Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2016 18:28:44 GMT
No announcement as yet but I have it from a reliable journalistic source (no, not Dobell or Lizzy Ammon - I said reliable!) that Keaton Jennings will tomorrow be unveiled as the replacement for Haseeb Hameed and will walk straight into a first Test cap, opening the batting with Cook at Mumbai next week.
I would have prefered to give a Duckett another chance. Othwerwise before this series is over, England may well find they have knocked back the careers of not just one promising young opening batsman but two. May be they don't care as they have already identified Hameed as the man they want to do the job next summer and beyond...
|
|
|
|
Post by jonboy on Nov 29, 2016 18:47:01 GMT
No announcement as yet but I have it from a reliable journalistic source (no, not Dobell or Lizzy Ammon - I said reliable!) that Keaton Jennings will tomorrow be unveiled as the replacement for Haseeb Hameed and will walk straight into a first Test cap, opening the batting with Cook at Mumbai next week. I would have prefered to give a Duckett another chance. Othwerwise before this series is over, England may well find they have knocked back the careers of not just one promising young opening batsman but two. May be they don't care as they have already identified Hameed as the man they want to do the job next summer and beyond... Yes, it's a tough call to expect him to slot straight in days after joining the tour. Personally, I'd have opened with Root and, as you say, let Duckett have another go at three |
|
|
|
Post by coverpoint on Nov 29, 2016 20:36:45 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by hhsussex on Nov 30, 2016 10:08:48 GMT
Three specialist spinners in the England side - and two of them finish the match wicketless. On the batting, I can't help feeling Duckett has been slightly hard done by. Sure, he has looked at sea against the Indian spinners. But so in this match did Cook (39 runs), Moeen (21 runs)and Stokes (34 runs). Buttler, his direct replacement, did slightly better with 61 runs but clearly is not good enough to be a Test match specialist batsman. There's talk of calling up Gubbins or Jennings or even Billings but I'd rather give Duckett another chance than any of them. Not only Jennings, which might be the title of one of Anthony Buckeridge's books about the doings of Linbury Court Preparatory School, but Dawson! Ansari's return home isn't too surprising. He seems to have a proneness to picking up injuries and he has rather set back his career by not making use of the chances in Bangladesh and in India. If he was going to be replaced then the choices were: an extra batsman both for injury/form cover and to allow Moeen and Batty to act as twin spinners with two dedicated pace bowlers plus Stokes, or another bits and pieces player to provide much the same sort of not doing anything particularly well. The selectors - or Bayliss/Farbrace - have gone for the latter. I don't think that selection has been very well thought through this winter and maybe the system needs to be overhauled for next summer. Its not clear who is calling the shots. If Bayliss decides who he wants, based on presumably his own scouts and observations, then what is the point of Whitaker and co? |
|
|
|
Post by leedsgull on Nov 30, 2016 11:47:56 GMT
I suspect Bayliss never sees any county cricket and relies totally on the selectors. Ansari should never have been picked until his injury record improves and Batty was a well intentioned mistake. I have no problems with the selections of Jennings and Dawson as I do not think either Balance or Duckett are selectable at present. Either way I suspect we are heading for a 4-0 loss.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2016 12:02:48 GMT
I have no problems with the selections of Jennings and Dawson as I do not think either Balance or Duckett are selectable at present. Well we don't know enough about their mental state to judge. After all, who would have thought Rashid would so quickly develop the technique and temperement to succeed against the best players of leg-spin in the world? Unless he is mentally shot, in my opinion Duckett should be given a chance to overcome his recent setbacks. It's interesting that they didn't call up Hales. That suggests his days in Test cricket really are behind him. I fear Jennings will go the same way as Duckett. He makes runs on Durham's seaming wickets so I'd have given him his England debut in English conditions next summer. There is nothing, as far as I am aware, to suggest he will prosper any better than Duckett against Ashwin and co on a turner in Mumbai. I agree that Bayliss probably doesn't watch much county cricket. But Paul Farbrace most certainly does. I also suspect your 4-0 prediction is correct and that Cook will stand down as captain at the end of this tour. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2016 9:29:03 GMT
Not only Jennings, which might be the title of one of Anthony Buckeridge's books about the doings of Linbury Court Preparatory School, but Dawson! Ansari's return home isn't too surprising. He seems to have a proneness to picking up injuries and he has rather set back his career by not making use of the chances in Bangladesh and in India. If he was going to be replaced then the choices were: an extra batsman both for injury/form cover and to allow Moeen and Batty to act as twin spinners with two dedicated pace bowlers plus Stokes, or another bits and pieces player to provide much the same sort of not doing anything particularly well. The selectors - or Bayliss/Farbrace - have gone for the latter. I don't think that selection has been very well thought through this winter and maybe the system needs to be overhauled for next summer. Its not clear who is calling the shots. If Bayliss decides who he wants, based on presumably his own scouts and observations, then what is the point of Whitaker and co? And to add further confusion to where the balance of selectorial power lies between Baylis/Farbrace and Whittaker and company, Dobell has this morning written a piece claming that the selections of Jennings and Dawson were essentially made by Flower! If true - and admittedly it's a big if given the unreliability of the source - then words fail me. Strauss is the ECB's supremo in all matters Team England. He needs to sort it out and establish a clear chain of command. There were reports when he was first appointed that Whittaker and co would be abolished. They were given a reprieve and it increasingly looks like the issue of who is really in charge of selection was fudged. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 9:50:46 GMT
As the rumours grow that Cook will stand down as captain before next summer, a bizarre headline on cricinfo's lead (non)story this morning: "Root gives Cook full backing to continue as captain".
