Feel sorry for Overton. Clearly a wholehearted cricketer and didn't let himself down in a poor team performance.
Yep showed a hell of a lot of guts and character. However has to be judged on his bowling first and foremost and in any world hes not in our best 3 bowlers.
It was probably between him and Curran and while it's harsh to drop Overton it would have been ridiculous to have Curran around the team all Ashes and not play him once!
Another comment on selectors/scouts .. both Smith and Taylor were lured away from media roles because of their supposed knowledge of current county players gained through observation and discussions with coaches and other media types. There is one candidate new to the media, who is (I m o) far better placed as a good judge of batsmanship than either Smith or Taylor, Alastair Cook. He knows all about sound technique and what 'type' is needed to open the innings. I've read that he is especially taken with Harry Brook of Yorkshire and Warwick's Rob Yates, respectively 20 and 19 years old, so a little young a t m .. but with Cook's guidance and input, in 2 years, who knows who will be going down under
I'm as big fan of Taylor and he does watch a lot of county cricket.
Still a huge shame the way he had to retire just as he was starting to come into his own at international level. No doubt in my mind he would be our number 3 in tests for the blast couple of years.
Steve Smith is 3/1 to score 100 or more with Skybet in the 1st innings of this Test. Seeing as he's done so in 8 of his last 17 Tests against us and his opening scores at The Oval have been 138* and 143 respectively that probably isn't the worst value bet in the world - albeit it might be relatively poor compensation given the implications of him doing so on the match result.
Anyone else watched “the edge” documentary on amazon? Really good bits with Jonathan trott and Steve Finn, how it really decimated their mental health.
Anyone else watched “the edge” documentary on amazon? Really good bits with Jonathan trott and Steve Finn, how it really decimated their mental health.
Funnily enough, it was recommended to me a couple of days ago and I sat and watched it last night. It was very very good. I was aware that Trott, Finn and Panesar had issues but not to that extent. I remember Trott leaving the Ashes tour early and Warner calling him weak FFS. Awful. Then Swann and Prior retired. What a bloody team we had back then. Two proper openers, Trott, KP and Bell, followed by Collingwood and Prior. We batted all the way down.
Steve Smith is 3/1 to score 100 or more with Skybet in the 1st innings of this Test. Seeing as he's done so in 8 of his last 17 Tests against us and his opening scores at The Oval have been 138* and 143 respectively that probably isn't the worst value bet in the world - albeit it might be relatively poor compensation given the implications of him doing so on the match result.
His run line is 49.5 (5/6). I think a mate's hammered (and I mean hammered) into both bets, the way he's yammering on.
Have an overall “director of cricket” and then separate players, coaches and even selectors for red ball and white ball cricket.
It’s clear that we are not Australia and our players cannot be the best at one without dragging down the quality of the other.
The simplest and most drastic way to fix that is to treat these two teams as separate entities as much as possible.
Red ball form does not get you picked for the white ball team (Cook, Ballance...) and white ball form does not get you picked for the red ball team (Roy, Buttler, Bairstow...).
That should be the end of it.
Agreed. And only the world class players (Root Stokes Archer) and all rounders (Moeen, Woakes) should play both and when they do their workload should be very carefully managed.
On a different note , does anyone know if New Zealand v England goes towards the ICC World Test Championship someone told me it doesn’t yesterday , any reason why not if that’s true ?
Comments
An extra bowler, I guess they are expecting a flat pitch
4 Stokes 5,Bairstow 6,Buttler 7,Curran ?
TBH, i never understood Overton over Woakes in last Test anyway.
There is one candidate new to the media, who is (I m o) far better placed as a good judge of batsmanship than either Smith or Taylor, Alastair Cook.
He knows all about sound technique and what 'type' is needed to open the innings. I've read that he is especially taken with Harry Brook of Yorkshire and Warwick's Rob Yates, respectively 20 and 19 years old, so a little young a t m .. but with Cook's guidance and input, in 2 years, who knows who will be going down under
Still a huge shame the way he had to retire just as he was starting to come into his own at international level. No doubt in my mind he would be our number 3 in tests for the blast couple of years.
Siddle replaces Starc
I would sacrifice my left testicle to see Denly get a ton.
I was aware that Trott, Finn and Panesar had issues but not to that extent. I remember Trott leaving the Ashes tour early and Warner calling him weak FFS. Awful. Then Swann and Prior retired.
What a bloody team we had back then.
Two proper openers, Trott, KP and Bell, followed by Collingwood and Prior. We batted all the way down.
And I hope he loses them both splendidly.
someone told me it doesn’t yesterday , any reason why not if that’s true ?