England's Summer of Cricket 2022 as Joe Root Steps Down

First topic message reminder :

Duty281 wrote:What do we think of the future of ODI cricket as a whole, because its demise is once again being discussed?

Wasim Akram thinks ODI cricket should be put out of its misery; Mark Ramprakash says that Stokes' ODI retirement could be the beginning of the end for ODI cricket; but Ravi Shastri says there should be fewer T20Is.

My view is that ODI cricket should stay, and it's T20i cricket that should be abolished. T20 should remain franchise/domestic only. No need for a T20 World Cup when the IPL and such exists. If T20i cricket does stay, I think there should be no three format players, only two formats maximum. I'd be very disappointed if 50-over cricket died on an international basis.  

No format will die as long as they are generating revenues.
And much as I used to call them Meaningless-Masala-ODIs, these games as well as meaningless T20Is generate more revenue then tests.
Instead of 5 to 7 ODIs per series earlier...now limited over series comprise of 3+3.
Test Matches, "The Premium Form" of the game per purists ( including me) is still the commercially subsidized format of the game.
Now the defeats in ODIs/T20Is don't hurt as much, nor are wins remembered for long, only World Cups stay in memory.
But the international games generate high viewership rating & expensive advertisements (atleast on Indian TV)

As I wrote on the Ind-WI thread, the Indians have stopped complaining about too much cricket.
BCCI has found peace by putting out as many as 2 and a half to 3 squads now...call them Senior (or premium) and A and B squads for international games.
Ensuring prime stars get plenty of rest / rotation......and the pool of contracted players gets bigger and everyone gets full contracted fee, playing lesser games
Recently we have seen 2 Indian series running concurrently and twice VVSL has been India's national coach for a series when Dravid was with another Indian squad at the same time in another series.

If a marquee player Stokes was under BCCI management.....BCCI would have NEVER let him retire, would have done a sweet deal with him guaranteeing his workload across formats and asking him to appear for a very limited number of ODIs and T20Is and also letting him skip B grade test series.

No format will die since even these meaningless ODI&T20Is are indeed generating revenues, that are essential to subsidize tests and pump into FC, junior and women cricket development

Crawley.

Scored 69 when South Africa had already given up/when the game was as good as over and keeps his place in the team as a result.

Duty281 wrote:Crawley.

Scored 69 when South Africa had already given up/when the game was as good as over and keeps his place in the team as a result.

They've been very clear all along that they rate Crawley and are prepared to give him a lot of time to (hopefully !) reward them with success. So no surprise - and I'd have been surprised if he wasn't kept on contract for now. Presume patience will run out eventually if he doesn't start to fire on a regular basis but it looks as if he's going to Pakistan - probably along with Jennings and/or Duckett ; and Lees won't.

Doesn't mean the wretched opening debate is at all settled though. Next summer could see any of those four - or Burns ; or even someone else - thrown into the Ashes battle. Love to be able to back any of them with confidence but I'm not sure we have yet sighted the new Cook/Strauss/Trescothick...

Could debate a few of those contract choices. But I guess it gives some indication of the ones they think most likely to be useful over the next twelve months and therefore want to keep some control over.

Yeah, I'm not surprised either, it's just frustrating. It's the same as Buttler - chance after chance given to a player that is not test level.

In Crawley's case if he got dropped and was given an opportunity to rework his game on the county circuit, away from the spotlight, he may come back to England in a couple of years as a viable test option. But continually playing him, and just hoping the next innings will be the one where he finally turns the corner, will destroy his confidence.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Some more leaks re: Englands likely test squad to Pakistan, this time via Tim Wigmore in the Telegraph.

Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Olly Stone all in line for call ups, England looking to put together a “varied” attack. Ben Duckett is “almost a certainty” to be called up, maybe in place of Lees and Jennings is in contention too

Also from the Telegraph, Rehan Ahmed is likely to be in the test squad as a net bowler and travelling reserve. Only played 3 FC games but England have long believed his potential is enormous. On the off-chance he played a test in Pakistan, I think he would beat Brian Close as England's youngest test debutant.

