I've not been watching the Aus-India game, but that second innings by India is an eye-opener. Are the Aussie bowlers strugging or even over the hill now?
Also noteworthy is India batting very conventionally to get those runs, with Jaiswal batting at a very unBazball strike rate of 54.21. By contrast England warm up for the NZ series with a 2 day pub game, scoring at run a ball.
And with Cox out injured, Bethell will presumably be the replacement, someone not even playing in this pub game. A talented kid, but a red ball batsman???
Don’t think they can be over the hill after the first innings showing. Think it’s a combination of them behind undercooked and the pitch flattening
The first day pitch was very juicy though, with an unusual amount of dampness.
Still have to make the most of it though. I hope they are over the hill but I’d be surprised
I don't think Foakes would consider it given how he's been treated. Would expect it's Durham's Ollie Robinson or if Baz and Rob want to be weird they'll call up James Rew the highly touted Somerset keeper.
One thing we don't know (and I truly do not) is the relationship between Foakes and McCullum, Key and Stokes. He hasn't been treated well by England but we don't know how he reacted to them to being dropped but we do know that they want someone who can score quickly and Foakes just can't do that. Which is why they called up Cox as Smith's replacement. Robinson is a better keeper than Cox (and certainly as good as Smith), is as near as we are going to get to Foakes with the gloves and had one of the best strike rates in the CC last year. As expressed by Ooah on this thread, the reason that Smith was called up ahead of Robinson was that England felt that he wasn't as good at facing fast, short pitched bowling but, if he does get the call, then he will get the chance to prove them wrong on that count.
Jordan Cox's dad had flown out to see his test debut....
It wouldn't surprise me if they call up Rew, who is in SA with a young England team. One alternative is to go for Jos Butler who's currently smashing it in the T10 tourney in Abu Dhabi..,
I don't think Foakes would consider it given how he's been treated. Would expect it's Durham's Ollie Robinson or if Baz and Rob want to be weird they'll call up James Rew the highly touted Somerset keeper.
One thing we don't know (and I truly do not) is the relationship between Foakes and McCullum, Key and Stokes. He hasn't been treated well by England but we don't know how he reacted to them to being dropped but we do know that they want someone who can score quickly and Foakes just can't do that. Which is why they called up Cox as Smith's replacement. Robinson is a better keeper than Cox (and certainly as good as Smith), is as near as we are going to get to Foakes with the gloves and had one of the best strike rates in the CC last year. As expressed by Ooah on this thread, the reason that Smith was called up ahead of Robinson was that England felt that he wasn't as good at facing fast, short pitched bowling but, if he does get the call, then he will get the chance to prove them wrong on that count.
Jordan Cox's dad had flown out to see his test debut....
It wouldn't surprise me if they call up Rew, who is in SA with a young England team. One alternative is to go for Jos Butler who's currently smashing it in the T10 tourney in Abu Dhabi..,
Waste not, want not. If they've already got a shirt printed up with his name on the back, and his Dad is out there...
I don't think Foakes would consider it given how he's been treated. Would expect it's Durham's Ollie Robinson or if Baz and Rob want to be weird they'll call up James Rew the highly touted Somerset keeper.
One thing we don't know (and I truly do not) is the relationship between Foakes and McCullum, Key and Stokes. He hasn't been treated well by England but we don't know how he reacted to them to being dropped but we do know that they want someone who can score quickly and Foakes just can't do that. Which is why they called up Cox as Smith's replacement. Robinson is a better keeper than Cox (and certainly as good as Smith), is as near as we are going to get to Foakes with the gloves and had one of the best strike rates in the CC last year. As expressed by Ooah on this thread, the reason that Smith was called up ahead of Robinson was that England felt that he wasn't as good at facing fast, short pitched bowling but, if he does get the call, then he will get the chance to prove them wrong on that count.
Jordan Cox's dad had flown out to see his test debut....
It wouldn't surprise me if they call up Rew, who is in SA with a young England team. One alternative is to go for Jos Butler who's currently smashing it in the T10 tourney in Abu Dhabi..,
Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of the selection, it's a massive personal blow for the player, who basically had been given a 3 match Test series to establish himself. Especially as his white ball career so far has been pretty underwhelming.
I've not been watching the Aus-India game, but that second innings by India is an eye-opener. Are the Aussie bowlers strugging or even over the hill now?
Also noteworthy is India batting very conventionally to get those runs, with Jaiswal batting at a very unBazball strike rate of 54.21. By contrast England warm up for the NZ series with a 2 day pub game, scoring at run a ball.
And with Cox out injured, Bethell will presumably be the replacement, someone not even playing in this pub game. A talented kid, but a red ball batsman???
