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Next Test is the Ageas Bowl. You might well see both sides with two spinners.
If Pope keeps wicket, you're asking a young kid to keep and bat at 4, something which the management haven't asked two vastly more experienced guys in Buttler and YJB to do, and something that the like of Gilchrist and Dhoni didn't do.
I'd happily bring Ian Bell back. He should have gone to Australia.
It's interesting that people have talked about Stokes being irreplaceable and Curran has shown he isn't. There are two players we've never found replacements for in the last few years. Strauss is one. The other is Collingwood. Not pretty, not graceful, but someone who maximised their ability. And that's without touching on his ability in the slips and close in as well.
So England: we're shit in the slips, our openers are either over the hill or not good enough, we have no real middle order, we can't bat a long time, we still have no stand-out lead spinner, and our seam attack beyond the two old chaps seems to be injury cases and a guy who becomes innocuous overseas.
And that's one of the hallmarks of recent years with England selection: we don't know how to use people. The YJB-Buttler saga is now back with Bairstow's injury and Buttler's patchy display in the slips alongside everyone else in the slips (it's interesting how slip catching standards have diminished as limited overs cricket has flourished. All the practice in the world can't replicate keeping your concentration in the cordon over a whole day).
Reading back over our 2012 victory in India, this paragraph by Andrew McGlashan stood out:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22108189/from-fitness-fieldinghow-england-won-india
"Nick Compton's first tour was not prolific, but he and Cook ensured the middle order was not regularly exposed early. England accepted that a run-rate of three-an-over would often be the summit of their ambitions, but knew the value of keeping India in the field for hours on end. Of course, Kevin Pietersen's 186 in Mumbai was a glorious, thrilling exception but it was an innings that could only be played by a unique, and perhaps great, player. He was the only England specialist batsman to have a strike-rate over 50. Most of the time it was head down and dig in. The series finished on such a note, with Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell refusing to yield, facing a combined 616 balls between them."
In these modern times, a strike rate under 50 and three runs per over is considered funereal. It brought us victory in a place that is so hard for overseas teams to succeed in. That we ignore those lessons now is down to the influence of one thing. The mention of Compton is also important. Runs-a-plenty he was not but Compton supported Cook. In 23 innings they had three century partnerships. A look at other partnerships.
Cook and Jennings: 18 innings, 1 ton partnership.
Cook and Stoneman: 20 innings, 0 ton
Cook and Lyth: 13 innings, 1 ton.
Cook and Robson: 11 innings, 0 ton.
Cook and Carberry: 12 innings, 1 ton.
Cook and Hales: 21 innings, 1 ton.
As much as Cook could and has played the sheet anchor role, it's pretty clear that having someone there who could be the sheet anchor at the other end helped Cook, perhaps another reason why he was so successful with Trott. One holds it together, gives the other some room to attack, they can swap over easily.
Cook and Trott partnerships: 51 inning, 10 ton partnerships.
Slip catching success is an interesting one. I believe part of that is down to fielding behind the stumps in England is one of the more difficult than elsewhere as the ball moves around. From my memory, Bangladesh looked like conditions were tough to keep and field in the slips as well.
Sky Sports put up a stat of slip catching by success over the last 3 years in Test Cricket, I think there was a minimum of 15 chances. Top of the list was Faf Du Plessis with 97% catch success and bottom of the list was Ali Cook with 70% success, Faf Du Plessis having the highest catch ratio, his figures he plays a lot of white ball cricket whilst Ali Cook plays near enough nothing.
Of course it's just two players and they don't represent the entire situation but I'm not of the belief it is only white ball cricket which has diminished the standards of slip fielding is truly absolute, it may have some application in some context though.
That's some good stats there on the slip catching. It isn't a surprise that a South African would be top of the pile. With the greater bounce and pace of SA wickets coupled with a quicker seam attack and atmospheric conditions, the slip cordon can stand back a bit further and thus have greater time to react. In England with our slower and lower wickets, the cordon has to come up a bit and you'll get more balls dying on the way to the cordon.
