Fourth Final India

[bwildered]

Improving in the fact it was a three day defeat ! Essex man Dan got his second test fifty. Giving the off field personal, would have expected the defeats would not have been so early or heavy.
The Ashes looming next winter, this series asks more questions than answers, particularly in the batting lineup .

[SirChef26]

Wonder if Dan will be asked to bat at three for Essex during April/May to get him accustomed to the position. They seem determined to protect golden boy Pope, which means that unless Dan bats three vs New Zealand then he won't play at all.

[nat]

Wonder if Dan will be asked to bat at three for Essex during April/May to get him accustomed to the position. They seem determined to protect golden boy Pope, which means that unless Dan bats three vs New Zealand then he won't play at all.

He'll play. Bairstow is finished and Stokes can't bowl and play at no. 5. Burns will probly come back for Sibley. Foakes should stay as the Test wk for now...although I'm not convinced by his batting. Bess will be dropped.

[Andy]

Still think Ben Stokes isn’t an all-rounder Andy? 

We’re in a tough spot regarding Bess. He’s probably not ready to be playing at this high level yet, but they play him because we’ve no other second spinner who can hold a bat and field as well as him. If Virdi and Parkinson could hold a bat then they’d be better options than Bess. Swann could hold a bat, which was why he and Monty worked well in the same side alongside them both being top class bowlers obviously.

Ben Stokes did well today.  He shouldn’t have had to bowl 27 overs, how often has he bowled that much in the past year or so?  The inexplicable rotation policy of squad and of team hasn’t helped.

[JasonP]

Wonder if Dan will be asked to bat at three for Essex during April/May to get him accustomed to the position. They seem determined to protect golden boy Pope, which means that unless Dan bats three vs New Zealand then he won't play at all.

He'll play. Bairstow is finished and Stokes can't bowl and play at no. 5. Burns will probly come back for Sibley. Foakes should stay as the Test wk for now...although I'm not convinced by his batting. Bess will be dropped.

It will be interesting to see what they take from this tour batting wise.  The Indian bowling, particularly spinners, is far better than Englands and Gill averaged 20, Pujara 22, Rahane 19 and Kohli 29 on these pitches against our attack.  If 4 of India's top 5 average that against our bowling then it's pretty logical that a lot of our batsman will struggle even more against their attack.  I suspect it won't be held too much against the likes of Burns, Sibley, Crawley, Pope etc.  Bairstow was pretty much a subcontinent pick, I think and he'll struggle to play again.

[honkytonk]

I agree with that.  I think as a unit, this batting line up was on a bit of a hiding to nothing.  Not much Test experience, let alone any in those conditions.  Truth is, I dont see any other test side barring maybe Pakistan giving India a game over there currently. They have some good young seamers but more important, some very good spin options. NZ are flying but they, like England do not have the spin options and their batting relies heavily on Williamson. 

I expect we will see something like Burns/Sibley, Crawley, Lawrence, Root, Pope. Stokes.  I would keep Foakes.  Pace bowling is not a problem for England in that we have plenty of options, good ones.  Spin is a big issue.  Leach is ok for the time being, he can hold his own.  Bess needs to go back to CC and bowl himself into the ground, take wickets and get some consistency.  I hope England do not just discard him. Id also like to see Parkinson get a bowl this summer at some point.  Leach will go to Aus and I would be looking at either Bess (If he can get some form and wickets for Warks) or Parkinson