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Some more leaks re: Englands likely test squad to Pakistan, this time via Tim Wigmore in the Telegraph.

Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Olly Stone all in line for call ups, England looking to put together a “varied” attack. Ben Duckett is “almost a certainty” to be called up, maybe in place of Lees and Jennings is in contention too

Also from the Telegraph, Rehan Ahmed is likely to be in the test squad as a net bowler and travelling reserve. Only played 3 FC games but England have long believed his potential is enormous. On the off-chance he played a test in Pakistan, I think he would beat Brian Close as England's youngest test debutant.

Rehan’s old news now. Also in the Telegraph, apparently his 14yo brother who has been playing Notts 2s is the better prospect! Time to start the bandwagon early…

JDizzle wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Some more leaks re: Englands likely test squad to Pakistan, this time via Tim Wigmore in the Telegraph.

Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Olly Stone all in line for call ups, England looking to put together a “varied” attack. Ben Duckett is “almost a certainty” to be called up, maybe in place of Lees and Jennings is in contention too

Also from the Telegraph, Rehan Ahmed is likely to be in the test squad as a net bowler and travelling reserve. Only played 3 FC games but England have long believed his potential is enormous. On the off-chance he played a test in Pakistan, I think he would beat Brian Close as England's youngest test debutant.

Rehan’s old news now. Also in the Telegraph, apparently his 14yo brother who has been playing Notts 2s is the better prospect! Time to start the bandwagon early…

I saw that too - the excitement is off the charts!!

Also note in the piece about Ahmed (great news btw, will be invaluable experience for him) that MacPherson who's now moved to the Telegraph says that Parkinson has basically fallen off the radar/out of favour with them, and by the end of the summer was no longer even the concussion sub named in case of an injury to Leach (That was Patterson-White of Notts).
Maybe a touch harsh, but ultimately they've had Parkinson in and around the setup for what, 2-3 years now both red and white ball, and don't seem to fancy him in either format. I do think his lack of batting ability/poor fielding hurts too, in the international game these days in pretty much all formats you need to have passable batting/fielding if you are a bowler, and Parkinson doesn't, alongside they seem to just not rate his bowling.

England squad for tour of Pakistan

Ben Stokes (Durham) captain
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Zak Crawley (Kent)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Ben Foakes (Surrey)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Keaton Jennings (Lancashire)
Jack Leach (Somerset)
Liam Livingstone (Lancashire)
Jamie Overton (Surrey)
Ollie Pope (Surrey)
Ollie Robinson (Sussex)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Mark Wood (Durham)

Few surprises - Livingstone is a shock, as he has barely played red ball despite having an okay record. The fact they have only picked one genuine spinner helps him I guess. Harsh on Potts, but JOverton is the point of difference?

Pope and Duckett to cover the back up keeper?

Would guess it looks something like…

Jennings, Crawley, Pope, Root, Stokes, Foakes, LL/Jacks, Robinson, Wood, Leach, Jimmy

And the seamers rotate.

Pakistan squad of 15 : Anderson Wood Leach Root Stokes Foakes Pope Crawley Robinson Brook ....ie ten of the incumbents...

plus Jennings Duckett Jacks J Overton and Livingstone.

Broad didn't want to tour for family reasons ; Lees is out as expected. My only real surprise is that Potts was left out but I suppose they think he won't be suited to conditions there ?

Not sure about Jacks and Livingstone. I know spin options are few at present but are they likely to be more useful than Joe Root with the ball ?

