England Cricket Tour to Sri Lanka

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Great recovery and the lower order bailing out the top order again.

Foakes should have been in the team from this time last year. The fact that it has taken so long for him to be given his debut shows the jumbled up thinking with England’s selections. For too long England have had to fudge their line up because they have too many players that can bat and bowl (or keep wicket) but aren’t good enough to be one or the other or a proper all rounder. Thus they have to continually fit square pegs in round holes. Moeen Ali should not be batting at 3 in test cricket for instance.

Selection for test match cricket is fairly analogue: pick your 6 best batsmen, your 4 best bowlers and the best wicket-keeper. But England seem to want a safety net down the order if the batsmen fail (which they do more often than not) and a fifth bowler to help out the other 4. All of which smacks of limited overs selections for the test team. Foakes is the best keeper so should have been playing for the last year. But the selectors are too busy trying to placate Jonny Bairstow wanting to bat and keep or trying to wedge Buttler into the keeping spot. Both Bairstow and Buttler should now be judged on their batting alone and not given the bail out of being the keeper.
 
I'm on a course today. Entered the building when we were 5 down. Feared the worse but checked again just now. Brilliant fight back. Really pleased for the lads involved in the fightback.
 
Excellent from Foakes to get his ton and then a really good start from the bowlers - chuffed to see Leach getting a wicket after finally being given a chance on a friendly wicket for him - bowling very nicely

In other news the Talksport Radio Commentary is shocking - sub standard , really poor team who seem unable to put across the play - please ECB go back to TMS 😢
 
Liverpoolphil said:
Excellent from Foakes to get his ton and then a really good start from the bowlers - chuffed to see Leach getting a wicket after finally being given a chance on a friendly wicket for him - bowling very nicely

In other news the Talksport Radio Commentary is shocking - sub standard , really poor team who seem unable to put across the play - please ECB go back to TMS 😢
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Nothing to do with ECB.

The broadcasting rights are in the control of the host nation.
 
Interesting how sports reporting works...........looking for the negative all the time. Yesterday was all about "the top order failing"... no doubt some nonsence tomorrow!

I am all for "peoper keepers!" Batsman with gloves on? No ta! Eh today.... 1 stumping, 2 catches and loads of overs "stood up" and ZERO byes.
 
IanM said:
Interesting how sports reporting works...........looking for the negative all the time. Yesterday was all about "the top order failing"... no doubt some nonsence tomorrow!

I am all for "peoper keepers!" Batsman with gloves on? No ta! Eh today.... 1 stumping, 2 catches and loads of overs "stood up" and ZERO byes.
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Its one of the travesties of the modern game how wicket-keeping has been compromised. When done well it is an art and a joy to watch. English cricket has two of the best at the moment in Foakes and Sarah Taylor.
 
Tongo said:
Great performance from England. Pleased Leach has got a couple of wickets.

Foakes looks the business behind the stumps as well. Tis good to have a proper keeper doing the job.
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Absolutely spot on!

These days it would appear that any young batsman coming through the youth system at the Counties is, if he can't bowl, encouraged to put keeping kit in his bag to give himself a second string to his bow.

End result is a whole load of players like Bairstow and Buttler who can do a reasonable job behind the stumps but are certainly not Test standard.

Trouble is everyone is always looking for the next Adam Gilchrist.

6 batsmen, 4 bowlers and a wicketkeeper is still the best way of picking a side for red ball cricket.
 
MetalMickie said:
Absolutely spot on!

These days it would appear that any young batsman coming through the youth system at the Counties is, if he can't bowl, encouraged to put keeping kit in his bag to give himself a second string to his bow.

End result is a whole load of players like Bairstow and Buttler who can do a reasonable job behind the stumps but are certainly not Test standard.

Trouble is everyone is always looking for the next Adam Gilchrist.

6 batsmen, 4 bowlers and a wicketkeeper is still the best way of picking a side for red ball cricket.
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I'm putting together a blog piece about that at the moment. The thing is Gilchrist was also a brilliant keeper as well as a destructive batsman, a point seemingly missed by teams trying to emulate his batting.
 
I agree with all of the comments about keepers but I fear we are all old school. Even goal keepers in football are now expected to be outfield players as well. It's been a long time since England last played a genuine, best in the country, wicket keeper.
 
