The Cricket Thread

England squad for Test series against Pakistan: Ben Stokes (capt), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Bryson Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.


Not taking Foakes is poor , Smith will be found out behind the stumps

And not sure how Potts manages to go
 
Thought England lost it in the opening overs and the bowling to Travis Head in particular. Had he not been able to rampage that quick fifty it would have been a very even contest
Thought Curran was very poor with the ball (again!). He flatters to deceive with a rare good performance that has everyone raving about him but in his first over he kept bowling the same ball time and time again when he was disappearing to all boundaries. Never seemed to learn and change his plan.
 
Thought Curran was very poor with the ball (again!). He flatters to deceive with a rare good performance that has everyone raving about him but in his first over he kept bowling the same ball time and time again when he was disappearing to all boundaries. Never seemed to learn and change his plan.

Was poor selection for a number

Curran is overrated
No idea why they picked Overton
Never been impressed with Jacks
Cox and Bethall - hard to judge after one game but their T20 records aren’t stand outs
 
I know, I was asking a different question regarding Bethel. Why they bowled a (not even) part timer and left Overton patrolling the outfield seemed strange to me.

There was a lot of strange decisions - from the initial squad , to the selection to the bowling changes

Was a poor performance all around only saving further embarrassment by some very good bowling in the middle
 
I imagine it was more a case of planning to bowl Overton, but pace on wasn't really working. Take pace off and wickets fell. I would have thought it would be maybe get an over or 2 out of Liam Livingstone, rather than the full allocation. Just a change during the game, rather than sticking to a plan rigidly and hoping it works out
 
I imagine it was more a case of planning to bowl Overton, but pace on wasn't really working. Take pace off and wickets fell. I would have thought it would be maybe get an over or 2 out of Liam Livingstone, rather than the full allocation. Just a change during the game, rather than sticking to a plan rigidly and hoping it works out

The prob is they picked 4 pace bowlers plus Curran plus Rashid , Jacks and Livingston

It left them light on batters
 
Interestingly, Overton doesn't seem to bowl much in any form of hit and giggle with the exception of his time in the Big Bash - he plays more as a lower middle order hitter who bowls the odd over. I think I understand the limited bowling part; he is a decent red ball bowler on account of his pace and height, but he has never shown particular adaptability and may well be thought quite hittable in the short format.

Where that leaves him as an international selection I don't know. The side they selected felt like it was too heavy on bowling options and light on top order batting. Part of that is the absence of Brook and Smith after the Tests and Buttler injured - and we have to find out about younger players at some stage.
 
Surrey holding out against Somerset. The BBC feed was full of Somerset fans bitching constantly about Surrey signing the Bangladeshi all-rounder for this game (because over half their team was on England call-ups). Yet all of them were totally ignoring the fact that the Taunton pitch had been completely fixed for a spin fest to suit their own team. Doing everything you can to win is obviously only OK for one team.
 
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