West Ham Online

"Starts tomorrow ... First Test Aug 21-25 Old Trafford Second Test Aug 29 - Sep 2 Lords Third Test Sep 6-10 The Oval England: 1 Dan Lawrence, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope (capt), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wk),7 Chris Woakes, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Matthew Potts, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Shoaib Bashir Crawley & Stokes injured. Lawrence opens & Potts replaces Stokes Pope captain with Brooks vice captain"

England Test squad to tour Pakistan: Ben Stokes (capt), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon C Arse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes

Squad for 3 Test tour of Pakistan in October
Stokes returns. Leach picked ahead of Hartley
Lawrence dropped for Cox 
Woakes picked for an away series 
Wood injured so Arse selected after being banned for gambling offences

I see today we’re pretending to be Australian again.

Excuse?
Cant recall any Australian player coming out afterwards and saying ‘Even Coldplay can’t be number 1 every week’

The West Indies played well and earned a very narrow victory on the last day. Meant in the last decade their record improved to W 1 D 1 L 7
Their record against England in the same period is 
W 6 D 3 L 9

As said previously Englands attitude has been disrespectful to their opponents and the game
Driven by the arrogance of the coach who should of course still be serving a ban for not reporting a match fixing approach by his ‘associate’ Chris Cairns



 

So the Aussies had an excuse for losing to one of the worst test teams you'll ever see.

Righto cobber 

The West Indies played well
Was an exceptional individual bowling performance on the last day and they got home by about 8 runs I recall
Certainly wasn’t an 8 wicket SHELLACKING 
Think that was their 2nd Test win in the last 30 odd 

 

What was the AUZZIES losing to the diabolical WINDIES down to?

I see Bangladesh have just beaten Pakistan in a series so every result can happen
This was Sri Lanka’s 4th Test win in England in 21 Tests
They have yet to win any of 15 Tests in Australia (13 losses 2 draws). The West Indies win in Australia was their first in 18 Tests in the 2000’s.

England had some players missing and playing 3 Tests back to back to back didn’t help
But this defeat was down to complacency, arrogance & a disrespect to their opponents & the game.

All teams will lose the odd Test, like Australia losing to the WINDIES in Brisbane not long ago, a team of part time no hopers.

Don't give a fuck about his scratchy century, Ollie Pope needs dropping. His form around the very occasional big score is diabolical. And he definitely ain't captain material.

Respect test cricket and the ways it's played. We threw a series win against New Zealand away plus  Ashes tests with premature declarations and taking on a leg side field throwing the bat

Left 100 runs out there in the first innings , gave Sri Lanka extra runs in their first innings with ludicrous fields
Collapsed like cunts in the second innings & then didn’t lay a glove on SL in the chase 
Not sure having an arrogant Kiwi as coach is REALLY the right cultural fit for England 
Spellbinding disrespect for the game 

This after sacking their best bowler because he probably won’t play in a series 12 Tests & 18 months away
Cant have done team morale any favours

That second innings performance by England was a disgrace. Total arrogance and disrespect to the opponents.

Still, they won 5 out of 6 tests easily and won two test series, so all good from an England perspective.

Josh Hull looking every bit like the bowler he is - a raw seamer who averages 68 in in first class cricket.

Not likely to come back on a dark day in London
Bit of a fight back by SL after they were 90 odd for 5

Wood out with a thigh strain now needs surgery on his elbow. Won’t be going to Pakistan (Oct) & NZ (Dec) for the next two Test series.

Andrew Flintoff named as coach of England Lions.
Declined involvement with England white ball team as he regards Buttler as a cսnt

4 Southern Group teams through to finals day again, for the third time in 4 years. And in the other year, a South Group team won the trophy. Including this year, it will be 5 wins out of 6, for the Southern Group teams. Time for the Southern Group teams to break away and not bother playing the northerners?

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WURZELS back in the T20 finals day again, 4th year on the trot and should have enough to retain the trophy.

3rd Test starts today
Weather can best be described as MURKY AS FUCK
Left arm BEANPOLE Josh Hull to make his Test debut replacing Potts
6ft 7 & captain described him as having a high ceiling. Well you’d have to wouldn’t you being that tall

Brendon McCullum to take charge of England’s white ball teams in the new year after Mott was binned.
Trescothick will remain in charge as caretaker for the upcoming ODI’s & t20’s v Australia 

3rd Sri Lanka Test starts Friday at The Oval as England look for the clean sweep
Last Test win was Englands first at Lords v Sri Lanka since 1991

Atkinson is some player, well done.

But Pope never batted at 3 before England stuck him there?

It's not cherry picking for the sake of it, a double ton against Ireland is padding a record, and if you want to talk about averages against countries, like the pitiful West Indies, he averages 15 against the Aussies and 24 against India.

As for being captain affecting his batting, blimey! His overall average is 34 ffs

As I say, it's more about the eye test, and to me he hardly ever looks 'in', which is not good for a no.3
When you get a talent like Jamie Smith, who looks born to play Test Cricket, he's wasted down at 6/7 and expending energy with the gloves. In fact, Pope would do well to work on his keeping, and he'd be much better down the order, which is where his County form was born from.

Full Rug" wrote: ↑01 Sep 2024, 10:36 I had a debate on here last year about Pope, and I'm still not having him at all. Averages 34 overall, I get that his average is 40 at no.3, but that's padded out with the double ton against Ireland and the other couple of big scores interspersed with some shocking form. I said previously that he never looks in, even when making a score. A tragic no.3 imo, and will get eaten alive in Aus, which seems to be what everything is focused on.

Jamie Smith looks a 3 all day long, I know it's early doors but he's the one player I'd move up the order without any worries at all, and I'd bring Ollie Robinson (the Durham one) and chuck him the turtles, averages 63 at a strike rate of 85 this season, more of a dasher at no.6/7

 

I had a debate on here last year about Pope, and I'm still not having him at all. Averages 34 overall, I get that his average is 40 at no.3, but that's padded out with the double ton against Ireland and the other couple of big scores interspersed with some shocking form. I said previously that he never looks in, even when making a score. A tragic no.3 imo, and will get eaten alive in Aus, which seems to be what everything is focused on.

Jamie Smith looks a 3 all day long, I know it's early doors but he's the one player I'd move up the order without any worries at all, and I'd bring Ollie Robinson (the Durham one) and chuck him the turtles, averages 63 at a strike rate of 85 this season, more of a dasher at no.6/7

Been a good summer for England finding some good players in Smith & Atkinson.
Far too good for Sri Lanka even without Stokes, Wood & Crawley
Only worries are the struggles of Pope & Lawrence.
Bit harsh on Lawrence making him a makeshift opener but awkward for the selectors with Pope as captain 

TWATRICK! Svender just to find out no ones into discussing cricket with you.....or are they?

Looked a classic bat first day but England sent in 200/5 at tea so not a disaster for Sri Lanka

"Second Test starts today at Lords in glorious London weather Wood out with a thigh injury so O Stone comes in Stokes, Crawley & Pennington all still unavailable Josh Hull added to the squad with a county average of 84.55 Impressive! Oh, that’s his bowling average"