VirginiaHam
5:35 Wed Dec 21
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Westside 12:43 Wed Dec 21
Has Ali scored 4 centuries in the same batting position? No. He has scored them up and down the order. Don't forget how quickly England dropped the idea of him being a specialist opener or 3.
Rashid is a bowler who bats, but at this point, you have to give him some space in terms of his developement. Is he worth a long term punt? He will bowl shit, but also magic balls. His role in the side needs to be determined. As for his batting, while his average is crap, the tendency is to bat as per your position. If you bat 4, you'll play like a batsman, if 10/11. then a tail ender. it's one of those odd things.
I think we have so many poor man's allrounders we've lost sight of what we are trying to achieve, which should be a balanced test side.
When we were in India last we had batsmen (Cook, KP) and spinners (Swann, Monty) who were world class performers. Not this time, by a mile.
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Sniper
2:15 Wed Dec 21
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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I agree with ornchurch
The bowling choice in the penultimate test aside, England lost this series due to appalling batting and dropping a shit load of catches at key moments - our fielding 3 years ornsomagonwas superb, everything seemed to stick.
Cook really can't do much to mitigate against a collapse like yesterday and neither would root
But I think cook will stand down as he's just had enough
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Eerie Descent
2:15 Wed Dec 21
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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So what?
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Swiss.
2:09 Wed Dec 21
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Eerie
"Jennings because he is 100% South African"
Thought his mum was English
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Westside
12:47 Wed Dec 21
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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If everybody fit
Cook
Hameed
Jennings
Root
Duckett
Stokes
Buttler
Rashid
Broad
Wood
Anderson
No room for a player whose scored nearly 1,500 test runs in 2016, at an average of nearly 60?
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Westside
12:43 Wed Dec 21
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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"but Ali gets in because his batting's supposedly better"
It is.
Moeen has scored 4 centuries in 2016. He's one of only 4 test batsmen to pass 1,000 runs in 2016 (at an average of near 47, career test average 35).
Rashid's test batting average is 18.
They have near identical bowling records in terms of bowling average, strike rate and economy rates. Moeen has naturally taken a lot more wickets, having played more tests.
Moeen is worth his place as a specialist batsman. Neither should be selected as specialist bowlers.
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ornchurch ammer
1:35 Wed Dec 21
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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I'm not saying that the pitches have been bad VH but the fact is that we go out to the Asian countries and the batsmen go to pieces as they hardly ever face any half decent spin bowlers, whether be their straight balls or the ones they give a rip.
Maybe it is in their heads but we have to do something to bring spin back in to the game in this country.
Rather than pay Kohli to come over here and get batting practice in our conditions how about a couple of counties sign their spinners so we can learn from them?
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Eerie Descent
11:35 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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I'm not for one second suggest it's what the selectors will do mate, this is just about who we ourselves would pick. I wouldn't pick Jennings because he is 100% South African. It's different in the case of someone like Stokes, who has been here from an early age and brought through the system. Jennings CAPTAINED the Saffa U19's for fuck sake!
Rashid definitely deserves a proper chance, he bowled very well in spells, even though recent history tells you leg spinners haven't been great travellers to India, the pitches tend to favour finger spinners, shows you our finger spinners are absolute toilet.
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VirginiaHam
11:27 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Eerie,
Jennings has been picked, so that's the end of that discussion. Whether you bat 2 or 3 doesn't matter, it's the same old shit.
Moving Root to 4 offers some solidity, and Duckett is a very good player. For me, Buttler/Bairstow was a crap shoot, but neither is a test class keeper. Duckett certainly isn't.
After that, the quicks more or less pick themselves, and Rashid is a far better spinner than Ali. Neither are as good as Ashwin/Jadeja.
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Eerie Descent
11:20 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Cook
Gubbins
Hameed
Root (c)
Bairstow
Stokes
Duckett (wk)
Rashid
Woakes
Broad
Anderson
Jennings shouldn't be playing for England, simple as that, and I wouldn't burden Hameed with opening, you want your best players at 3 & 4, which will be him and Root, and they'll have more chance of batting together. The young ENGLISHMAN Gubbins to open. I'd give Duckett an absolute license to go out like Gilchrist and hit every ball he faces to the boundary.
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Dr Matt
11:18 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Cook
Hameed
Jennings
Bell (c)
Root
Stokes
Bairstow (wk)
Ali
Woakes
S.Curran
Broad
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VirginiaHam
10:33 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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If everyone is fit..........
Cook
Hameed
Jennings
Root
Duckett
Stokes
Buttler
Rashid
Broad
Wood
Anderson
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VirginiaHam
10:17 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Dr Matt 9:39 Tue Dec 20
You'd pick Woakes ahead of Wood? I wouldn't.
Stokes bats in the allrounder spot at 6, but would you pick him at 4?
Ali is not a specialist spinner. I'd have Rashid before Ali, but Ali gets in because his batting's supposedly better.
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Sven Roeder
9:43 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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What is the eleven you hope to see for the First Test against S Africa , Matty?
Cook or Root as captain?
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Dr Matt
9:39 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Woakes is in England's best three seamers when fit, Ali is England's best off spinner and Stokes is in the best 6 batsmen in England.
Therefore all should play. Their other skills are bonuses.
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VirginiaHam
8:38 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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ornchurch ammer 11:47 Tue Dec 20
I don't think the pitches in India have been bad. Nothing's gone through the top on day 1. Rajkot and Mumbai were pretty good cricket wickets, as was Chennai.
Th biggest problem we've had is not being able to play the straight balls Ashwin and Jadeja naturally produce. Next big problem was the inability to bat time.
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VirginiaHam
8:32 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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England have lost 7 of their last 11 tests; that's shit by anyone's standards. In the series against India there were two players who have the pedigree to score big hundreds, which is not enough. Our spinners have been poor, and with Broad and Anderson injured we are lacking the depth to compete abroad.
While a shocking performance today, and a dismal series overall, there are some mitigating factors, IMO.
England have been away for 80+ days.That's ridiculous. In that time they've played 7 tests and 5 ODIs. A lot of the players have played all 3 formats and must be sick of cricket at the moment. It's one thing to play that amount of cricket at home, where you get to go home, but 80 days in hotels and on planes?????
Our side is made up of 3 specialist batsmen, a collection of all rounders and a couple of specialist bowlers. The all-rounders aren't good enough or consistent enough (with due respect to Stokes, would you pick him as a specialist bowler?) and the balance of the side is fucked up. That makeup might work in an ODI, but not tests.
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Dr Matt
7:51 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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My only suggestions to Leicester were to play Vardy up top and Mahrez on the right.
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Sven Roeder
7:36 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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Don't know how you find the time after being the brains behind Ranieri last season and advising Donald Trump on politics.
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Dr Matt
7:30 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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After the KP reintegration debacle I was banned from the ECB regime indefinitely.
Since then I've coached India to world number 1 and Djokovic to world number 1.
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Sven Roeder
7:27 Tue Dec 20
Re: 5th Test: India v England at Chennai
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When are you taking over from Bayliss, Matty?
The GALAH couldn't even bother being in India for today's debacle
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