Bethell and Rehan arrived today but Cox's replacement is unlikely to arrive in time for the 1st Test. So it really does look like a struggling Pope with the bat will be at 3 and keep wicket with Bethell (average 25.44 in FC cricket and no hundred to his name) at 7. Unless, of course, there is a doubt about Stokes bowling (he didn't do so in the warm up game) in which case Woakes is likely to bat at 7 in order to give us those five bowling options.
I've not been watching the Aus-India game, but that second innings by India is an eye-opener. Are the Aussie bowlers strugging or even over the hill now?
Also noteworthy is India batting very conventionally to get those runs, with Jaiswal batting at a very unBazball strike rate of 54.21. By contrast England warm up for the NZ series with a 2 day pub game, scoring at run a ball.
And with Cox out injured, Bethell will presumably be the replacement, someone not even playing in this pub game. A talented kid, but a red ball batsman???
Bethell and Rehan arrived today but Cox's replacement is unlikely to arrive in time for the 1st Test. So it really does look like a struggling Pope with the bat will be at 3 and keep wicket with Bethell (average 25.44 in FC cricket and no hundred to his name) at 7. Unless, of course, there is a doubt about Stokes bowling (he didn't do so in the warm up game) in which case Woakes is likely to bat at 7 in order to give us those five bowling options.
All rather depressing. Let's hope a couple of them step up and surprise us. Personally I still can’t see the logic in picking Bethell in Tests.
It's great to see Australia get hammered. Disappointing to see India win.
Like a Palace v Millwall game, pick your lesser of two evils.
Jaiswal one of only 8 players to recover from a duck to get a century in the second innings.
Also reached 34 sixes this year which beat McCullum's record of 33 in a year, and became only the second ever player to have his first 4 centuries be 150+ (Graeme Smith, if you're wondering).
All whilst telling Starc halfway through an innings that he was bowling too slow.
Anyone have any luck in the Oval ballot? We could only get tickets for Eng v Ind Day 4, on the Sunday. Think the Lords Ballot results are announced next week...
Lord's have been emailing today. Got a couple of restricted view tickets
Assuming Robinson makes his England debut in this series, that will be three keepers that will have come through the Kent system to keep for England in the last two years. Billings, Cox and Robinson were all coached by Ray Willis, who retired a couple of years ago as a Kent age group coach, and also by his son, Simon, who is a former player and Head of the Academy and now Hong Kong's Head Coach.
I played in the same team as Simon Willis at Dartford, in the colts section He had it all as a cricketer then, was head n shoulders above anyone else Glad to hear he’s still heavily involved in the sport and doing very well
Assuming Robinson makes his England debut in this series, that will be three keepers that will have come through the Kent system to keep for England in the last two years. Billings, Cox and Robinson were all coached by Ray Willis, who retired a couple of years ago as a Kent age group coach, and also by his son, Simon, who is a former player and Head of the Academy and now Hong Kong's Head Coach.
Really pleased for the lad.
Billings also made his Test debut as an emergency stand in.
Cox was an odd choice to keep wicket, when he hadn't kept wicket all summer. Looking back, it's strange that he wasn't given a go with the gloves in the recent white ball series against the West Indies, to get him back into the swing, instead of Salt.
Assuming Robinson makes his England debut in this series, that will be three keepers that will have come through the Kent system to keep for England in the last two years. Billings, Cox and Robinson were all coached by Ray Willis, who retired a couple of years ago as a Kent age group coach, and also by his son, Simon, who is a former player and Head of the Academy and now Hong Kong's Head Coach.
Really pleased for the lad.
Billings also made his Test debut as an emergency stand in.
Cox was an odd choice to keep wicket, when he hadn't kept wicket all summer. Looking back, it's strange that he wasn't given a go with the gloves in the recent white ball series against the West Indies, to get him back into the swing, instead of Salt.
Cox was selected for NZ using the same criteria as Smith who has hardly kept for Surrey - someone to bat at 7 and to potentially take the game away from the opposition rather than a specialist keeper first and foremost. McCullum has asked Buttler to relinquish the gloves and Salt is seen as the person to do that job in the future. There might also have been a fear that Cox might not be able to concentrate on doing both jobs and when it became clear that he was struggling against the pace and bounce, he didn't even get picked for the T20 series.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest ever player to secure an IPL contract at the age of 13 for 1.1 crore (approx £105,000). David Warner, on the other hand, was unsold but then he's old enough to be his Suryavanshi's grandfather.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest ever player to secure an IPL contract at the age of 13 for 1.1 crore (approx £105,000). David Warner, on the other hand, was unsold but then he's old enough to be his Suryavanshi's grandfather.
