No sign of play which is spoiling a good end. In other news it's getting interesting with regards to the Ashes. Cook in this brilliant Times interview with Strauss talks about it well.... https://archive.is/AJcbP Four months over Christmas and New Year with no friends or family, many with young kids and the possibility of it being played reduced crowds or no fans at all, especially no England fans unless they live in Australia. I can see a lot of players pulling out.
Just noticed that Joe Root (3rd) is now only 13 runs behind Graham Gooch (2nd) in the list of England's all time test runs scored and now sits 17th on the all time list. Gooch 8900 runs Root 8887 runs
In terms of rebuilding the test squad, that might not be the worst thing. Force us to give opportunities to players that wouldn't normally get a chance. Break the status quo. Stopped raining, pitch inspection @ 2.30
Might rain again before they can get back on. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcrjnkcbu#?date=2021-08-08
Josh Sullivan room 4-11 from 2 overs in his second professional game. He's a young Leggie that's going places. An upside to The 100 is he might not be playing in this game if we had a full squad!
We’ve had some heavy defeats and some unexpected wins but sit in second place in the group. Also, like you’ve said, it’s providing great chances for the young uns !
If you read more of the posts I'd made, you'll see i apportioned blame on the top order and as you pointed out, the focus on slog cricket. Having said that, the tail still gave their wickets away and batted poorly. It's possible to highlight their failures while still highlighting the reasons we should have lost. Well done to the rain dancers!
Hope we make some batting changes for the second test. Have to agree with Michael Vaughan that Sibley and Lawrence look out of their depth at test level and also Jos Buttler needs to contribute more. However the current schedule does not help. We are having to pick players whilst their are no county 4 day games are in progress amidst the one day and 100 competitions. For me i would go with the following at Lords Burns Hameed (deserves this opportunity) Crawley (still living off his double hundred but no one else available or good enough ) Root Bairstow Pope Buttler (needs to perform and fortunately for him that Foakes is injured or he'd be dropped) S Curran Robinson Broad Anderson
Surely we need a spinner at Lord's? Maybe Ali or Bess for Buttler and give Bairstow the gloves? Otherwise I'm not sure which Seamer we'd drop
You'll need a spinner at Lord's unless it's a wet week/weekend ahead. Get Malan in at 3 and Leach in there somewhere, probably for Curran but that does unbalance the side.
Why would you give Bairstow the gloves over Buttler? Bairstow had a purple patch in 2016, but his test average has been in decline ever since. If he was fit, Foakes would probably play so both Bairstow and Buttler can concentrate on t20s and ODIs, but if it were a choice between the two, I'd pick Buttler. As it is, now they've both played the first test, I think they need to stay in the side. I'd drop Sibley for Hameed, and Lawrence for Leach. Time to give Curran a chance in the all rounder role at 7 and see how he does with the extra responsibility with the bat. Robinson is a capable number 8, and Leach can hang around at 9.
Bairstow's first class average is 10 higher than Buttler. Plus Buttlers current form, especially red ball, is trash. Bairstow looks in decent nick but got over ambitious in the last test. Buttler barely looked like he knew which way you hold a bat.
Bairstow's test match average is 0.16 higher than Buttler's, and has dropped from being over 40, 5 years ago. Bairstow's test average this year is 25, Buttler's is 33. Buttler averaged 38 last year, and while Bairstow didn't play last year, he averaged 18 in 2019. I think if you had to pick one to play the series, Buttler is the most likely to do well over the course of the five games. For some reason, Bairstow can't play straight deliveries in test matches. The other thing looking at the stats, if you're keeping the same balance of the side, you can make a case for Buttler at 6, and Bairstow keeping wicket and batting 7. https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/jos-buttler-308967/bowling-batting-stats https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/jonny-bairstow-297433/bowling-batting-stats
Based on his performance in this test I wouldn't have Buttler anywhere near this side. He's had good years for sure but he's in really poor form, even in the 100 which was made for players like him. Bairstow looks in great touch and I'd have him back at 7 where he's got all his runs in the past or 6 if we go to 5 bowlers. I agree that if Foakes was fit he'd have the gloves. We need a competent 5 or 6 (and possibly 2 & 3!) I know we don't have great options but we need a change. Especially without Stokes and with 2 bowlers in their mid 30s.. we can't just play 7 batters every game. We need a quality all rounder or 6 batsmen who can be trusted game in game out. Right now in my eyes there's only 1 spot for Bairstow and Buttler and I'd go Bairstow. Not that it matters as nobody on this forum is picking the side. It's all just opinion.