The unimaginatively titled general cricket thread.

[baldbof]

Some questions being asked about Root's dismissal - there are suggestions that the ball hit the stump mike and it was that which dislodged the bail. Need to watch the video replays.

 

[urban_spaceman]

I defo thought there was something iffy at the time. But there’s nothing in the laws now that time has been called.
interesting to see any rules on what happens in event of stump Mike coming into play.

in fairness to the fielder, they've not received an advantage.

 

[Fat POM]

Some questions being asked about Root's dismissal - there are suggestions that the ball hit the stump mike and it was that which dislodged the bail. Need to watch the video replays.

Think it will be too late. Given out at the time and left the field of play. It'll be interesting to see what the outrage level would be were it to be overturned. Put me down as hopeful but not optimistic.

 

[slipperman]

Whilst overshadowed by Anderson, some fine batting by Root today. Given his average and age, he will almost certainly overtake Alastair Cook in terms of runs.. However, given his ODI pedigree I wonder if there's a case for him becoming England's greatest batsman...

Another great innings by Root today and he never appeared in trouble until his unfortunate dismissal in the final over (combined with excellent work by the fielder).
He is in a great groove at the moment and hopefully he carries that with him to India.
Sri Lanka have fought back well since their first Innings debacle in the 1st Test and are proving to be capable opponents on their home turf, but India will be on another level. England are crazy to continue with their rotation policy - they need a full strength team and in any case, dropping senior players to ‘rest them’ prior to the Ashes is massively disrespectful to India imho.

 

[Oops]

Jimmy Anderson is just extraordinary. Six wickets (so far) in the heat of Galle is an amazing feat, particularly when you take into account his age.
Oh Jimmy, Jimmy!

Have you ever been to Burnley?

Wicket taking in a Tropical Paradise has its attractions (even during a Global Pandemic)

Rooooot ain't done bad for hissel' either (for a Tyke)
Mentality Giant.

 

[longwayfromhome]

The much maligned Australian cricket team has done itself further damage off the field. Cricket Australia has contacted the government to argue that the cricketers should go to the of of the list for the injections to protect against wuflu overtaking the elderly and emergency workers because cricket is important to the prestige & wellbeing of the country. they are due to go to SA to play a test series, wonder if they will go.

 

[Fat POM]

Great morning for England. Can they finish it?

 

[bobthebuilder]

The much maligned Australian cricket team has done itself further damage off the field. Cricket Australia has contacted the government to argue that the cricketers should go to the of of the list for the injections to protect against wuflu overtaking the elderly and emergency workers because cricket is important to the prestige & wellbeing of the country. they are due to go to SA to play a test series, wonder if they will go.

To be fair, it was Cricket Australia, not the players, who asked. The players representatives have said its “morally indefensible”. Personally, I think the government should stop the tour; the vaccines are supposedly less effective against the South African strain.

On the the vaccine. Thanks to the utterly arrogant, insular approach of the Therapeutic Goods Agency (TGA), the Pfizer vaccine was only approved for use in Australia today. Vaccinations won’t start until late February. The Astra Zeneca jab hasn’t been approved yet and won’t be available until at least late March. If I were Pfizer or Astra, I’d be seriously tempted to tell Australia to **** off to the back of the queue.

 

[slipperman]

Test Cricket. Amazing and rarely disappoints.

 

[Scorcher68]

One or two alarms but solid performance all in all and well done Dom Sibley showed some brains and guts . Root and Anderson superb .

 

[bobthebuilder]

Have to say Buttler is growing into being a top rate test player. Love watching him bat. He’s put any question of Bairstow taking the gloves to bed.

How does this team fit together now when they get to India? Burns and Sibley opening, Crawley at 3 with Bairstow out? Curran out for Stokes and Lawrence for Pope? How does Foakes get a game?

And how do they fit Moeen in? Does Bess or Leach drop out? And after these two games, is it a straight swap of Archer for Wood or do they go in with the best two seamers from this tour. Who happen to have the small matter of 1123 test wickets between them?

