Ashes 2017-18

[nat]

We have been unlucky with injuries to Roland-Jones and Finn. Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett both not fit. No Ben Stokes either.

I would say the fastest bowlers in England not selected:

Stuart Meaker
Olly Stone
Richard Gleeson
Mark Footitt
Jamie Overton
James Fuller

The same old faces get picked for the Lions. Its always the likes of Tom Helm, Saqib Mahmood, George Garton, Paul Coughlin etc.

I think Jamie Overton's injured and Mark Footit screwed his chance sup with his fannying about last season.

Mark Foottit - the last thing you need in Oz is a snowflake. That's why I like Craig Overton so much, a bit of the dog in him. When his brother is fit again I can see both featuring in the Test team.

[IlfordEagle]

After yesterday's poor batting the bowlers gave us a chance with excellent bowling from Jimmy & well backed by Chris Woakes (hope he bowls like this more often), not a great start to our 2nd innings but we are halfway there & Root is the key - if he can get a big ton then we could do it but if he gets out early I can't see the others getting close. It should be a fascinating final day especially the key first session. I look forward to switching on at 5.30am tomorrow when I get up.

[Oldhasbeen]

The Aussies are clearly favoutites but at least we've put up a fight.

Great lower-order batting by Woakes & Overton, playing with balls & brains. Then world class boowling by Anderson & Woakes in both the bowler-friendly floodlit conditions and the more neutral conditions the next day.

Ha dMalan hunfg on I'd stil gove us a real chance but it must be 10-1 aagainst, only a Root 200 willdo it for us, I think. But the Aussies confidence will have taken a HUGE knock.

Wish we had a real (90 mph) paceman as good a Cummins, though. If he could stay fit he'd be i neveryone's world X1.

[Andy]

If Anderson and Broad had behaved like the senior internationals on the first morning we could've won this one. As I said before the series began, we are frustratingly making an average Aussie side look like the class of 1995-2004.

Still big crowds and the possibility of any result on the final day. Shows that Test cricket is still very much alive. The secret is to have bilateral rivalries rather than 'leagues' which leads to too many series involving sides not good enough and who's audience is culturally and intellectually not up to watching an absorbing game unfold over a week.

[bwildered]

Anderson might have taken his first Aussies Michelle,  looks possible the team is heading for one also.

[nat]

Yep the Ashes have gone. Anderson and Broad hold too much influence over the team and need to be reigned in ... Or dropped. Need a strong captain.

[Oldhasbeen]

If Anderson and Broad had behaved like the senior internationals on the first morning we could've won this one. As I said before the series began, we are frustratingly making an average Aussie side look like the class of 1995-2004.

Spot on, Andy. 2 great seamers, a top-class spinner and one world-class batsman do not a great team make.

Like the old WW1 joke has it, "it's not the depsair, it's the hope I can't take." My rambling early-morning throughts:

Hard to see how to improve the England Xi with what's available, assuming the report in the sub-Standard stating that Mark Wood's nowhere near ready is correct, amd that Ben Stokes can't be recalled yet. Bringing in Ballance or Ball would do nothing to inspire my confidence.

On their form so far in this series, you could make a strong case for dropping Ally & Mo, or even Broad, were there decent alternatives about. They need to deliver in the next test, and stop living on reputations, or their test careers could go the same way as Jonathon Trott's did after the last Aussie tour. 

James Vince - I'd love to see him succeed at Test level, clasic stylist, but what has he got between his ears? Not the stuff of a number 3, IMHO. Is it time for Joe Root to grow a pair and bat at 3, with Malan 4, Vince 5 & Bairstow 6?

[Perov]

I'd drop Vince ( I would not have picked in the first place), bat Root at 3, Bairstow 4 and bring in Foakes as wicketkeeper.
Ali deserves to be dropped but there are no suitable replacements.

It's a lost cause but it would be good to see some fight back in the next Test.

[Andy]

Yep the Ashes have gone. Anderson and Broad hold too much influence over the team and need to be reigned in ... Or dropped. Need a strong captain.

I wouldn't disagree about those two - but they are clearly better than any other bowler. Perhaps the real problem is they know it!

Let's face it, Chef was poor - a posh Tim-Nice-But-dim who's better off slaughtering dumb animals and working the ball off his pads. Joe Root is another pleasant person, but really no strength of character.  Personally, I'd ask Dizzy to take over as coach, appointing someone with no knowledge/interest of the county game was going to be a huge problem. Indeed, I'd get Allan Border as chairman.

The only good thing that could come out of this is the resignation of Strauss and Graves. Somehow I don't think this will happen.

[nat]

Yep the Ashes have gone. Anderson and Broad hold too much influence over the team and need to be reigned in ... Or dropped. Need a strong captain.

