With the selectors set to announce the squad on Wednesday, it's got to be the right time to start a thread for the greatest contest known to cricket.
Injuries permitting, 11 of the squad are certainties in my opinion (Root, Cook, Stoneman, Stokes, Bairstow, Anderson, Broad, Ali, Woakes, Roland-Jones and Wood).
Do you agree with that and who would you like to see making up the rest of the squad?
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Comments
Don't think Westley or Malan enough, but one at least will probably go.
Crane? Been mooted but id be surprised, unless they include him in the Lions squad that is touring at the same time
1.
2. Cook
3.
4. Root
5.
6. Stokes
7. Bairstow
8. Moeen
9. Woakes
10. Broad
11. Anderson
So we're basically screwed. Stoneman probably deserves a crack; not sure on Westley or Malan. Ideally I'd push Stokes-Woakes up a place, with TRJ in (five front-line seamers!).
My mate goes further and suggests pushing them up TWO places each and including Rashid. That's way too bowler heavy - but he quite rightly suggests that our part time bats are about as good as those who profess to be specialist batsmen.
I'd like to see Rory Burns given a go, but that won't happen.
Hales is the one who should be given a shot (either at 3 or 5) in conditions that should favour him. Bouncy tracks and little/no swing. I thought he was hard done by to be dropped last year.
I fully expect the selectors to pick the same side that finished the summer, with Westley and Malan given another go.
England A are touring at the same time, so we should have plenty of options in case.
The warm up games will be massively important.
Foakes is recognised as a very good glove man and is useful with the bat too so, if anything, I could see him coming in as keeper (and batting at 7) with Bairstow batting at 5 and Stokes at 6. I would also love it (from both the perspective of form and allegiance) Notheast given a chance with Root batting at 3.
1. Stoneman
2. Cook
3. Root
4. Northeast
5. Bairstow
6. Stokes
7. Foakes
8. Moeen
9. Woakes
10. Broad
11. Anderson
I would suggest Root will be asked/forced to go to 3, Foakes will come in (thus defeating my comment above !), and the lineup will be like...
Cook
Stoneman
Root
Bairstow
Malan
Stokes
Ali
Foakes
Woakes
Broad
Jimmy
Bayliss has said that there will be no 'new names' in the squad .. pity as it would have been good to blood a new fast bowler or spinner, just don't ask me who
It's a pity that there is only 1 game against a state side and too many against 'select teams'
Cook
Stoneman
Root
Bairstow
Hales
Stokes
Ali
Woakes
TRJ
Broad
Anderson
Back up wicket keeper should probably be Foakes, who could come in at 8 in place of a seamer. Wood and Rashid in the squad, not sure who else. Finn, Westley, Jennings and Crane are possibilities too.
Whatever the squad is doesn't bother me, they fly in players so easily these days. It's what the make of the team that matters, we don't make many changes once a series starts so we need to get it right from the start. Personally I would have thrown Hameed straight back in there but that is now not an option. None of the openers we have used this year along side Cook have impressed me and there is no real alternatives so I guess we will start with Stoneman. There are however other major things which can be sorted and imo should be sorted now. Root MUST bat 3. He is our best batsman and your best batsman bats 3. End of chat. We have fallen in to a trap of playing sub standard top order batsmen at international level because we have such a long tail. We must get back to picking a proper team where your best batsmen bat in the top order. Also we must play Rashid, it just baffles me why we don't play him in Test cricket. Off-spinners do very little in Australia on the whole, nor do orthodox SLA's. It is the wrist spinners who are effective on hard, fast bouncy wickets. Australia themselves played leg spinners for years as I recall when they had them. I am also concerned about Broad, to me his bowling is looking tired and ineffective, I hope he rediscovers his mojo and I would start with him but there will be pressure from Wood, Woakes and TRJ.
So I would start things with something like this XI
1) Cook
2) Stoneman
3) Root
4) Bairstow
5) Hales
6) Stokes
7) Ali
8) Butler/Foakes/Billings
9) Rashid
10) Broad/Woakes/
11) Anderson
The only way to win in Australia is to bat, bat and bat. Bat first and get to 350-4 and then 580 all out and not 30-3 and 380 all out.
Their top 6 is as vulnerable as ours at the moment but their bowling, particularly the seam department is impressive.
My personal feel is that our bowling with Jimmy,Broad,Woakes,Stokes and TRJ is so samey, that we need to have a shock bowler like Wood (if his body can take it).
I'm not a great fan of Rashid, but he seems to do well in Oz conditions, and they clearly have a lot of respect for him through his appearances in the Big Bash, so maybe he will go , hopefully along with Crane, but whether they'll take two leggies is another matter.
I think Broad will be fine - he just had an incredibly unlucky season, and he always raises himself for The Ashes- it would certainly be a tough call to drop him.
Cant see Billings getting picked - he's had a poor season.
Would be good to see Hales back, but again, cant see it happening.
1. Stoneman
2. Cook
3. Root
4. Stokes
5. Bairstow
6. Moeen
7. Rashid
8. Woakes
9. TRJ
10. Broad
11. Anderson
On the logic that "our other batting choices are still shit so why not this".
... We're gonna get smashed, aren't we?
And he put Rash in for the sake of it I think
It'll be the XI that played against the west Indies, plus some other people who aren't very good. Such as Ballance.
Toby Roland-Jones will miss Middlesex's final game of the season with a stress fracture in his lower back and is a major doubt for the Ashes tour of Australia.
Stoneman, Cook, Westley, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson, TRJ, if fit, Crane, Foakes, Wood, Hales, Ball.