England Cricket 2022

billysboots said:

Addick Addict said:

billysboots said:

Addick Addict said:

billysboots said:

Addick Addict said:

billysboots said:

Ok - I am no cricket expert by any means . But surely it has got to be easier for bowlers to keep in form than batsmen. If they run up to bowl in the nets they must be looking to hit one place like the top of off stump. Or a point on the pitch ? If the coaches give them different situations to bowl at surely that should be good enough ?

They can bowl 5 or 10 over spells at a time in the nets 

Not buying this rusty bit .

I stand to be corrected by the bowlers out there. 

I think you can hone your skills and gain an element of fitness in the nets but the actual place to test yourself is in the middle against  batsmen in a proper match situation without the restrictions that nets can impose i.e. front foot cheating, no bowling to a field, inability to change your delivery according to the batsman you are bowling to and what scoring areas they have/perceived weaknesses, having to adapt to the prevalent weather and pitch conditions and that element of competitiveness that nets cannot give you.  You are also unlikely to be bowling at batsmen in the nets that will test your skills anyway because under the present calendar they are all elsewhere anyway. If they were to become available then you would surely arrange a match as preparation as was the case for South Africa.

 Sorry still not buying that. 

Those problems may occur at u14 level but at test level with the tech and coaches they have available to them all of those objections with the exception of the batsman should be able to be circumvented. 

The issue that was hilighted was bowling some good balls interspersed with rubbish . If you are hitting the top of off each ball that can’t be described as rubbish. Or just outside off stump. That can be practised. 

Accepting what you say about the other elements but the absence of a batsman makes it uncompetitive and unrealistic doesn't it? It is what makes a bowler match sharp bowling at a number of them after all and makes him have to think in the middle what he needs to bowl to a certain batsman rather than something being put down and asked to hit the top of off. In fact, wouldn't you say that it is easier for an U14 to practice in the nets hitting a spot and then play a game and take wickets doing that than, say, an international bowler against Test class batsmen who have a much higher level of skill than their age group counter parts?

I'm also not sure that a bowler just wants to be practising hitting top of off because there will be times (and not the way we used it) where you will want to bowl a bouncer to a set field. You can't replicate that in the nets and certainly not without bowling against a proper batsman because there's not just a combination of left and right handers but they also come in different heights so one man's good length for a drive shot and/or head high bouncer will be totally different for two different batsmen - Marco Jansen is 6' 8'' whereas Kyle Verreyne is 5' 9'' for example - and isn't it honing those skills in the middle that can make the difference?

The match situation covers absolutely all bases but, as you've said, the schedule doesn't allow it although it does allow us, ironically, to put a side up against South Africa for that very purpose.

Appreciating your points , but in order to make it completely realistic in your scenario we would need to find a 6ft 8  batsman to bowl against who was good enough to face test bowlers, because if you are a bunny who cant play fast bowling then its completely unrealistic again ? 

Like Zak Crawley - I believe he is just over 6' 5''

Ok and if there was a 6 ft 8 left hander ? 

Addick Addict said:

Lincsaddick said:

Addick Addict said:

Robinson in for Potts is the only change to our side for the 2nd Test

should be last chance saloon for quite a few

I'm not sure that there will or should, perhaps, be wholesale changes. 

The likes of Pope, Root, Bairstow and Stokes are untouchable at present and the "rod for their own back" that the selectors have created is, in backing Crawley (will be 50 innings) for so long, it makes it hard to drop Lees (18 innings) first, for example, without accusations of favouritism. I don't, actually, believe that either of them is currently good enough but it is a struggle to find one opener let alone two at the moment.

I doubt that both Anderson and Broad will disappear at once (unless it is of their choice of course) but we will see a situation, especially with the return from injury of other seamers, where they will play less and less and certainly so together. 

The only other players that are really under pressure for their positions, in my opinion, are Leach and Foakes. The former has been bowling much better and only recently picked up 10 wickets against India so he has bought more time whereas the latter's place is under scrutiny because of his lack of runs since he returned to the fold - 287 runs in 10 Tests and 19 innings (15 times out) at an average of 19.13. Unless Brook is picked to open, the only option for him to get into the side is for him to replace Foakes with Bairstow taking the gloves.

cantersaddick said:

Should have been Broad to drop out for Robinson IMO. been below par this summer.

Todds_right_hook said:

cantersaddick said:

Should have been Broad to drop out for Robinson IMO. been below par this summer.

I think this is broads last summer. A big sky contract is waiting for him.

broad seems to be the one who catches go down off of or decisions overturned on review. I think he has been better than his figures show but the end for him as a test match bowler is nigh