JDizzle wrote:England squad for tour of Pakistan

Ben Stokes (Durham) captain
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Zak Crawley (Kent)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Ben Foakes (Surrey)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Keaton Jennings (Lancashire)
Jack Leach (Somerset)
Liam Livingstone (Lancashire)
Jamie Overton (Surrey)
Ollie Pope (Surrey)
Ollie Robinson (Sussex)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Mark Wood (Durham)

Few surprises - Livingstone is a shock, as he has barely played red ball despite having an okay record. The fact they have only picked one genuine spinner helps him I guess. Harsh on Potts, but JOverton is the point of difference?

Pope and Duckett to cover the back up keeper?

Would guess it looks something like…

Jennings, Crawley, Pope, Root, Stokes, Foakes, LL/Jacks, Robinson, Wood, Leach, Jimmy

And the seamers rotate.

Some sources were off piste then re: Sam Curran/Olly Stone!

Livingstone did make a test squad (want to say to NZ?) in like 2017/18 and as you say, his first class record is not bad. He made hundreds in Sri Lanka for the Lions too in yesteryear, but still a bit of a surprise!

Looks like in lieu of a genuine second spin option, they're looking to pack the batting with Jacks/LL and Root providing the 2nd spin overs - can't disagree too much, as said before on here Pakistan pitches generally aren't your Sri Lanka/Bangladesh raging turners where you have to pick frontline spinners, a frontline + part time with three seamers is probably the way to go (providing you have some pace in the seamers!).

Be interesting to see who is part of the Lions squad for that game in the UAE a week before this tour - am I right in thinking it is a Lions vs England game? Ahmed and Patterson-White almost nailed on Lions players, as we know Ahmed is travelling to Pakistan...

Yep the week before the 1st test, England vs England Lions in a warm up game in the UAE. Should be full strength squads for that one, with the World T20 finishing (if England even make it that far) 10-14 days earlier.

Lions squad for the game to be announced later this week

Nice to see Jennings back in the fold. I wonder if a decent to strong performance in Pakistan will mean he's retained for the next lot of tests, which I believe are in NZ, or if they view him as a purely short-term sub-continent specialist?

No Broad. That was expected, but is it now the end for him? Could hear an announcement soon, or maybe after the WC, if so. Although I actually see he may not have been picked due to the birth of his child, expected in November.

Not really a fan of taking Will Jacks for tests or Jamie Overton at all. I guess J Overton is there as a back-up pace option, but it's a shame to see no Potts in the side. At least England seemed to have learnt that Woakes + overseas = no good.

Livingstone isn't a massive surprise for my money, as they were talking up the possibility of playing him during the summer, though it came to nought. It does show the spinning cupboard is, for now, pretty empty. Has Parkinson done something to fall out of favour so quickly? And Dom Bess (who?) is a forgotten man.

If I were Pakistan I'd be preparing raging turners.

Would say JDizzle's team is right though, depending on the surface and how much they trust Root, it could be Brook ahead of the Livingstone/Jacks option to strengthen the batting.

The Guardian also speculating that Duckett may open ahead of Jennings, and the Telegraph saying that Duckett is 'favourite' to open. Duckett does of course play the game in a more aggressive, bazball style than Jennings, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

I'm delighted with this as I mentioned ages ago on here that having Jennings and Crawley opening gets me jazzed having what has to be the tallest opening partnership in history? Great for pub quizzes. Just need my man SoulR to do the stats for me!

Although if they do open together, we'll have to put up with Raf telling us at least 3 times per innings how tall people don't make good openers.

Happy to see Livingstone included. Thought he might have been pigeonholed as a white ball specialist after breaking through, but I can see him being a really useful Test all-rounder.
Nice to be able to debate who'll open too. Was their confidence really so fragile they couldn't even risk taking a look at someone else in the nets over the summer?

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:I'm delighted with this as I mentioned ages ago on here that having Jennings and Crawley opening gets me jazzed having what has to be the tallest opening partnership in history? Great for pub quizzes. Just need my man SoulR to do the stats for me!

My brain immediately thought Hayden and Matthew Elliot but apparently Haydos is only 6'2"!

Did Peter Fulton ever open with someone else tall?