This is shaping to be a great team. Massive dilemmas for the selectors. My team:

Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Pope
Stokes
Butler
Moeen
Bess
Broad
Anderson

 

[slipperman]

Have to say Buttler is growing into being a top rate test player. Love watching him bat. He’s put any question of Bairstow taking the gloves to bed.

How does this team fit together now when they get to India? Burns and Sibley opening, Crawley at 3 with Bairstow out? Curran out for Stokes and Lawrence for Pope? How does Foakes get a game?

And how do they fit Moeen in? Does Bess or Leach drop out? And after these two games, is it a straight swap of Archer for Wood or do they go in with the best two seamers from this tour. Who happen to have the small matter of 1123 test wickets between them?

This is shaping to be a great team. Massive dilemmas for the selectors. My team:

Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Pope
Stokes
Butler
Moeen
Bess
Broad
Anderson

Close to my preferred selection, but I would try and find a place for Archer - they may need him if Stokes plays only as a batsman. Leave Moeen on the bench and Joe Root is the 2nd twirler! Difficult to argue with both ‘veterans’ playing in the First Test though - their combined stats over the two tests in Galle are scarcely believable.
A difficult decision for the selectors, particularly with the rotation policy to be considered.

 

[pc flaps]

Have to say Buttler is growing into being a top rate test player. Love watching him bat. He’s put any question of Bairstow taking the gloves to bed.

How does this team fit together now when they get to India? Burns and Sibley opening, Crawley at 3 with Bairstow out? Curran out for Stokes and Lawrence for Pope? How does Foakes get a game?

And how do they fit Moeen in? Does Bess or Leach drop out? And after these two games, is it a straight swap of Archer for Wood or do they go in with the best two seamers from this tour. Who happen to have the small matter of 1123 test wickets between them?

This is shaping to be a great team. Massive dilemmas for the selectors. My team:

Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Pope
Stokes
Butler
Moeen
Bess
Broad
Anderson

How about

Burns
Crawley
Lawrence
Root
Pope
Stokes
Buttler (wk)
Wood
Broad
Bess
Leach

Gives Burns the chance to get some runs after a fallow period, rewards the spinners for performances in SL, and gives Anderson a rest. Lawrence I would like to see how he copes with a better attack than Sri Lanka's.

 

[bobthebuilder]

How about

Burns
Crawley
Lawrence
Root
Pope
Stokes
Buttler (wk)
Wood
Broad
Bess
Leach

Gives Burns the chance to get some runs after a fallow period, rewards the spinners for performances in SL, and gives Anderson a rest. Lawrence I would like to see how he copes with a better attack than Sri Lanka's.

I can’t see Sibley being dropped after yesterday; he seems to have adjusted his game and worked out a way to play spinners. Crawley isn’t an opener; he’s in a holding role because Burns is on paternity leave. It shows. Burns and Sibley will open IMHO.

Bairstow is going home IIRC, so that puts Crawley at 3 and Lawrence or Pope fighting over 5. Or maybe not; there’s Mo to consider. He’s got five test centuries after all. But Pope is an extraordinary close fielder

Stokes and Butler are a given at six & 7. So we’re into the bowling. Wood is going home too IIRC and has never lasted three successive tests. So if they go for extreme pace, it’s Archer or Stone. But I I’d back Jimmy and Broad to take wickets any day; just bowl them in short bursts. They could take all three and still play both Leach and Bess if Mo bats at 5.


Oh to be a selector!

 

[Murphy_Slaw]

I was listening to the TMS pod cast on radio 5 and Aggers reckons Broad and Anderson will rotate in order to preserve their fitness. I think the selectors want to take them down under and don't want to risk burn out or injury.
It was a great result against Sri Lanka, but India are a step up. Interesting times for England.

 

[bobthebuilder]

I was listening to the TMS pod cast on radio 5 and Aggers reckons Broad and Anderson will rotate in order to preserve their fitness. I think the selectors want to take them down under and don't want to risk burn out or injury.
It was a great result against Sri Lanka, but India are a step up. Interesting times for England.

