Its pretty clear that England's Test team are in transition. When you think of that glory era of KP, Swann, Cook etc we really were blessed compared to those horrible days of the 90's.
The gap between home/away is widening in cricket and along with the ECB's prioritization of anything but County cricket...It is no surprise that we find ourselves without openers (who are not used to 90mph bowlers), spin options (who needs spin on English wickets bar Taunton/sometimes Oval) and pace men (who needs pacement when you have 75mph trundlers in April and September).
That in itself is a huge issue. The County Championship should be played in 1 whole patch over May and June at the core of the season, benefiting from better pitches and developing more Test adept cricketers.
Anyway...What to do with a problem like England.
Captaincy - Root is plugging away admirably but is not a natural captain. It doesn't feel right. He tries hard but naturally isn't tactically pro-active. It is affecting his batting and its time to leave him at 4 to focus on that. The only man suitable in my eyes is annoyingly one player who I would probably have left out (for Foakes or Bairstow) - Buttler. He has a Morganeske temperament. He just looks to me like a very good leader
Spin - I am worried if anyone thinks Leach is good enough. An admirable professional, he is a container at best. So...We do need a spinner... Do we invest now in someone for the long term - Bess is probably the best of that bunch. He impresses with his batting and fielding and seems to have a good temperament. His spin came on last year and has the mindset he could learn on the job. I would be tempted to stick him in and leave him there
Batting - It isn't perfect but I feel they have it right at the moment. There are few other options bar Crawley who again would be an investment. Perhaps move Sibley to 3 to protect that front foot from new ball overs. Denly would do a job opening and is proving a good option until Crawley is ready.
Pace men - We really do miss Wood. I seem to fall into the camp of its one of Anderson or Broad. They won't be around forever. Archer is a must. He is 24 and finding his way but is the xfactor. Similar to Bess, I would invest in Sam Curran. He has some metal about him and offers a left arm option and seems to dig out wickets (perhaps benefiting from opening the bowling at the Oval). The obvious fast tracks are Mahmood and Tongue, injury permitting.
Sometimes it takes players time to meet the grade. Burns is testament to giving a player time. Give the young lads a good run. Stick with them and hopefully we will see development in time for the next Ashes series. We don't really have anything else to lose.
Burns, Denly, Sibley, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler WK C, S. Curran, Bess, Archer, Anderson
Back up: Broad, Wood, Virdi, Foakes WK
Lions:
Crawley, Organ, Hain, Banton, Clarke, Bairstow WK, Woakes, Mahmood, Tongue, Stone, Parkinson (Brookes also)
England should just invest...
posted on 31/12/19
Batting and spin are in decline worldwide barring India. Quality of cricket compared to yesteryear is mediocre. Revamp is required before classic cricket is dead. But England will bounce back and complete this transition fairly quickly because of high quality county cricket.It hard to believe they were one of the worst odi sides sides among test playing nations not so long ago
posted on 2/1/20
comment by TCM (U8959)
posted 1 day, 20 hours ago
I agree with a lot of this. May through to July to get the first class cricket season done and then use end of July, August and beginning of September for the shorter formats. T20 and 50 overs although I think the hundred will be a success, financially anyway, to encourage those involved to keep rolling with it.
Chucking in a first class match in between a series of T20 games whilst everyone is in that mind set seems like a waste of time.
Root isn't a great captain but at the same time, he's leading a mediocre side where the batting has been poor to average for the last few years.
I actually like the look of our top 5 now and would like us to settle with them for a few series. Burns and Denly are growing as test players and Sibley looks a proper opener. Pope is an excellent prospect so hope to see him back for the second test at 6, he says he's healthy so would expect him to be back in the side. Especially as Bairstow didn't do anything to suggest he should be retained. I found it bizarre that he was chosen ahead of Crawley and Agnew said that made sense to go with experience, yet Pope seems to be the incumbent of that position and is as inexperienced as Crawley.
I like Buttler but Foakes is a better glove man, first class batsman and has decent leadership qualities much like Buttler. Not that he should be a captain but Root needs a good leadership group around him.
Spin wise, Bess would only get in on the basis that he's a competent bat but Leach is a superior spinner and is the best in the country. Is he good enough? Maybe not but Bess definitely isn't and Root has shown time and time again that he's unwilling to give an ineffective spinner or one leaking runs a chance. Rashid is a much bigger turner of the ball but he needs games to prove he's the best in the longer format.