Do agree with Duty that it may be in Pakistan's interests to prepare spin-crazy pitches... and frankly if they do , not a lot England can do to improve their chances against them : would just have to hope Root in particular makes mountains of runs and Leach thinks he's back in Taunton...

I don't see any problem for Broad - he had already flagged he was likely to decline this tour to be home for the birth of his child and clearly was left out on his own request. Potts is a little odd as I would have thought him a useful option for any conditions : I guess they thought they had too many fast bowlers in the squad and preferred the extra pace (to cover for Wood ?) and better batting of J Overton. Think he may well be back for the NZ trip.

My issue with the JD suggested XI is the "bits and pieces bat/spin" chap at 7 after Foakes at 6 : (1) I am not leaving out Brook straight away and (2) If it is deemed so vital to include extra (albeit dubious) additional spin options , then you won't need three main seamers plus Stokes.

Not looking good for Parkinson at all , is it ? One quick look , as a "sub " , and back to the county game... And I am a little surprised at how much Bess seems to have fallen off the radar. He didn't have a great season for Yorkshire - though the strange CC scheduling probably didn't help - and wasn't likely to be rushed back into the team ; but as one who had some success on tours of SA and Sri Lanka - and can bat a bit - he might have held some appeal as a second spinner or injury relief. But with his not even getting a minor contract as well as being ignored for tours the messaging isn't great.

They can raffle the opening spots. Any two from three and hope it comes off - though I am unsure what it will mean for future matches elsewhere. Duckett and Jennings seem reasonable choices for this tour in any case.

And given his past issues against spin , this shapes as a bit of a test for Pope to extend the decent start he has made in his quest to nail down the number three spot. Test for temperament as well as technique and it may tell us a lot about his future prospects.

After a couple of generally disappointing tours to Australia and West Indies it would be nice if this one provided some success and a bit of useful signage for the future...

king_carlos wrote:

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:I'm delighted with this as I mentioned ages ago on here that having Jennings and Crawley opening gets me jazzed having what has to be the tallest opening partnership in history? Great for pub quizzes. Just need my man SoulR to do the stats for me!

My brain immediately thought Hayden and Matthew Elliot but apparently Haydos is only 6'2"!

Did Peter Fulton ever open with someone else tall?

My immediate thought was either Peter Fulton but very few batsmen have their height listed, tends to be a more bowler orientated stat. Fulton tended to open with Hamish Rutherford who wasn't particularly tall, was hoping he'd opened with Guptil at one point but alas no. Trescothick and Vaughan were also both 6'2" which doesn't seem quite right, Tres is surely taller?

From what I can find it's probably Moody and Taylor at a combined 12'8" which would trump Crawley and Jennings if it were to happen.

Soul Requiem wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:I'm delighted with this as I mentioned ages ago on here that having Jennings and Crawley opening gets me jazzed having what has to be the tallest opening partnership in history? Great for pub quizzes. Just need my man SoulR to do the stats for me!

My brain immediately thought Hayden and Matthew Elliot but apparently Haydos is only 6'2"!

Did Peter Fulton ever open with someone else tall?

My immediate thought was either Peter Fulton but very few batsmen have their height listed, tends to be a more bowler orientated stat. Fulton tended to open with Hamish Rutherford who wasn't particularly tall, was hoping he'd opened with Guptil at one point but alas no. Trescothick and Vaughan were also both 6'2" which doesn't seem quite right, Tres is surely taller?

From what I can find it's probably Moody and Taylor at a combined 12'8" which would trump Crawley and Jennings if it were to happen.

That is next level work, Soul.

In the words of Alan Partridge, lovely stuff.

king_carlos wrote:

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:I'm delighted with this as I mentioned ages ago on here that having Jennings and Crawley opening gets me jazzed having what has to be the tallest opening partnership in history? Great for pub quizzes. Just need my man SoulR to do the stats for me!