Nothing new... Bob Taylor, himself left out for Alan Knott, always talked about his hero "Keith Andrew" being overlooked for the better bat/more flamboyant Godfrey Evans!

As a schoolboy, I thought I was a better keeper in the Country Squad than a certain A Stewart Esq! (his batting was miles better then mine) And you know the rest! ;)
 
Lord Tyrion said:
I agree with all of the comments about keepers but I fear we are all old school. Even goal keepers in football are now expected to be outfield players as well. It's been a long time since England last played a genuine, best in the country, wicket keeper.
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But i would argue that in Asia England's spinners need as much assistance as possible. Having a proper keeper will give them confidence that if they generate a chance it will likely be taken.

Brian Clough apparently said that Shilton brought assurance to the Notts Forest defence cos they knew that if they made a mistake he was good enough to bail them out. In some respects its the same in test cricket with regard to spin bowlers creating chances. In this test it hasnt mattered but somewhere like India it could make a difference, particularly for players like Moeen and Rashid who seem to be confidence bowlers.

Fair enough in ODI / T20 cricket but in test cricket a proper keeper is still king for me.

The problem is wicket-keeping isnt necessarily numerically quantifiable and in the stats obsessed era that we live in there isnt an easy stat to judge keepers on. Thus selectors would have to use some nouse / intuition / judgement rather than a laptop and that's asking too much!
 
Tongo, I couldn't agree more. As I mentioned, I'm old school. I want the number one wicket keeper in the team, I want the number one goal keeper in the team. I don't want the best hybrid. The best keeper in the country will get you more wickets, keep runs down and give the bowlers far more confidence. It is a crime the way it has gone in the last 20 yrs or so. The likes of Foster and Reid must have been crying during that time watching others in the team who were not in their league.
 
The number of chances going begging (in limited over cricket especially) has had me screeming at the TV.....

Decent keeper stood up to the stumps stops batsmen standing where they want...... even to medium pacers.... you can't use your feet as well with a keeper stood up.
 
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Lord Tyrion said:
I agree with all of the comments about keepers but I fear we are all old school. Even goal keepers in football are now expected to be outfield players as well. It's been a long time since England last played a genuine, best in the country, wicket keeper.
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I know what you mean but it does seem strange that the value of having a quality keeper is being overlooked at a time when there seems to be a growing reliance on spin throughout the game.

When the spinners are on that is when you need your gloveman to be top class.
 
IanM said:
Nothing new... Bob Taylor, himself left out for Alan Knott, always talked about his hero "Keith Andrew" being overlooked for the better bat/more flamboyant Godfrey Evans!

As a schoolboy, I thought I was a better keeper in the Country Squad than a certain A Stewart Esq! (his batting was miles better then mine) And you know the rest! ;)
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You were in good company.

Back in the 90's when Alec Stewart was gaining his caps there was a certain Keith Piper of Warwickshire, a far,far superior keeper but not in the same league as Stewart when batting.

Even then the selectors were prepared to overlook the keeper's worth.
 
Alec Stewart was the first compromise keeper that I remember for England. I know IanM has mentioned Alan Knott but my memory of him is that he was still a very good glove man. Happy to be corrected on that as he was slightly before my time so the memory there is vague. From Stewart onwards the choice has been a wicket keeper batsman rather than the best wicket keeper.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
Alec Stewart was the first compromise keeper that I remember for England. I know IanM has mentioned Alan Knott but my memory of him is that he was still a very good glove man. Happy to be corrected on that as he was slightly before my time so the memory there is vague. From Stewart onwards the choice has been a wicket keeper batsman rather than the best wicket keeper.
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Yes I would agree.

In discussing this it would be unfair to Knott if his ability as a keeper was questioned.

To me he was definitely a keeper first and a batsman second.
 
Don't get me wrong, Knotty was an excellent keeper... who happened to bat really well too.... technically Bob was the better keeper. (IMHO) But choosing between them was a luxury not many generations of selectors have. (Think Shilton and Clemence?)

I met them both as a junior.... smashing blokes who made time to talk to young players. The former was more exentric, and a deep thinker about the game. He put plasticine on the palms of his inners (among other things) ... I tried it (late 70s) and it didnt work for me. I drew the line at honey in my tea too! Bob Taylor's book on techniques was the bible! I was lucky to grow up with those guys playing at the time.

But as in golf.... the gulf between decent players and those who make a good living from the sport is vast! (too vast to me!)
 
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