picnic basket loaded, carrier bag of assorted alcohol ready. 

Best of luck with that. I thought the days of stopping off at Berry Bros. & Rudd for a couple of cheeky clarets  and swanning through the Lords gates with them in your picnic hamper were long gone.  

RandallFlagg

NorthernGooner said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

7.51am. Light rain has begun. Coming in from the West. Picnic basket loaded, carrier bag of assorted alcohol ready. 

Best of luck with that. I thought the days of stopping off at Berry Bros. & Rudd for a couple of cheeky clarets  and swanning through the Lords gates with them in your picnic hamper were long gone.  

Lords own alcohol policy:

"Lord's is the only international cricket venue in the world where spectators can bring alcohol into the ground. A spectator may bring alcoholic drinks into the Ground in one of the following descriptions and quantities:

(i) one bottle of wine or Champagne (max. 750ml); or (ii) two cans/bottles of beer/cider (max. 500ml each); or (iii) two cans of premixed aperitifs (max. 330ml each).

Bottles of spirits or fortified wines will not be allowed into the Ground. Amounts of alcohol in excess of these limits and any alcohol in excess of these limits will be confiscated. Under no circumstances will any spectator be re-admitted to the Ground at any time during the day if he or she is in possession of any alcohol. M.C.C. reserves the right to confiscate any quantity of alcohol from any spectator"

crunchman

Looking at the weather outside now, a thermos flask of something warm might be more appropriate today.  I'll be very surprised if the game starts on time.