My brain immediately thought Hayden and Matthew Elliot but apparently Haydos is only 6'2"!

Did Peter Fulton ever open with someone else tall?

2 metre Peter. Great nickname.

On that subject, does anyone remember when Monde Zondeki played for SA in a test in England. Can't remember who it was (Matt Prior possibly) but someone welcomed him to the crease by calling him All Hands.

Great bit of good-natured sledging.

alfie wrote:Do agree with Duty that it may be in Pakistan's interests to prepare spin-crazy pitches... and frankly if they do , not a lot England can do to improve their chances against them : would just have to hope Root in particular makes mountains of runs and Leach thinks he's back in Taunton...

I don't see any problem for Broad - he had already flagged he was likely to decline this tour to be home for the birth of his child and clearly was left out on his own request. Potts is a little odd as I would have thought him a useful option for any conditions : I guess they thought they had too many fast bowlers in the squad and preferred the extra pace (to cover for Wood ?) and better batting of J Overton. Think he may well be back for the NZ trip.

My issue with the JD suggested XI is the "bits and pieces bat/spin" chap at 7 after Foakes at 6 : (1) I am not leaving out Brook straight away and (2) If it is deemed so vital to include extra (albeit dubious) additional spin options , then you won't need three main seamers plus Stokes.

Not looking good for Parkinson at all , is it ? One quick look , as a "sub " , and back to the county game... And I am a little surprised at how much Bess seems to have fallen off the radar. He didn't have a great season for Yorkshire - though the strange CC scheduling probably didn't help - and wasn't likely to be rushed back into the team ; but as one who had some success on tours of SA and Sri Lanka - and can bat a bit - he might have held some appeal as a second spinner or injury relief. But with his not even getting a minor contract as well as being ignored for tours the messaging isn't great.

They can raffle the opening spots. Any two from three and hope it comes off - though I am unsure what it will mean for future matches elsewhere. Duckett and Jennings seem reasonable choices for this tour in any case.

And given his past issues against spin , this shapes as a bit of a test for Pope to extend the decent start he has made in his quest to nail down the number three spot. Test for temperament as well as technique and it may tell us a lot about his future prospects.

After a couple of generally disappointing tours to Australia and West Indies it would be nice if this one provided some success and a bit of useful signage for the future...

Just on Bess, it was noted he is off this winter to Australia to play grade cricket - hopefully he can go and work on his game, and gain some confidence. I can't speak for his whole season, but when I saw him bowl vs Surrey in both the game at Scarborough and The Oval, he was quite frankly, all over the shop still. I doubt he's been wholly written off, but some time away to hopefully go and improve can't be the worst thing in the world...he is still only 25 years old after all - in spinners terms, still a adolescent! Swann didn't "crack it" until much later either (not saying he will be Swann, but as an example)

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Just on Bess, it was noted he is off this winter to Australia to play grade cricket - hopefully he can go and work on his game, and gain some confidence.

Are you sure? Haven't seen him here yet.

If I happen to bump into him I'll pass on your sensible advice to him, Olly.
And if he's playing in Victoria, I'm sure it would be no trouble for alfie to do the same.
We all want the best for Dom after all.

I think it would be a mistake for Pakistan to prepare spinning pitches. As their spinners are almost as bad as England. Somerset had Sajid Khan for the few CC games and he was dreadful. Averaged 71! Makes Will Jacks average of 47 look Laker-esque.

Stick to roads and trust your rapid reverse swing seamers to out bowl England’s - as we aren’t rocking up with Starc, Cummins or Black and Decker so would expect the Pakistan seamers out bowl England. Unlike they did vs Aus.

JDizzle wrote:I think it would be a mistake for Pakistan to prepare spinning pitches. As their spinners are almost as bad as England. Somerset had Sajid Khan for the few CC games and he was dreadful. Averaged 71! Makes Will Jacks average of 47 look Laker-esque.

