Personally I'd have Bairstow with. Moeen to replace butler. Not much to choose stats wise between Jonny and joss, but Jonny has looked like he can go on to make a score then gets out. Butler hasn't looked capable at all. Moeen has done it before and is still capable. I think Ali would be a bit peed off if he's taken away from leading Birmingham just at the moment.
Definitely all just opinion. I don't think you can drop somebody on the basis of one game. My opinion is Buttler is a slightly more capable test batsman who just needs to find form. The first test will have done hime good, and even in the form Bairstow is in right now, he still didn't make a significant score. Personally, I'd keep them both in for this test, and drop Lawrence, given where we are. But initially, I probably wouldn't have picked either of them for the test series in the first place, given there is a t20 world cup coming up and white ball cricket is their obvious strength.
I don't think Lawrence is ready and would drop him too. But interestingly I just read he's our 2nd top run scorer this year. Admittedly he's about 700 behind Root mind!
I think the only change will be to bring Leach in maybe for Lawrence. I don’t think Ali is in the squad for the first two tests. Curran should stay as he’s a leftie
Personally I agree with making changes but because it’s a squad for two matches they may give the likely suspects another chance. Sibley and Buttler should be out but we all know how valuable Buttler could be and Sibley has two test centuries behind him. Anyway it’ll be interesting to see
Zak Crawley has a 267 behind him and is probably still getting picked because of it. Take that innings away from his test stats and his batting average is 18.4 in 25 innings and no not outs.
To be fair Crawley got into the side due to his incredible talent as a stroke player and the massive potential many experts see in him. His first class average is 30.84 and he'd only played 40odd matches when he got into the test side. It's hard not to see what they saw in him when you watch him play. In the 1st innings of this test he was advancing down the pitch to counter the swing and putting Bumrah and co off their length. Unfortunately he got a brilliant ball but he played outstandingly. The only other player we have capable of that is Stokes. Facing 85mph bowling that's swinging 3 degrees at a distance of 16-18 yards instead of 22 takes incredible talent. If we had a big group of top order batsmen with 40+ averages I'd be willing to drop him but right now we might as well back his ability as there's noone tearing up trees to displace him.
Crawley would probably be a decent bet to open in Australia, but maybe better to play middle order in England. On the flip side, Hameed might struggle in Aus, unless he's worked on the issue where his hands were too low, which caused his initial injuries, but have a better technique for the top order at home. But we could find Crawley having a difficult series in the top order in the summer, which leads him to being replaced by Hameed in Australia, in conditions that might not suit. Horses for the wrong courses...
Crawley needs dropping to save his career. He’s in such a bad place now that I can’t see how he can turn it around, other than to go back to Kent and get back to scoring runs. Let’s not kill the kid on his first run in the side, plenty of time to work on his game and come back.
I can’t keep up with all the “ resting” and isolation etc. His home record against India and in his last test this year are very good so why wasn’t he in first squad ? You’ve got to sympathise with Bess who has had an excellent year domestically.
Personally, I'd rather give Bess opportunities rather than Moeen. Over time we've bent over backwards to accommodate him. He said he struggled with pressure as a front line spinner, so we had to play multiple spinners for him. He said he wasn't an opener. So to bat him lower down. Then he wasn't a spinner but a bastmen, so we had to move him up. He can turn a ball. But he's similar to Panesar in that he hasn't really got a plan of what he's trying to do. Likewise when he bats. If a few sketchy slogs come off, he can be ok and get a few runs. But more often than not you see someone who is struggling to be in that environment and he tends to get out in the most damaging untimely ways. We seem to be trying to solve the wrong problems, it all feels a bit like the late 90s.
How much of it was Moeen saying he wasn't this or that, or just the selectors moving him around to plug gaps? Not sure he ever claimed to be a test match opener, and at one point found himself batting at three, purely because the captain didn't want to. He's one of a few players that much prefer to play under Morgan's captaincy. Not sure he's been particularly well treated in the test setup. As for Bess, for some reason, Root seems to fancy himself as a spinner over him. While Leach isn't picked because England spinners are generally judged on their batting rather than their bowling. Personally, I'd have picked Leach and put Curran at 7.
He is a one day player not someone to rely on in the test arena where he promises much but delivers little.
Moeen came out several times (generally when he was failing) and was critical of where he was batting, but the one that caught most headlines was when he confessed of the pressure to take wickets, so we had the absurd situation of playing 2 spinners and having to bowl the other one first so he didn't think he was the no1. When you start having to compromise to get bang average players to perform, you've really got problems. I look at it very simply. Who is the best spinner for the conditions and opposition. Pick them. Place them in the batting line up accordingly. If your batsmen can't bat. Fix that, but don't create further issues to fudge it.
I do agree that he does seem to have confidence issues, but I also think he's been treated pretty poorly. But yes, we should pick our best spinner, but for some reason England selectors have always placed probably too much emphasis on the quality of batting at 8 and 9. Leach is our best spinner imo, so should play. The fact Robinson is capable with the bat should aid that, and Curran is never really going to be a third seamer, so may as well give him a run at 7 to prove his batting, with a bit of extra responsibility.