Our pace attack is a strange one. We've got decent depth to our bowling of players capable of stepping up at test level. The problem is a lot of them are capable of producing really good spells now and then, we don't really have anyone, bar Anderson, who is really on it with every spell.
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This.
The top 6 (assuming Pope comes back in) is the best available at the minute. Denly would be the first one I'd look to phase out just on the basis of his age, but he's a steady option at the moment in a problem position and he's in good nick. We have a couple of options at 3 in the medium- to long-term, like Crawley, so they can be eased in through the Lions and maybe the odd Test appearance lower down the order over the next couple of years. Denly should stay for now, though.
Bairstow should be nowhere near the Test side until he gets some first-class games and - more importantly - runs under his belt, and even then he should be backup at best until a spot opens up. Buttler's place is far from assured and Foakes is the better long-term option, especially since he would work well in a leadership group with Burns (see below).
If you (OP) don't think Leach is good enough, fair enough, but Bess is categorically just an inferior spinner. Could be a decent middle order bat but we have plenty of those.
I think the captaincy is a serious issue - it's a bad sign when the only argument for keeping Root in the job is "there's no-one else better qualified." There are three potential options to replace him - Burns, Stokes and Buttler. Buttler arguably shouldn't be in the side but at least there's less pressure on him to score big runs since he also offers wicket-keeping and bats lower down the order. I still think Foakes is a better bet though - better Test bat AND better keeper - and Foakes would work well in a leadership group alongside his old Surrey comrade Burns, who looks more and more like an England captain in the making with each passing series.
I think given the lack of a standout candidate to replace Root, the captaincy should be job-shared in a leadership group. In theory someone like Rory Burns could take the role on officially once he's properly established - he has experience of successful captaincy and he looks like he could become a fixture for years in the side - but it'd be a risk so early in his Test career. Then again, it worked for Graeme Smith so you never know. I certainly wouldn't be annoyed if Burns got the gig, just a bit apprehensive.
None of the above changes will happen, though.
posted on 2/1/20
I think picking one your best players as captain is often a poor choice as they tend to be distracted from their own performances.
In my lifetime the two best England captains were Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth who were not great players but wonderful man managers.
posted on 2/1/20
comment by hopeforthebest (U3251)
posted 4 hours, 31 minutes ago
I think picking one your best players as captain is often a poor choice as they tend to be distracted from their own performances.
In my lifetime the two best England captains were Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth who were not great players but wonderful man managers.
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,Not necessarily often best players have been outstanding captains like Imran Khan, Steve Waugh, Viv Richards. The best player automatically commands respects in the team and sets an example with his performance. Obviously, it not a law because several outstanding players have failed like Tendulkar
posted on 3/1/20
I think most of all they need to accept that is not OK to lose. Seems almost acceptable now.
A bit of fight and personal respect for one performance should come into it.
once the chips are down this England team NEVER comeback. a bunch of losers really
posted on 4/1/20
comment by Liverpoolwhoelse17 (U16825)
posted 1 day, 9 hours ago
I think most of all they need to accept that is not OK to lose. Seems almost acceptable now.
A bit of fight and personal respect for one performance should come into it.
once the chips are down this England team NEVER comeback. a bunch of losers really
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Aussies are the best at staging comeback, coming back after lagging fair distance behind, down to street culture embedded in their cricket team
posted on 6/1/20
comment by Warrior (U10140)
posted 1 day, 21 hours ago
comment by Liverpoolwhoelse17 (U16825)
posted 1 day, 9 hours ago
I think most of all they need to accept that is not OK to lose. Seems almost acceptable now.
A bit of fight and personal respect for one performance should come into it.
once the chips are down this England team NEVER comeback. a bunch of losers really
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Aussies are the best at staging comeback, coming back after lagging fair distance behind, down to street culture embedded in their cricket team
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Bit like the Germans in the footy...they always seem to find something when the WC comes round
posted on 6/1/20
We really need to find another two genuine fast reliable bowlers..Jimmy won't be about forever, - a better captain wouldn't go amiss either
posted on 17/1/20
Agreed.
posted on 21/1/20
comment by Sheriff JW Pepper (U1007)
posted 2 weeks, 1 day ago
We really need to find another two genuine fast reliable bowlers..Jimmy won't be about forever, - a better captain wouldn't go amiss either
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thought Root's captaincy was brilliant in the last test to be fair.