Dernbach out for the series...who comes in? (oh it has to be woakes)

Everyone 5th favourite South African circus performer Jade "unlike Anderson I never grew out of stupid haircuts" Dernbach has a side strain and will miss the next three Ennglanmd wins over Australia. No doubt being asked to bowl two normal pace balls in a row was too much for his body to handle.
With Anderson out still feeling his groin, and Meaker attending Maynards funeral the only available player is Woakes for the third ODI. Unless they do something ridiculous like pick Patel just because they hate CW so much. Woakes' inclusion of course makes Englands much commented upon tail look shorter and adds an extra "finisher", not that ones been needed yet of ocurse.

Woakes will surely get his chance (unlucky on Meaker, though obviously nothing else can be done). Will be interesting to see whether he bats 7, 8 or 9. If he bats 7 it probably means England see him as a genuine all-rounder. If he bats 8 or 9 it means they only see him as another Broad, Swann type player. Personally I think he has the potential to be slightly better than Bresnan with the bat.

Theres always something to criticise the selectors for

With Tremlett, Anderson, Dernbach, Meaker out and Broad Bresnan Finn already in that makes Woakes Englands 8th choice seamer, and I guess Onions the 9th. Ridiculous depth of quality to call on.
The only worry is that Englands attack looks a bit samey. I guess Dernbach had queue jumped because he bowls a lot of variety and can be called on to offer different challenges.

Woakes is the next man in line, hence he will play.

Has to be Woakes really. Good with bat and ball. As a Glammy boy I'd love to see Harris given a shot, very similar to Woakes in quality and style obviously but as he's only just come back from and injury and struggled in the T20 he's not an option. Woakes for me

Martyr- Harris will get a chance in the future..


howevee there are many people in his way at the moment.

CF wrote:Martyr- Harris will get a chance in the future..


howevee there are many people in his way at the moment.

Its great we have such depth even when looking at the younger players coming through like Harris, Brooks and Meaker to name but a few. I see Harris more in the mold of Anderson whereby he is suited to the longer format. He is lethal with the new ball but doesn't have the variations in his armoury to cut it at ODI level.

I would quibble over whether Jack Brooks is a younger player. After all he is older than Finn, Broad and Bresnan. In fact of the various contenders only Onions and Anderson are older.

I am hoping Reece Topley kicks on as having a left handed option in the pace attack would be useful.

I think England should consider Woakes as the first choice replacement in ODIs. Dernback's variation, the faster one bowled in between all those slow ball rubbish can't cut it at the ODI level, although he seemed to cut down onthe nonsense in recent times. But other than the slower ball, I haven't really seen him doing anything special with the ball, Woakes could swing the cricket ball a bit even in Australia when I watched him and I am told he's pretty good at using the English conditions to his great advantage. Of course his pace has to pick up, but unlike Dernback or for that matter Meeker, Woakes can be pretty decent with the bat, his stats suggest if he keeps up the good work, he can be a pretty good all-rounder. England has found success playing 5 bowlers, if Woakes could be one of the 5, then that would add depth to the batting as well, and from what little I saw from Australia, he could play some shots at the end and so can be very useful down at 7.

msp83 wrote:I think England should consider Woakes as the first choice replacement in ODIs. Dernback's variation, the faster one bowled in between all those slow ball rubbish can't cut it at the ODI level, although he seemed to cut down onthe nonsense in recent times. But other than the slower ball, I haven't really seen him doing anything special with the ball, Woakes could swing the cricket ball a bit even in Australia when I watched him and I am told he's pretty good at using the English conditions to his great advantage. Of course his pace has to pick up, but unlike Dernback or for that matter Meeker, Woakes can be pretty decent with the bat, his stats suggest if he keeps up the good work, he can be a pretty good all-rounder. England has found success playing 5 bowlers, if Woakes could be one of the 5, then that would add depth to the batting as well, and from what little I saw from Australia, he could play some shots at the end and so can be very useful down at 7.

I think Dernbach is worth persisting with. He has shown on a few occasions how valuable he can be at the death. Woakes hasn't played a lot of cricket this year so it is hard to tell exactly where he is. The other thing is that, you lack a bit of variation if Woakes plays in the same team as Anderson and/or Bresnan.

For the next game Meaker should be available and will rightly get the chance to play, unless Anderson has fully recovered.

Meaker isn't selected, and Graeme Swann has been rested. If Jimmy A isn't fit, then its going to be Woakes, and I believe that is the right call.
As far Dernbach and the death overs are concerned, I have seen him smashed around more often than he containing during the last overs, his slower balls when first introduced was a bit of something new to the batters, now his slower ball has been decoded to a large extend, and his massive overuse of the same has taken the surprise out of the package and gave the batters across the world plenty of time to adjust.
He doesn't get Tremlett like bounce, he doesn't bowl Malinga like yorkers, doesn't swing the ball much, doesn't move it of the pitch that much. doesn't bowl express pace. He doesn't bring any added advantage with the bat or in the field.
Can pick up the pace when he's in the right frame of mind, has a decent slower ball. decent, nothing more than that, Woakes who can swing the ball, is picking up pace, great potential with the bat and a good fielder, I think I'd always have him as the first choice fast bowling replacement, and if he takes his chances with the ball and proves to be better than Bresnan with the bat, then I'd have him as a regular in the future that isn't far off.

Interesting, with Swann out (injured) theyve called up Tredwell (really?) and released Patel to play in the T20

Forcast to bne wet on Saturday as well so may be rather academic.

I guess they only see Patel as a 2nd spinner.

liverbnz wrote:I guess they only see Patel as a 2nd spinner.

Still quite possible that Patel could play - if the rain stays away. I guess they feel that, as a pure spinner, Tredwell has the edge on Samit. I'm not 100 percent in agreement with that - whenever Patel comes on in domestic cricket he seems a threat.