The England Cricket Thread

Moses said:
Then who are the alternatives? In terms of someone who you'd want to throw into the middle of the hardest tour they'll ever face? If the right person is there to be selected for the next ten years, if you pick them now it might kill their chances before that career happens.
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You can't tell me England has no viable replacement for Cook at this stage. Surely there must be someone?

Cook's job is to smack the skin off the new ball with a healthy 50 or so. He doesn't even need centuries, he just needs a solid half ton to lay the groundwork. If he can't do this consistently, he needs to be dropped down the order or dropped altogether.

At any rate, Adelaide will be a good place for England to bounce back. Much more swing-friendly there.
 
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Evangelion said:
You can't tell me England has no viable replacement for Cook at this stage. Surely there must be someone?

Cook's job is to smack the skin off the new ball with a healthy 50 or so. He doesn't even need centuries, he just needs a solid half ton to lay the groundwork. If he can't do this consistently, he needs to be dropped down the order or dropped altogether.

At any rate, Adelaide will be a good place for England to bounce back. Much more swing-friendly there.
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I understand what your saying. However they can't even find someone to open the batting with Cook let alone replace him. I wouldn't mind Hales just batting least he might be able to slog abit and not let the opening bowlers settle. Either way this has 5-0 written all over it.
 
Oh god... I stayed up ridiculously late following both sides' first innings and thought it was shaping up to be a cracking test match. Was too tired to stay up for next night, and look what happens!

That depressing feeling I remember from the days when Langer, Waugh, Hayden, Gilchrist, etc. would just biff us arond the ground all day.

Sure, we were always massively ulikely to win at the Gabba, but still...
 
So disappointing how this one slipped away from us after being pretty much 50/50 after day 1 and 2. Talk of dropping Cook is just mad, people's form always ebbs and flows in cricket, and he has shown in the past he can bring it back, and especially has history of performing in Aus.

We need at least one bowling change, Overton in for Ball, and ideally Stokes in for Woakes too. And we need Smith to suffer a catastrophic downturn in form.
 
It was a properly exciting game for the first three and a half days. England had some bad luck, and Warner was uncharacteristically disciplined in the fourth innings.

Smith continues to amaze me, but we can't afford to rely on him whenever the rest of the batting order collapses.
 
Smith is indeed amazing. His temperament left England clueless because he had a counter for whatever plan England apparently had. I have a liking for good stats because they effectively outline a players' skill. Smith has an average of 61. That's incredible! And one can argue that he is yet to peak as he's still in his 20s. Who knows where he could end up.
 
I see old mate Stokes has slipped into NZ for a bit of local action. Does this mean we can expect to see him at the Test in Perth?
 
Evangelion said:
Cook has got to be on borrowed time now, surely?
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He's been getting out cheaply for a while now. I thought when they made Root captain he'd be sent packing.

There's too much politics with the England squad, quality players like Pietersen and Stokes left out because of off the field behaviour. Yep Stokes deserves punishment but that's what the justice system is for.
 
I think Australia has the better chance of winning at Adelaide, and if that happens it will be very difficult for England to come back and win the series. But if England can win, all the momentum we gained at the Gabba will disappear overnight, and the rest of the series will be up for grabs.

In fact, all England needs to do at Adelaide is force a draw, and it will have the same effect.
 
Day 1 has been obliterated by rain. Looks like the pitch is going to be a lot more England-friendly than Australia expected.
 
Looks like it's going to be a low scoring session. I'm off to bed in a minute, so hopefully I won't wake up to carnage tomorrow morning!
 
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