Morgan out-Patel in for Sri Lanka

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Seems Strauss and Flower have called time on Morgan's test career for the time being anyway. Samit Patel replaces him in the Test side. I see why they have brought Patel in. A genuine all rounder who can bowl plenty of overs and contribute with the bat. My only annoyance with Patel is that when England dropped him and told him to go work on his fitness, he came back and swore he had lost 3 stone or something. From what I saw and still see, he simply went away and came back the same, claiming to be something he wasn't. Apart from that he is a good cricketer that does have natural talent. Whether they see him as the long term future 6 for England is open to debate. His batting should come first and foremost if included, that is the only way I can see it justifiable to drop Morgan for him.

Come to think of it they may even go for Bopara at 6 due to his recent form in the ODI's, then surely it is last chance saloon as far as his test career goes.

well i think we will go with 2 spinners

A lot will depend on the pitches, to state the obvious. Basically in the conditions playing 2 spinners and 2 seamers will be difficult so for that reason I could see Bresnan playing instead of Morgan IF we play 2 spinners. The trouble is our batting was terrible against Pakistan so would we be able to risk weakening it more? The other option is 3 seamers + Swann + Patel batting at 7 behind Prior. The more defensive option but significantly improves the batting. I'd like option 1 because I want Swann and Monty to bowl together again but I have a feeling England will opt for option 2.

Or 2 seamers + 2 proper wicket taking spinners + bopara for rotation with desperation overs from trott and kp


When was th elast time england genuinely needed 5 fulltime bowlers?
Now when was the last time england genuinely needed 6 batsmen?

If you balance out how often they are cursing the lack of batting vs the lack of bowling ( aside form games they havent played 2 spinners through fear) and then factor in having bopara whos almost a collingwood I really dont see why youd pick 5 bowlers

I'm purely basing it on how hot it will be out there, very difficult for Broad/Anderson to bowl a lot of overs and I'd rather have an actual bowler to fill in for them rather than Bopara and Trott. But yeah tbh that's probably the most likely selection.

Well I though the same about going to Aus and the UAE, England picked 4 with no real rotation bowler and did fine (on the bowling front)
Paetl/Bresnan does give them the option of 5 if its not working out though yeah.

IMO samit will defo play and bat 7