Stick to roads and trust your rapid reverse swing seamers to out bowl England’s - as we aren’t rocking up with Starc, Cummins or Black and Decker so would expect the Pakistan seamers out bowl England. Unlike they did vs Aus.

You have just jumped in with a point I was going to make JDizzle - really don't think it is in Pakistan's interest to turn this into a whoever wins the toss wins the game, spinning battlefield type affair - Leach is very effective in that (they have a lot of right handers too) and also of course, you know, that Joe Root fella is pretty handy against spin!
That's before we even get to their spin cupboard - as you note they've cycled through Sajid Khan/Yasir Shah/Nauman Ali in the last 12-18 months and none have done a particularly good or consistent job. Whereas if you can prep stuff to take advantage of Shaheen/Abbas/Naseem/Hassan they should, in those conditions, outbowl their English counterparts.

PJ - I can't say I've seen him board a Qantas to land down under myself, but Will MacPherson reliably stuck that nugget in his squad selection/release piece. I trust you all to take fine care of him  

Alfie - interesting point on the 3 seamers + Stokes, because from reading various journos the general theme seems to be they might actually, providing Stokes is fit to do a bowling workload, go with Brook at 5, Foakes at 7 and then either just Leach as one spinner, or if another spin option required then one of Jacks/Livingstone at 8, and only two of Anderson/Robinson/Wood. Definitely lots of options!

As you say , Olly : lots of options. For both sides  , really.

It is true Pakistan haven't been spin champions lately ; but I am never sure they won't produce some new fellow to bamboozle English bats who (Root excepted) don't have a fantastic reputation on turning surfaces - even against fairly modest spinners. No Bairstow or Buttler this time either - you will recall they provided a lot of the runs in Sri Lanka on recent trips.  But yes , they probably will prefer to play on bland pitches and rely on their seamers.
If that is the case , I can't really see much use for a Livingstone or Jacks - unless replacing one of the top six bats. The idea of just two main pace men plus Leach Stokes and a part time spinner on a flat deck does not inspire much confidence !  

Suppose it depends on what you think of Livingstone as a Test bowler. Have to say I harbour grave doubts he would be anything more than an occasional partnership breaker - would be very surprised to see him bowling proper long spells. Hard to really know given he doesn't play FC cricket much these days... but I do fear this selection has a touch of the Ed Smith "pull a white ball rabbit out of the hat" theory about it.

Jacks I haven't seen but on his recent record in the CC I am happy enough to see him as a middle order batting reserve with some useful bowling skills as an extra. But again if he plays it must surely be as a batsman , rather than taking a key bowler's spot. And quite frankly , if a bunsen were prepared , Leach should be all they need to do the bowling (a little help from Root , perhaps) and they may as well fill up the batting : Jennings Duckett Crawley Root Pope Brook Stokes Foakes Leach + two seamers...

Anyway someone is bound to get injured so planning too far in advance is all a bit pointless

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:I'm delighted with this as I mentioned ages ago on here that having Jennings and Crawley opening gets me jazzed having what has to be the tallest opening partnership in history? Great for pub quizzes. Just need my man SoulR to do the stats for me!

Although if they do open together, we'll have to put up with Raf telling us at least 3 times per innings how tall people don't make good openers.

Just catching up.

Having seen him, I know Barry Richards was a truly great opening batsman.

Having seen him, I believe Barry Richards was tall. I've read one article supporting that description but can't find details of his exact height online or anywhere else. Can anyone with knowledge of Richards' era (Alfie?) or better use of the internet (all of you) help here? 

So the Lions squad for the warm up game and training camp in UAE has been announced;

England Lions training group: Tom Abell (Somerset), Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), Jack Carson (Sussex), Sam Conners (Derbyshire), Sam Cook (Essex), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire), Tom Haines (Sussex), Jack Haynes (Worcestershire), Lyndon James (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire) Matthew Potts (Durham), Jamie Smith (Surrey)

Also noted that Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood and Brydon Carse will travel and train as part of their rehab programmes. James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, Will Jacks will head out early ahead of the test squad to train with the Lions also.

