English cricket thread

FlawlessThaw

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Surprised. Considering the wc is next year.
I’m surprised as well due to the same reason.

I guess on T20, he might be open to an IPL contract for next season and is sticking with that over the ODI.
 

IRN-BRUno

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Timing might be a surprise but his reasoning makes sense, the injury issues clearly don't help either.

I think more will take similar decisions eventually as it seems as though ODI cricket is nearing the end. Last week South Africa forfeited their series against Australia so they can have a T20 comp in that period, that pretty much guarantees they'll have to go through the qualifiers to make the World Cup. That could possibly clash with the IPL so it'll be interesting to see what happens there.
 

FlawlessThaw

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England have now lost their two left handers in top order. Will have to figure that one out
 

AshRK

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Strange decision. Stokes definitely has more to offer in that format than T20 (which for me he doesn’t get into the strongest team for) but it’s obviously his call.
That's what even I felt. He is a great cricketer but not sure if he deserves a spot in t20 setup
 

FlawlessThaw

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Massive blow as we need to replace him with a similar all rounder.
Sam Curran is probably the only one close but his batting isn’t good enough to bat in the top 6.

England need to take a look at the schedule. Fact that barely any all format seamer is available is a big cause for concern.
 

JohnnyKills

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I can understand Stokes's decision TBH. He has to prioritise and ODI cricket is being squeezed by test and T20
 

ArmchairCritic

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It was interesting watching Pandya and Stokes in person yesterday.

Pandya was stretching between overs when India were bowling all innings and he didn’t finish his full allotment of overs. Towards the back end of the innings when a wicket fell he was getting his hamstring massaged by support staff on the boundary.

I said to my mate when England were bowling and Pant/Pandya were looking secure that Stokes should come on and bung it in like Pandya and when he did eventually come on he was limping at the end of each over. I think Stokes has purposely been judicious in using himself as a bowler in tests and he pretty much only bowled for a sustained period in the Edgbaston test when all of his other bowlers were out of steam.

The only conclusion I can draw from all off this is that it’s basically impossible to be an all-format all rounder who bowls at pace. Pandya will have to choose a format to knock on the head and as he’s the standout successor for Rohit you can see him specialising in shorter formats. In contrast Stokes is locked in as test captain and his choice is made for him.

I suppose there’s an argument that Stokes could purely bat but there’s so much effort required of him as a fielder too. It was noticeable yesterday that he’s been shuffled back a tad from the go-to outfielders (now Livingstone and Bairstow).

Actually think there’s more value in England going full rebuild now rather than put too much emphasis on the next World Cup (a waste of Buttler’s peak mind). The spin options are poor, the quicks are injured and they’ve just lost all their nous in the middle order over the last 2 weeks.

Could use that middle order slot to bed Brook into international cricket.
 

phelans shorts

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https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/62207901

Mahmood staying. Guess that settles that one then @phelans shorts !

Good news I think. Even if he only plays a few games a season, he's better than any alternative we could sign domestically.

Was surprised that he was appearing so often on Lancs TV given all the rumours, maybe it was just paper talk all along.
Or the tv gig was the carrot they were dangling in front of him while he was out…

Probably is for the best replacing him would be difficult and when he’s away we’ll see more of the young lads, albeit it’ll probably largely be Balderson which isn’t a bad thing.
Does Alex Hales get a look in with Morgan no longer captain too?
I don’t see it. As good as Hales is there will always be questions about him, and when you’re looking at a rebuild he’s the wrong side of 30. He’s at his best opening and there’s a tonne of competition for that spot.
 

Djemba-Djemba

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If it was purely about which format he's least successful in then Stokes would have retired from international T20 cricket, he's elite in Test and ODI cricket but has never quite cracked international t20. Not yet anyway.

But T20 is where the big money is and in England at least Test cricket is still seen as the pinnacle of the game and as the new skipper he's obviously going to want to give that everything.

Still it's a shame to see him have to step down from a format, you'd hope it would be a warning sign to the ICC and the ECB about how ridiculous the schedule is these days, it gets more mental every year. It feels like England are playing every other day for the rest of the year. To have one of the biggest superstars retire relatively young is a blow for the game.

If things carry on like this I think we'll see this more and more, it's getting almost impossible to play all three formats successfully.
 

Trequarista10

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Sam Curran is probably the only one close but his batting isn’t good enough to bat in the top 6.

England need to take a look at the schedule. Fact that barely any all format seamer is available is a big cause for concern.
I guess Livingstone 6, Moeen 7. Means 3 spinners and 3 seamers though which might not suit every suit every match/conditions. I'd actually question Livingstone's place to be honest, not sure he is as suited to 50 over as he is 20 overs. Sometimes you need your number 5 or 6 to accumulate/consolidate for a longer period of time. If we want a 4th pace option he'd be the logical one to be left out, and I don't think he should bat at 5 in 50 over internationals as a batsmen. Could even have an extra specialist batsmen and just 5 bowling options. Not sure if the 6 bowler strategy has been the preferred strategy recently or just the go to because Stokes hasn't been bowling much.

