England summer thread - 2018

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

First topic message reminder :

First test squad is announced next week, and the rumour is Nick Gubbins will be selected to open, and this would be the prospective team...

Cook
Gubbins
Root
Malan
Stokes
Bairstow
Livingstone
Woakes/Wood
Broad
Leach
Anderson

With James Vince as 12th man

What do we reckon?

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Aussies crumbling rather meekly here - 208/9 off 45.4

[guildfordbat]

Aussies crumbling rather meekly here - 208/9 off 45.4

A bit of respectability given to the scorecard by Maxwell and Agar but generally it reads very poorly. England will be exceptionally disappointed not to win from here - 214 all out off 47. Sloppy cricket to leave 3 overs out there.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Maxwell undoubtedly supremely talent, for my money only second to Steven Smith is terms of talent, but I get the feeling Maxwell needs to be loved to get the best out of him. Obviously the new leadership group Paine/Langer/Ponting are backing him. The previous leadership group Smith/Lehmann treated Maxwell dreadfully, the public put downs where bullying from my point of view.

[Duty281]

England not exactly easing to a win, but they will get there. Currently 7 down.

[guildfordbat]

England not exactly easing to a win, but they will get there. Currently 7 down.

Yeah, we got there in the end but made harder work of it than we should have done.

214 was considerably shy of a par score and, as Atherton frequently said on comms, Australia always looked a batsman light. Paine's never a number 5. Good bowling to them anyway by England and especially Moeen and Rashid.

For the visitors, I do like the look of Billy Stanlake. First saw him a few months back when I was in New Zealand at Eden Park. Absolute giant with express pace.

[Gooseberry]

Yeah made good use of that batting depth!

Plunkett, Rashid and Moeen the star men really....taking wickets and bowling economically. Willey may have seen England home with the bat in a precarious situation but again his bowlings been ineffective. There's nothing he's done that Curran couldn't.
Sad end to Bairstows incredible run with the bat playing needlessly aggressively.

Australia look pretty poor even if they are dangerous with the new ball. They only had anything to bowl at thanks to Maxwell and Agar.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Useful bowling performance by Moeen and Rashid. Jason Roy seems to have rather too high a proportion of early failures - hopefully he will put that right during the series. Disjointed batting performance overall, but England get home in the end.

[alfie]

Didn't stay up for England's batting but I see they did , as others have said above , make rather heavy weather of a seemingly easy target. Was the pitch perhaps a little less easy for strokeplaying than it appeared , I wonder ? Possibly a little too slow ?
Anyway , they got there reasonably comfortably in the end , thanks to the all round strength (even Willey !). Too soon to worry about the batting for 2019 ?  I do note the Corporal's concerns re Roy - he is sensational when he gets going , but the question does arise as to how many complete failures can be acceptable while awaiting his occasional act of genius...

Australia , as I suspected they might , bowled well enough despite the absence of big names - these "subs" , especially Stanlake , were handy enough this last summer ; but the batting , sans Smith and Warner , looks under par.
Definitely not in the Scotland class

[robbo277]

Ali and Rashid did very well with the ball. Ali taking wickets early on and Rashid didn't go for a boundary until his last over I believe.

Disappointed so many of our batsmen getting out playing big shots while under no scoreboard pressure in terms of time. Could have easily just milked it around and seen off the two dangermen in Tye and Stanlake. But we got there.

With Stokes and Woakes still to come back into this side, our batting and bowling still have room to improve before the World Cup, which is positive.

I assume we'll continue to play our strongest team for the first 3 ODIs and then possibly rotate, especially if the series is wrapped up by then.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Anyone who's not a fan of the standards of women's cricket should have a look at Sarah Taylor's wicket keeping in latest ODI with South Africa. Fabulous leg side stumping.

[LondonTiger]

Sarah Taylor is an excellent keeper. Any aspiring player in that position could learn a lot from watching her.

[alfie]

England cruising in match two ...182/3 with Jason Roy on 91 from 89. Just lost Root to a great outfield catch from Short ; but even though their batting is weaker today with Billings subbing for Morgan (and Australia's rather deeper today) I think the home side will be feeling confident.

Off for rain again and you feel Duckworth Lewis might have a role to play later. But Australia need to get Buttler early or this could run right away...