Pretty inexperienced Lions squad - which is good on some levels! And some familiar names, glad to see Hameed, Lawrence, Potts aren't off the radar totally and will be interesting to see how the young talent like Smith, Haines, Haynes, Ahmed and Conners go

Also Will MacPherson notes that Sam Hain was to be in that squad, but injured himself the final game of the season and is still out. The Lions will be touring in Asia after Xmas, and they hope he will be fit to return for that

Overton joining the training group too , I see.

A lot of uncapped players in the squad. Makes sense as there is so much cricket being played nowadays you need a Big Pool to select from sometimes.

Good to see Archer , Carse and Mahmood apparently rehabbing OK - and Fisher back in action with the Lions. Has been a rough few months for fast bowlers !

Just don't let any of them play golf on their days off...

Key has admitted that Strauss' reforms are dead in the water as they lack county support. Even worse news for Key is the counties are counter-attacking and some want the competition window of The Hundred shortened from four weeks to three.

Duty281 wrote:Key has admitted that Strauss' reforms are dead in the water as they lack county support. Even worse news for Key is the counties are counter-attacking and some want the competition window of The Hundred shortened from four weeks to three.

Good luck with that !

If they did manage to achieve that , perhaps it could become " The Seventy-five " ?

Duty281 wrote:Key has admitted that Strauss' reforms are dead in the water as they lack county support. Even worse news for Key is the counties are counter-attacking and some want the competition window of The Hundred shortened from four weeks to three.

I was at a Surrey members's forum earlier this week which purposely and fully concentrated upon the Strauss recommendations. The interim chairman mentioned quite late on that whilst The Hundred was very unlikely to go away, there remained some possibility of ''the window for it being reduced from 31 days to 21''. The quiet way in which this was stated and the fact that the interim chairman didn't lead with it made me think there were active discussions going on behind the scenes.

The interim chairman also confirmed there would not be a vote this week as had been suggested in parts of the media although he ''would have voted no, upon behalf of the Club had there been''. The overwhelming view of the room was that the failure to include The Hundred in Strauss' recommendations (and, in some fairness to him, the brief he was set) was a major weakness which needed to be rectified.

Alec Stewart also emphasised the need for players contracted to Hundred teams to actually be playing during the tournament's window. He referred to three Surrey being contracted for the Hundred and thus not available to their county even though they were never selected to play for thir franchise side. Stewart was (understandably) keen for such players to be released back during the tournament whenever possible.

Yes I can't see why Counties should be deprived of unused players. As long as timing and location aren't an issue they should certainly be released so hopefully that gets written in to the terms going forward.

They really won't want to shorten it by a week though , surely ? After all the fuss and promotion ? Might be some interesting off-camera discussions going on.

Dobell reporting that Alec Stewart has turned down the National Selector role, opting to stay with Surrey in his current Director of Cricket role there.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Dobell reporting that Alec Stewart has turned down the National Selector role, opting to stay with Surrey in his current Director of Cricket role there.

You and Guildford should be pleased , eh ?

alfie wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Dobell reporting that Alec Stewart has turned down the National Selector role, opting to stay with Surrey in his current Director of Cricket role there.

You and Guildford should be pleased , eh ?

Guildford will still be able to name drop him on us all when he has his regularly round the ground catch up with him

Not only the blow of losing him yesterday, but sounds like Shaheen will be out of action for a few months with the knee issue picked up in yesterday's final, and thus will miss the test series against England.

Such a shame. Shaheen is one of my favourite cricketers to watch. He's box office and cricket needs that.

Another Test series coming up with both sides missing some of their most exciting bowlers. Presumably Wood will struggle to make it too.

Less cricket with higher quality when played is direly needed.