I wouldn't disagree about those two - but they are clearly better than any other bowler. Perhaps the real problem is they know it!

Let's face it, Chef was poor - a posh Tim-Nice-But-dim who's better off slaughtering dumb animals and working the ball off his pads. Joe Root is another pleasant person, but really no strength of character.  Personally, I'd ask Dizzy to take over as coach, appointing someone with no knowledge/interest of the county game was going to be a huge problem. Indeed, I'd get Allan Border as chairman.

The only good thing that could come out of this is the resignation of Strauss and Graves. Somehow I don't think this will happen.

You've indirectly identified the problem, no-one is wholly accountable.

[LeedsExile]

This is beginning to look like a tour too far for Mr Cook. If his current form carries on he will have a big decision to make. Their is nothing more for him to achieve internationally or domestically, he has a young family and a career in farming to pursue whenever he decides to call time.

[JasonP]

Yep the Ashes have gone. Anderson and Broad hold too much influence over the team and need to be reigned in ... Or dropped. Need a strong captain.

I wouldn't disagree about those two - but they are clearly better than any other bowler. Perhaps the real problem is they know it!

Let's face it, Chef was poor - a posh Tim-Nice-But-dim who's better off slaughtering dumb animals and working the ball off his pads. Joe Root is another pleasant person, but really no strength of character.  Personally, I'd ask Dizzy to take over as coach, appointing someone with no knowledge/interest of the county game was going to be a huge problem. Indeed, I'd get Allan Border as chairman.

The only good thing that could come out of this is the resignation of Strauss and Graves. Somehow I don't think this will happen.

What have they got to do with it?  We just haven't got good enough players at the moment.  The squad is pretty much the best that could have been picked.  There's no one else that has demanded to be picked on performances.  The likes of Vince, Malan and Stoneman are decent county batsman but have never shown anything consistantly that they are above that level.  They've been picked because there's no one better.  Bowlers like Overton, Ball, Woakes etc are decent bowlers in county cricket where conditions pretty much always give you something to work with, even on flat pitches.  They struggle when they go to places like Australia.  Again, we have no one better.  Add this to Cook looking out of sorts and the huge loss of Stokes and we look ordinary.

[neil]

This is beginning to look like a tour too far for Mr Cook. If his current form carries on he will have a big decision to make. Their is nothing more for him to achieve internationally or domestically, he has a young family and a career in farming to pursue whenever he decides to call time.

Maybe, I have Essex stars in my eyes. But, I’ve always thought Cook would play a few years CC as and when he stops playing internationally. It may be nothing to do with achievement - just some time playing with his county without too much pressure

I do think he may call time on his international career after this tour, though

[Slogger]

This is beginning to look like a tour too far for Mr Cook. If his current form carries on he will have a big decision to make. Their is nothing more for him to achieve internationally or domestically, he has a young family and a career in farming to pursue whenever he decides to call time.

Maybe, I have Essex stars in my eyes. But, I’ve always thought Cook would play a few years CC as and when he stops playing internationally. It may be nothing to do with achievement - just some time playing with his county without too much pressure

I do think he may call time on his international career after this tour, though

Yes I'd hope Cook wouldn't do a Hussain and retire from all forms of cricket immediately but rather do a Gooch and play on at county level for a year or two. I guess he could make a fortune out of the Big Bash if he wanted to combined with playing for Essex as he's a name and the Aussies seem to like English players in that competition. But it wouldn't surprise me if he packed it all in - especially if he gets a media offer.

[Andy]

The only good thing that could come out of this is the resignation of Strauss and Graves. Somehow I don't think this will happen.

What have they got to do with it?  We just haven't got good enough players at the moment.  The squad is pretty much the best that could have been picked.  There's no one else that has demanded to be picked on performances.  The likes of Vince, Malan and Stoneman are decent county batsman but have never shown anything consistantly that they are above that level.  They've been picked because there's no one better.  Bowlers like Overton, Ball, Woakes etc are decent bowlers in county cricket where conditions pretty much always give you something to work with, even on flat pitches.  They struggle when they go to places like Australia.  Again, we have no one better.  Add this to Cook looking out of sorts and the huge loss of Stokes and we look ordinary.

Chef has looked disinterested since losing the captaincy -  he seemed to be the only rating his manhandling of the attack.

Some strange selection policies: Plunkett has been sneaked back in. Mason Crane has a nice suntan.
Stoneman was ignored despite scoring runs, but I guess G&S don't really pay much attention to county form.

 Indeed, when considering the county game do they look much beyond fixing championships for their teams? Their master plan is city franchises, which won't address the problems of the game: not enough playing the game at grassroots and hiding the game behind a paywall for a generation. This allied with a media strategy driven by the Aussie fake news machine suggests Mr S should've taken up his place on our masters programme...