[Duty281]

Rain of course tips the balance toward the chasing side, as DLS comes into play, but it is a decent start from England.

Roy on course for another ODI ton.

[alfie]

Ha. Couple of days ago I was posing the question of the value of Roy considering his ratio of nothing scores to acts of brilliancy...he must have been reading
Fine hundred : when he plays like this you see why they are prepared to be patient with him.
Suppose the question will linger though until he produces the goods in a World Cup . But right now Hales is under a lot more pressure...

225/3 in the thirty fifth. No overs lost yet so if the weather stays ok now this could be big.

[alfie]

Roy gone for a magnificent 120 to a superb catch by Tim Paine ... all round.

Billings in at 239/4 with 14 overs to go : if he can't score in this situation he never will...

[alfie]

Well the Aussies had actually pulled it back slightly with the wicket of Roy and a couple of quiet overs : but then Buttler has gone into overdrive !

Two successive outrageous ramps for six in a twenty run over ...poor Jye Richardson doesn't know what hit him

Won't be 400 but it will be plenty...

[alfie]

And Billings plays on to Tye...11 from 18. Sorry ; but I just cannot see what he is in the squad for.
Harsh perhaps but they're probably better off with Moeen and the other bowlers getting in now...

[alfie]

Moeen holes out in the deep and at 300/6 Buttler could use some help in finishing this last five overs.

Have to credit the Aussies sticking to their game despite the menacing scoring. England haven't quite run away with this ; depends on what the next twenty odd balls produce...

[alfie]

Couple of boundaries from Willey before he is caught with seven balls left...329/7 is less than it looked like being when Roy departed. Aussies have mixed things up well in these last ten overs ; Buttler hadn't all the strike he'd have liked and what might have been 380 will finish under 340 ...

[alfie]

Well actually 342 thanks to late Buttler boundaries in a great innings of 91 not out

Pretty good death bowling from Australia but this really ought to be a winning score unless Maxwell or someone goes completely nuts . They are saying it is England's highest ODI score ever against Australia , which actually surprises me a bit ...

[Gooseberry]

Without Woakes and Stokes our bowling just isn't good enough.

And for the love of God please stop giving Billings chances.

[alfie]

Half time in the rugby so I've nipped back to see Moeen break that Marsh/Short stand...looks as if the spinners will play a big part again today... Good to see Root getting some useful overs in to add flexibility to Buttler's bowling options

[Gooseberry]

Helps that Australia have no batting depth and Finch not getting in. They are in a real winning position now, the batsmen gave them a comfortable cushion to play with.

[Gooseberry]

Fairly comfor table in the end..
Wood Willey and Billings once again struggling but the rest of the team looks every bit a legitimate world cup contender. With Stokes Woakes and Morgan in for those 3.
I just wish they'd give some other players a chance when the spots are available....persisting with the 3 guys who keep failing bemuses me. The squad depth is lacking a bit

[Corporalhumblebucket]

.... Jason Roy seems to have rather too high a proportion of early failures - hopefully he will put that right during the series. .....

Superb innings by Roy today. Doesn't necessaryily banish the concerns, but it's a positive for him if Bairstow attacks right from the off - there's then that little bit less pressure on Roy to crash every other ball to the boundary.

[Duty281]

England's ODI team have enough good batsmen to know that at least one will fire during any given innings. Gives all of them freedom to play how they like, and go full-attack whenever they choose.

[Gooseberry]

T20 squad has been announced.
Stokes and Woakes miss out through injury and Wood is "rested".
Vince, Malan and Dawson who were in the winter squad left out. Also ..Billings!

Both Currans come in. Willey keeps a spot.

Presumably the team will be much the same as it has been for the ODIs with one curran in for Wood and possibly the other for Willey.

[LondonTiger]

England squad:
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), David Willey (Yorkshire)

Some interesting decisions to make.

Who opens?

Bairstow has had fun at the top of the order in ODIs over the last year, but has never opened for England in T20.
Buttler had huge success in IPL at the top of the order, but has batted just the once there for England.
Roy and Hales are our usual openers and if both are selected will probably come out first.


Who are the seamers?

Probably Willey or CurranS for the left arm variety.
Then perm 2 from CurranT, Jordan, Plunkett and Ball (assuming we pick 6 batters).


Possible Lineup: Roy, Hales, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Bairstow, Ali, Willey, Plunkett, Rashid, CurranT - though they could easily add Jordan at the expense of a batter.