I am reading now that Pakistan do not think Afridi's injury is too bad , and expect him to be good to go for the Tests. Which is indeed good for the series.

alfie wrote:Won't be at all surprised to see Duckett in the Test Squad for Pakistan. Probably need a couple of alternates for the batting on that trip , given the questions that remain over most of the incumbents.

I saw an article in the other day re Jacks and his own intention to work on his bowling as a second strength with an eye to pushing his England credentials : seems a little premature to be actually calling him up now though. Suppose with the always slightly silly suggestion of having Moeen return as a reluctant spinning all rounder option now properly squashed there is something of a void in that area : but I tend to believe they'd be better to pick specialists batting and bowling rather than try to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Will be interesting to see just who they do take to Pakistan . Different conditions : I wonder how much weight McCullum likes to give to horses for courses theories ?

Hi Alfie and all - been holding on to a response for a while. 

I thought at the time Jacks had a decent shout for a call up to the squad and am not amazed to see him make his Test debut today albeit I didn't see it being for the luckless Foakes. Some parallels with Jacks' rise in Championship cricket. He is (or certainly was) a lesser bowler than Virdi and Moriarty at the start of last season but was preferred to them by Surrey's management then and throughout the entirety of the  Championship. Whilst only a supporting bowler (at Surrey to their 5 or 6 man seam attack and for England maybe mainly as back up to Leach), he's no mug with the ball chipping in with county wickets here and there and generally keeping it fairly dry. That clearly by itself is nowhere near enough for a Test place or even a Championship one but add to that the power of his batting with his fine catching and then you have a plausible contender.

It was this and ''the balance'' he brought to the Surrey side that swung things for him with Batty and Stewart at Surrey. This rankled a sizeable number of their supporters from the off who were used to and wanted ''a proper spinner''. I could understand that but opted to judge at the end of September. Given Surrey had won the Championship at that time and the parts he played in that, his selection was fully justified in my mind.

It's obviously far too early to say Jacks merits a continued Test place - and I readily acknowledge his own good fortune prompting his current selection - but I can understand him being the kind of player that readily appeals to McCullum and co.

Hi Guildford...hope you are continuing to enjoy your holiday ?

Am looking forward to seeing what Jacks can do . He is the recipient of some strange fortune in getting a spot today I guess ; but no matter ...he has a chance to show what he can do,

From the look of this pitch , he might have to do a bit of bowling !

Cheers, Alfie. Back home now to the cold and dark of Blighty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/63808532

I didn't want to interrupt the chat about this ludicrous T1 D1 from England in the winter thread so thought I'd pop this here. Stokes not against an ODI return for the CWC. My gut says that if he's fit a chance to retain the CWC, especially in India, will be too enticing to ignore. He's also famously loyal to those he's close with and he's very close to Buttler. If Jos wants Stokes there, which he almost certainly will, then I think he will be.

He adds a lot of balance too. Without Stokes I'd guess you're looking at Malan batting 4 in that more experienced anchor type role then Buttler shifting up a place to accommodate Livingstone as the extra bowling option?

1.YJB 2.??? 3.Root 4.Malan 5.Buttler 6.Livingstone 7.Moeen 8.Curran 9.Woakes 10.Dilly 11.Wood

That final batting spot is anyone's guess. Roy, Salt, Vince, Duckett, Brook, Jacks, etc etc.

1.YJB 2.??? 3.Root 4.Stokes 5.Brook 6.Buttler 7.Moeen 8.Curran 9.Woakes 10.Dilly 11.Wood

With Stokes you could look at keeping Buttler at 6 with one of the more explosive talents such as Brook at 5 though? Plus there's still that option of Livingstone as a 7th bowling option!

I've left Jof out there but dearly hope he's back in an England jersey. Without a doubt one of my favourite cricketers to watch.

Hadn't considered it until reading your post Carlos, but is Livingstone opening something that could be realistic? They like that aggressive opener, he's opened a lot in T20s, he's better against pace than spin, and it allows then to squeeze both him and Brooks into the side.