If fit, they’re both in the list of certain names to be on the flight to Sydney. But that’s the small matter of 11 tests against the first and second ranked teams in the world. They have to play their best side.

I think Broad and Anderson will play in the 2023 Ashes.

 

[Bluenose2]

We'll need to see what the wickets are like before deciding on the line up for the India tests. The opposition have an interesting conundrum now they have a decent set of seamers - i.e. what type of wicket to prepare.

That in itself might drive which of Broad and Anderson starts. If it's dry and flat I'd go for the former, if it's got a tinge of green then i'd start with the latter. I wouldn't play both together, personally.

I think it'd also take a brave selector to pick Burns off the back of no recent cricket and a pretty average run of form since the Ashes.

No.3 is likewise a tough ask for Pope, especially after his shoulder surgery. He's good enough though.

Sibley
Crawley
Pope
Root
Stokes
Buttler (wkt)
AN Other (likely Woakes)
Archer
Bess
Leach
Broad

We're also forgetting Woakes in this mix. He's more of a carthorse than Stone/Wood and can obviously hold a bat. Plus he is very popular in the group.

I suspect Moeen will get a game by the second or third test, as the Indians may go after Bess.

 

[pc flaps]

We'll need to see what the wickets are like before deciding on the line up for the India tests. The opposition have an interesting conundrum now they have a decent set of seamers - i.e. what type of wicket to prepare.

That in itself might drive which of Broad and Anderson starts. If it's dry and flat I'd go for the former, if it's got a tinge of green then i'd start with the latter. I wouldn't play both together, personally.

The Tests are at Chennai & Ahmedabad. I don't watch the IPL so I don't know whether these have recently taken more pace or spin, but last time we toured, Ashwin took 10 wickets in the match at Chennai. Last time we played at Ahmedabad was on the 2012 tour and Swann took 5/144 in their first innings.

I bet the groundsmen prepare turners. It must be a hard habit to break, and on a few past occasions the groundsmen in India have defied what the BCCI wanted.

 

[Bluenose2]

The Tests are at Chennai & Ahmedabad. I don't watch the IPL so I don't know whether these have recently taken more pace or spin, but last time we toured, Ashwin took 10 wickets in the match at Chennai. Last time we played at Ahmedabad was on the 2012 tour and Swann took 5/144 in their first innings.

I bet the groundsmen prepare turners. It must be a hard habit to break, and on a few past occasions the groundsmen in India have defied what the BCCI wanted.

On your last point, I remember that Dohni's request for bunsens really blew up in his face when Swann and Monty outbowled Mishra and co. What a series that was...

 

[bobthebuilder]

We'll need to see what the wickets are like before deciding on the line up for the India tests. The opposition have an interesting conundrum now they have a decent set of seamers - i.e. what type of wicket to prepare.

That in itself might drive which of Broad and Anderson starts. If it's dry and flat I'd go for the former, if it's got a tinge of green then i'd start with the latter. I wouldn't play both together, personally.

I think it'd also take a brave selector to pick Burns off the back of no recent cricket and a pretty average run of form since the Ashes.

No.3 is likewise a tough ask for Pope, especially after his shoulder surgery. He's good enough though.

Sibley
Crawley
Pope
Root
Stokes
Buttler (wkt)
AN Other (likely Woakes)
Archer
Bess
Leach
Broad

We're also forgetting Woakes in this mix. He's more of a carthorse than Stone/Wood and can obviously hold a bat. Plus he is very popular in the group.

I suspect Moeen will get a game by the second or third test, as the Indians may go after Bess.

One of the Ahmedabad tests is a day / night game. I can see England playing both Broad and Anderson there.

I think we’re going to see people slotting in and out with “not much cricket” so I don’t think they will open with Crawley. Burns is a specialist opener; I think he’ll play. When England won in India, the opening partnership averaged 70 (Cook & Compton). In Sri Lanka, it averaged 7.

I hope Mooen is in quickly. He has two test hundreds in India and has bowled very well in Asia. I’d back him to take more wickets and score more runs than Bess. He would have played in Sri Lanka if he hadn’t tested positive.