My comments over white ball cricket is more about the quantity of good slip fielders. You'll have no more than two slips for a 50 over game, possibly none for T20. Going back to the 1980s, you could rely on most sides having two absolute gun slip fielders. Combos like Kallis and Smith for SA, Marks Taylor and Waugh for Australia, and others. England in 2005 had two reliable unspectacular types in Tresco and Flintoff. Now for England... our options look very poor. Cook shouldn't be in that cordon in my view. But who should? Buttler's shelled some, Jennings looks horrific in there (the missed catch where it's gone through his the other day is proper village), Stokes generally goes wider...
So white ball cricket undoubtedly has made outfielding better. Some of the boundary catches being taken in the Blast this season have been superb
He bowls just short of a good length for the most part. Batsmen will bat out of the crease to negate swing. Ishant isn't a swinger (or so my mum says) and less than 10% of his deliveries will hit the stumps. If you bat out of your crease, you can negate his length, knowing you're pretty safe if you bat further out when it comes to LBW and force him to do something new.
https://i.imgur.com/HvFsvZm.png
this is likely the last partnership though - I can see the wheels falling off when one of these two goes.
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For me:
1) Cook
2) Jennings
3) Bell
4) Root
5) Stokes
6) Pope
7) Buttler
8) Curran
9) Rashid
10) Broad
11) Anderson
I'm assuming Bairstow is out with a broken finger and Woakes....harsh, but I believe Curran offers more with the ball more being a left armer.
Ian Bell was discarded far too early by the ECB - he was part of the collapse culture at the time, but noone else is putting their hands up.
I would drop Jennings, but I can't see anyone else capable. I know Burns has scored a few runs, but it would be yet another batsman in and out within 5 tests.
Nick Compton's name has been mentioned by pundits because he has the test match batting patience, but I'm not sure he is playing much these days.
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For England.... eh, by gum. It's such a hard choice. All the talk is that Jennings will get the series to nail his spot down. If we win at Southampton, then final Test is a dead rubber so you might well see some fun changes there, perhaps both openers if Jennings fails at Southampton moving out for an experimental line up (I'd love to see Burns and Roy opening at Test level because it'd be one of the maddest bits of selection ever).
So Southampton:
Cook
Jennings
Root
Moeen (his county coach was making the case for him to bat at 4 for England)
Pope
Stokes or Curran (BS has a small knee niggle. If not 100% fit, Curran in).
Buttler
Rashid
Broad
Anderson
So - Cook - Bairstow - Root - Pope - Stokes - Butler - Woakes - Curran - Rashid - Broad - Anderson
im surprised that Bairstow is possibly going to bat only. I’ve kept wicket, and batted. Batting with a broken finger can’t be fun. Particularly with the pace of India’s bowlers.
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Weather in Southampton leading up to 30th August is patchy. One day dry, one day wet. Horses for courses selection. If it's dry and looks like a turner, you play Moeen, if it doesn't then you play Curran (assuming Stokes is fit).
Honestly you'd think that selectors would realise it's exactly at the pinnicle of sports, where you can't risk injured players. So often across national sports a name gets picked regardless and then it's wondered why they don't perform. You could tell he was just not up to it in the ashes.
Now, Moeen is bang in form, a double hundred and a 6 for in the last game and it's known he can do it at international level. Get him in the team.
Looks a strong XI...despite a near 11 of allrounders. What happened to the glory days of 5 specialist batsman, an allrounder, a wicket keeper and 4 bowlers (3 seam and 1 spin)
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"We're very fortunate to be blessed with two brilliant international keepers," said Root. "Jos has a huge amount of experience. It's a no-brainer with a slight injury to Jonny that Jos comes in to take that role.
"There's no assurances been given to Jonny. It's like anything in international sport. If you get an opportunity and you take it, someone else has to work hard to get your spot.
If this is the case, then it paints an interesting picture. YJB hasn't gone to India to play in the IPL. Test cricket has been his priority: it hasn't for Buttler. So the idea of there being no loyalty toward the number 1 keeper, which YJB is, is bloody weird. However you then think about loyalty in other areas. Show loyalty in Jennings and Ali, Pope gets none and someone like Malan probably won't be seen again for England in Test colours.
You look at Stoneman, Vince, Malan, Pope, Jennings, and others. They're averaging 20-30. Essentially we drop one of them when they sink to a mid-20s Test average and replace them with someone who ends up averaging mid 20s. They aren't given the time to develop. Malan is out of the squad after 15 Tests, 1 ton, 724 runs at just under 28.