(Last XI v New Zealand in Feb - Roy, Hales, Malan, Morgan, Buttler, Billings, Willey, Dawson, Jordan, Rashid, CurranT)

[Gooseberry]

I foprot Jordans in the squad, Im surprised he retained his place tbh. You could colour me amazed if he plays.
And in no way can he replace a batsman. Hes never even scored a 50 in international cricket of any type despite 79 caps to his name. he averages under 15 in T20s and has never score da 50 in over a hundred domestic T20s, and just one in a list A game. Where this idea hes an all rounder came from I have no idea. Even with Stokes and Woakes injured England have Rashid, Moeen, Plunkett, Willey, and Curran who all bat better than him in the squad.



Anyway todays ODI...Morgan back, Stanlake for Aus who bowl first. England making good early progress as ever. 38/0 off 6 overs as I type.
Roy took 14 in 3 deliveries off Stanlake then survived a review. That seems to have put Bairstow into his shell a bit and Richardson followed up with a maiden. Aus have switched to Agar rather than letting Stanlake have another go at drawing Roy into chucking his wicket away.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I have no idea why Bairstow reviewed that

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I have no idea why Bairstow reviewed that

Well that shuts me up - looked plumb

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

79-0 off 10 for England - Bairstow overturned LBW and a drop in the space of five balls, Aussies also wasted their review. Dreadful start for them

[Duty281]

Not really sure why Australia would choose to field first against this England batting line-up on this pitch. Currently looking at 400, are England.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Roy and Bairstow both pass fifty, England are 113-0 off 14 overs, run rate is over 8 an over without them really going gung ho yet. This could be a huge score

[Duty281]

444/3 is the highest ever ODI score (also England, of course!).

[Gooseberry]

Yes looking very strong for them right now!

136/0
A 400 is definitely on, although a couple of wickets could stall things quickly so let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. But anything under 350 would be a big disappointment .
You can't see this Aus batting line up chasing down a huge total.

[Gooseberry]

187 off 18.1 ...still keeping up 8 an over.

Brilliant

[alfie]

[b]187[b]off 18.1 ...still keeping up 8 an over.

Brilliant

I think that is called "getting ahead of ourselves" , goose

Or actually , just a typo...

Still a good rate . Pity Roy ran himself out then...

[alfie]

Hales has started well , too...

Reckon even Billings might have made some runs today

180 in the 22nd ! Scarey.

[alfie]

202/1 after 24. YJB another six to reach 92 from 65 balls...

This is getting ridiculous.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

England are batting well, but the Aussies are bowling some tosh too

[Duty281]

Come on Bairstow, no Englishman has ever made 200 in an ODI before...

444 should certainly be eclipsed from here.

[alfie]

Astonishingly , the 25th over just goes for 1 run ! Tye -ing up the scoring rate , as it were...

But now Bairstow restores order with another big six to race to his hundred

Rate at 8.35. Records beckoning...

[alfie]

Hales caught by a chap in a red check shirt at verydeep square...juggled it a bit but held on...

Wonder if Tim Paine will fancy having a bowl himself ? Everyone else is getting slaughtered...

[Gooseberry]

Bairstows fast making a case for being the best ODI batsman in the world.
His record since his recall has been incredible

[alfie]

245 from 29.1 and this is too much for me. Actually don't really enjoy it when the "contest " between bat and ball is so distorted.
Don't imagine England will enjoy bowling on this either ...but if they end up with 500 to defend it mightn't matter.

Will catch up highlights tomorrow...good night all

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Modern day Ian Bell(Bairstow) in his element on these flat and rubbish pitches.

These pitches are awful

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

England really are batting well, and despite the Roy run out are running well between the wickets too - Aussies just look flat, bowling first was a mad decision!

[Duty281]

Actually don't really enjoy it when the "contest " between bat and ball is so distorted.

Quite agree, the balance has shifted, since the last World Cup or perhaps a little before, ever more towards the batsman to the point where it is no longer a fair fight.

The powers that be, probably after next year's World Cup, will need to bring in regulations to benefit the fielding side.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Bairstow averaging over 50 in limited overs cricket, almost comical. When you think of great ODI batsmen it was de Villiers and Kohli the benchmark. Bairstow a filthy slogger

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