Or Moeen 6, Curran/Woakes 7, Willey 8 but that looks a little light. We used to have an abundance of number 6, batting all rounder medium pacer types like Collingwood, Bopara etc, could use someone like that now. There's a few knocking about at county level but none that I recall even being involved in any squads or Lions tours. Curran arguably the most suitable to bat higher in the order but I'm not totally convinced, and with Topley the main man at the moment and Willey a reliable 8 would we pick 3 left arm quicks?
 

mav_9me

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If it was purely about which format he's least successful in then Stokes would have retired from international T20 cricket, he's elite in Test and ODI cricket but has never quite cracked international t20. Not yet anyway.

But T20 is where the big money is and in England at least Test cricket is still seen as the pinnacle of the game and as the new skipper he's obviously going to want to give that everything.

Still it's a shame to see him have to step down from a format, you'd hope it would be a warning sign to the ICC and the ECB about how ridiculous the schedule is these days, it gets more mental every year. It feels like England are playing every other day for the rest of the year. To have one of the biggest superstars retire relatively young is a blow for the game.

If things carry on like this I think we'll see this more and more, it's getting almost impossible to play all three formats successfully.
Genuine question. Is it different from when Pietersen retired 10 yrs ago?
 

ChrisNelson

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This Summer England's schedule includes 7 Tests between 2nd June and 12th September plus 15 T20's/ODI's combined.

So that's a potential 50 days cricket for someone like Stokes, in the space of just over 100 days.

So if they want to continue to play so much international cricket each Summer (that's not even taking in to account the Winter tours) then they have to consider starting earlier, at the start of May just to give the players a bit of a break.

But then that detracts even more from the County game which is already on its knees (although the Blast has seen some amazing crowds in recent years).

Their only other option is to reduce the amount of international cricket played and this will impact on sponsors, TV deals etc.

There's a lot of talk recently about the future of 50 over cricket and if it has a place.

But this has only come about because the ECB have forced the Hundred on us, a tournament that virtually no one wanted and that offers 20 balls less on each innings and 5 ball overs.... but isn't played anywhere else in the world and therefore doesn't have a World Cup, so is effectively pointless as it is a breeding ground for nothing.

By bringing that tournament in they've forced the domestic 50 over tournament in to obscurity which is grossly unfair and we mustn't forget, a format in which we are World Champions!

I honestly don't think Stokes will stick around very long as Test captain and the ECB need to go back to the drawing board with the schedule.
 

IRN-BRUno

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Between June-March 2023, England have 12 Tests, 18 ODIs, 19 T20s and a T20 World Cup across 7 countries.

In the 4 years after that England will apparently have 42 Tests, 44 ODIs and 52 T20 fixtures. Add in travel days and other tournaments, that must be over a whole year of that period. It's completely unsustainable.
 

IRN-BRUno

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Mark Wood is on radio commentary and just said he still has elbow pain and is having more surgery. Still hopes to make the T20 World Cup but that doesn't sound great.
 

Samid

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Ah thanks thought it might have been Knight. Give me Bumble back any day. I do like Butcher on now mind he's decent.
Yeah they don't make them like Bumble anymore.

Mark Wood's accent isn't very commentator friendly. Rather listen to a scouser, it's that bad.
 

paulscholes18

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How do you classify bowling as boring? Genuine question.
Bowling back of a length in to the batsman’s body, looking to restrict the run rate and hoping that Roy or Bairstow throw their wicket away, rather than looking to get them out.

like I said it was effective, think they said after 10 overs that was the lowest England had scored without losing a wicket since 2015
 

phelans shorts

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Good showing from Lancashire in the county championship pulling it back after that horrific first innings showing. I’ll very much admit to getting a bit nervy when the mini collapse hit yesterday leading to two night watchmen, then Bohannon getting out early this morning.
 

ArmchairCritic

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Curran is so good against spin. Think that nails his spot for the ODI World Cup.

Don’t think England can play Ali & Livingstone in this format and Willey just doesn’t have a point of difference like Curran (smashes spin) or Topley (height and slower balls) can provide. Think Salt ahead of Hain/Brook/Duckett is a strange choice too, especially if you’re dropping your anchor down a spot, maybe they want Root’s nous in the middle order now to guide chases but that doesn’t help setting totals.
 

Utd heap

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Really weird cricket from England.

Livingstone takes 22 from 4 balls, goes again 5th. Out.

Curran takes 14 from 3 balls, goes again. Out

Use your head ffs.