I was on about him recently when he smoked a ton against Aus U19s. He's actually nearly 16 (unofficially) I think
Bethell playing at 3 is a massive leap of faith, for a rookie middle order all rounder.
Pope in some ways won't mind dropping down the order to 6, indeed it's a good opportunity for him to bat in an easier position. Stokes at 7 feels very low, surely one of the senior players should be at 3, with Bethell at 6 or 7?
Stokes should have batted at 3, he's not bowling anywhere near enough to justify him being at 7, at least if he did well at 3 there's an argument he should be in the side for his batting.
Stokes should have batted at 3, he's not bowling anywhere near enough to justify him being at 7, at least if he did well at 3 there's an argument he should be in the side for his batting.
Would've had a chance to start slow too, he'll have to get a move on down at 7
Bethell playing at 3 is a massive leap of faith, for a rookie middle order all rounder.
Pope in some ways won't mind dropping down the order to 6, indeed it's a good opportunity for him to bat in an easier position. Stokes at 7 feels very low, surely one of the senior players should be at 3, with Bethell at 6 or 7?
It's that thing they have a hang up about having someone at 7 who is capable of scoring a ton off 30 balls.
I've just had a nasty thought though - assuming that Bethell doesn't bat beyond the call of duty, could we see Smith coming back at 3 in the summer and not keeping with Pope staying at 6 and retaining the gloves? Is that why we didn't include a specialist second keeper in the first place and meaning that Robinson will merely be back up if and when he arrives?
Stokes should have batted at 3, he's not bowling anywhere near enough to justify him being at 7, at least if he did well at 3 there's an argument he should be in the side for his batting.
The justification, in the eyes of McCullum and Key, for him being in the side is for his captaincy and leadership and anything else is a bonus even if it does unbalance the side at times. That precedent was set by Mike Brearley who didn't bowl and although he started as an opener, he did bat down the order on occasions including at 7. He never scored a hundred and had a Test average of 22.88 at a strike rate of 29.79!!!!
Bethell playing at 3 is a massive leap of faith, for a rookie middle order all rounder.
Pope in some ways won't mind dropping down the order to 6, indeed it's a good opportunity for him to bat in an easier position. Stokes at 7 feels very low, surely one of the senior players should be at 3, with Bethell at 6 or 7?
It's that thing they have a hang up about having someone at 7 who is capable of scoring a ton off 30 balls.
I've just had a nasty thought though - assuming that Bethell doesn't bat beyond the call of duty, could we see Smith coming back at 3 in the summer and not keeping with Pope staying at 6 and retaining the gloves? Is that why we didn't include a specialist second keeper in the first place and that Robinson will merely be back up if and when he arrives?
Bethell would be perfectly suited for playing an explosive innings at 7. What he isn't suited to is coming in early on against a seaming new red ball.
Bethell is the first specialist batsman to play a Test match for England without a First Class century to his name since Mike Gatting was selected in 1978 at the even younger age of 20.
Comments
It wouldn't surprise me if they call up Rew, who is in SA with a young England team. One alternative is to go for Jos Butler who's currently smashing it in the T10 tourney in Abu Dhabi..,
Let's hope a couple of them step up and surprise us.
Personally I still can’t see the logic in picking Bethell in Tests.
Jaiswal one of only 8 players to recover from a duck to get a century in the second innings.
Also reached 34 sixes this year which beat McCullum's record of 33 in a year, and became only the second ever player to have his first 4 centuries be 150+ (Graeme Smith, if you're wondering).
All whilst telling Starc halfway through an innings that he was bowling too slow.
Special player.
Really pleased for the lad.
He had it all as a cricketer then, was head n shoulders above anyone else
Glad to hear he’s still heavily involved in the sport and doing very well
Cox was an odd choice to keep wicket, when he hadn't kept wicket all summer. Looking back, it's strange that he wasn't given a go with the gloves in the recent white ball series against the West Indies, to get him back into the swing, instead of Salt.
Duckett
Bethell
Root
Brook
Pope
Stokes
Woakes
Atkinson
Carse
Bashir
Pope in some ways won't mind dropping down the order to 6, indeed it's a good opportunity for him to bat in an easier position. Stokes at 7 feels very low, surely one of the senior players should be at 3, with Bethell at 6 or 7?
I've just had a nasty thought though - assuming that Bethell doesn't bat beyond the call of duty, could we see Smith coming back at 3 in the summer and not keeping with Pope staying at 6 and retaining the gloves? Is that why we didn't include a specialist second keeper in the first place and meaning that Robinson will merely be back up if and when he arrives?