That's better than Jacques Kallis after 15 Tests (608 runs at 26.47). Malcolm Marshall after 15 Tests: 45 wickets at 29: he ended up with an average 9 runs less than that start. It takes time to develop even a great like him. One SK Warne had 14 wickets after 8 Tests at 50: even Ian Salisbury had more after 8 Tests (albeit at 60)*.
The Bayliss era at Test level is all about failing to develop players for me. Outside of Broad and Anderson, we don't have any clear first pick seamers as they're either crocked, lost form, or inconsistent like Woakes. We still have no recognised opening pair, the middle order is a lottery, we're hedging our bets on Moeen again who has batted nearly everywhere in the top and middle order, and the captain says that we haven't even got a first choice wicketkeeper for fuck's sake.
*I could go into my usual cricket debate about how underrated Peter Such was... instead I'll say that after 8 Tests Rashid had 33 wickets to Warne's 14. If only we'd handled Rashid better.
I do however, prefer Buttler was WK and Bairstow as a batsman, No point having a specialist batsman come in at number 7.
The problem for Malan is his age. I can see the point in playing a Pope, or a Hameed, averaging below 30 after 15 tests or so and carrying on with them, allowing them to develop. Someone who is 30 already, rightly or wrongly, won't be shown the same level of patience.
PS i meant to ask you...where do you get your stats for players after a certain number of tests? Is it on cricinfo?
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Anderson was mucked about pretty badly in his younger days. As much as Troy Cooley did for the seamers, getting Jimmy to change his action was a poor choice. Root too suffered from being mucked about: the days of opening seem a long way away now. I've said this many times elsewhere that in Root, YJB, and Buttler, we have three amazing talents. All three of them have been mucked about. Jos left Somerset because he wanted the gloves: I thought he should have focused on the batting primarily because he to me was the only person in the country who could replace Pietersen and play in a similar manner to him. I still maintain that now. He's shown he can play in a more cautious way and then explode into life when the bowlers are a bit more tired. He shouldn't be down at 7. It's beyond sanity in my view that you can keep him down the order and basically throw a young player like Pope in at 4 and expect him to handle it. Young players should come in lower down the order and feel their way into the game for the most part (remember Root debuting at 6? Ponting debuted at 5, Tendulkar at 6. Interestingly the Windies went the other way: both Richards and Lara debuted at 4. I agree, there is no point in a specialist batsman coming in at 7... but this is what we had in India over the winter 2016 tour with YJB having the gloves and batting at 5 and JB in at 7.
YJB currently averages 39: JB 35. That's pisspoor considering how talented they both are and how poor some of the opposition sides are now. Graeme Hick will always be considered a Test failure averaging 31 and he played against some of the best sides and players in the history of the game. We don't come up against Ambrose and Walsh or Wasim and Waqar now like Hickie did (and whilst debuts are still in the mind, Hick debuted at 3 facing Ambrose, Walsh, Marshall, and Patrick Patterson who was still bowling fucking quick back then prior to his no-ball and run up problems).
Malan and age: it is an odd thing when more patience is given to a 24 year old than a 30 year old. If the 30 year old succeeds, you can get 6 to 10 years out of him at Test level. That's not a small length of time, it'd cover two Ashes series. It's even more odd when the young ones who have been given chances haven't done anywhere near enough to show they should get more. Now James Vince on his day is a classy bloke. He's scored well in domestic cricket. Do you give him another chance? Is he worth more patience rather than Malan? That's the call selectors have to make. If all you do is ignore both and throw another possibility into the equation like Pope based on heavy domestic scoring, then you make it all the more complex. Of course, it is harder to make selection calls in the manner of Duncan Fletcher regarding Trescothick and Simon Jones when county cricket is a bit rubbish at the minute when it comes to breeding potential Test cricketers...
If there were a steady stream of individuals racking up big scores and making a claim for a batting slot, then I could understand some of the short termism. We don't have that, we're not Australia in the 90's when their A team would have beaten most Test sides. Instead we seem to pick people who might succeed without having any conviction that they will succeed, albeit that Ed Smith has rather bucked this trend with the return of Buttler.
Jennings in and out already. Horrible dismissal. root then plumb on a no-ball. That's what happens when you lose form, you don't get those breaks and Jennings needs a break or two.
Root gone now. Might have been a good toss to lose.
Bairstow in in the 8th over when the ball is swinging might not end well.