Surely it would only be a story if the number two didn't back his captain?
Or is it written in code , meaning he backs him in the way Gordon Brown backed Tony Blair?
I don't think so; I doubt Root even wants the job and has real fears that the extra responsibility would impact adversely on his batting...
So, a space-filling total non-story, I think!
|
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Dec 2, 2016 9:58:26 GMT
As the rumours grow that Cook will stand down as captain before next summer, a bizarre headline on cricinfo's lead (non)story this morning: "Root gives Cook full backing to continue as captain". Surely it would only be a story if the number two didn't back his captain? Or is it written in code , meaning he backs him in the way Gordon Brown backed Tony Blair? I don't think so; I doubt Root even wants the job and has real fears that the extra responsibility would impact adversely on his batting... So, a space-filling total non-story, I think! I took it to mean that Root was merely quashing the rumour(s) that Cook was about to stand down. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 10:06:30 GMT
Or attempting to persuade Cook to stay because he doesn't want the job at this stage of his career???
Either way it's a content-free story that doesn't even qualify as mildly diverting tittle-tattle!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 1:26:37 GMT
Cook and Bayliss "at odds" over batting philosophy, according to Dobell's latest and it could hasten the appointment of a new captain, he reckons, because the dressing room wants "clarity". If true, it's a hell of an exclusive because no other journalist on the tour has reported this alleged rift between captain and coach.
"Might the approach of Bayliss and Cook be at odds here? While Cook called upon his team to block their way to safety in Vizag, Bayliss always seems inclined to take the more aggressive option. Might we be coming to the time when this side - Cook's for so long - is changing in nature and needs a different leader to ensure a clear message? It is too soon to say for sure, but they do seem to have a notably different ethos to batting and if there is one thing a dressing room desires, it is clarity."
For what it is worth, he sides with Cook against Bayliss in this alleged clash. "Bayliss's approach to Test cricket looks unsophisticated," he writes. "At times, Bayliss sounds like the coach shouting: 'Score at 10 an over, but don't get out'. At times, he seems like the man driving home as fast as he can to get through the fog." The result is that England are "skidding out of control"
It's melodramatic stuff - and almost certainly utter nonsense, hence all the "mights" , "seems" and "too soon to say for sure" that qualify this wild speculation. I do wish the next Test would hurry up and start. These long gaps beween matches with no cricket to report and space to be filled encourage the most preposterously tenuous waffle. I say that, I hasten to add, as someone who enjoys reading waffle about cricket - but the thought that there's another four days of this nonsense before the first over is bowled in Mumbai is pretty daunting!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 10:29:10 GMT
Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times today speculating that Cook's leadership could be approaching its end times and Root is poised to take over:
"Today or tomorrow, England will name their squad for the one-day series in India in January. Root was expected to miss this leg of the tour because he is due to become a father at the start of next month; now, it seems he is intent on playing. Perhaps this is no longer a time to be sitting things out. The mood in the camp is fractious, something Cook hinted at when he said in anticipation of players taking a break in Dubai that it was time to “go our separate ways for a bit”. Others report recriminations over brainless dismissals.
Is this indicative of a team crying out for fresh leadership, or an inevitable consequence of an insane schedule of seven Tests in 62 days never before inflicted on an England team touring the subcontinent, itself part of an arduous year of Test match commitments?"
No mention of a rift between captain and coach, though...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2016 18:00:55 GMT
Has everyone patrioticially lost interest in this series as WEnglasnd weill do well to escape a 4-0 drubbing? Good article here about Cook's latest opening partner, including the revealing fact that his father insisted on him calling him not 'dad' but 'coach': www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/story/1070231.htmlA welcome reminder that cricinfo can be a pleasure when not written by grandstanding journos with an agenda! Meanwhile, what do we make of the delay in annoucing England's one day squad...it was going to be yesterday, then today... but 6pm passes and still no sign of it. There must be some "issues" - fitness ? rotation ? - that are proving tricky to resolve? |
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Dec 5, 2016 18:53:51 GMT
Has everyone patrioticially lost interest in this series as WEnglasnd weill do well to escape a 4-0 drubbing? Good article here about Cook's latest opening partner, including the revealing fact that his father insisted on him calling him not 'dad' but 'coach': www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/story/1070231.htmlA welcome reminder that cricinfo can be a pleasure when not written by grandstanding journos with an agenda! Meanwhile, what do we make of the delay in annoucing England's one day squad...it was going to be yesterday, then today... but 6pm passes and still no sign of it. There must be some "issues" - fitness ? rotation ? - that are proving tricky to resolve? Fear not, BM. Uncle George is on the case: www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-england-2016-17/content/story/1070504.html |
|
|
|
Post by leedsgull on Dec 5, 2016 19:22:01 GMT
The problem with this series is the unrelenting nature of the schedule. It allows no time to savour any memorable moments. I find that I dip into matches to follow the score but cannot get more involved. To make matters worse the dreadful Blofeld is about to be unleashed by TMS for the final two tests so I suspect I shall listen even less.
This whole scheduling issue will be repeated next year when we go to New Zealand after what is bound to be an exhausting Ashes series. It seems from this distance like an accident waiting to happen.
|
|
