Ashes in England 2023

(17-06-2023 19:25 )Snooks Wrote:  The philosophy is absolutely fine and I have no problem with it. To a degree those I see on Twitter who don't like the aggressive style and declarations will just have to suck it up.

Where I was and remain a little concerned is about leaving the best keeper in the country if not the world out of the team namely Ben Foakes. A decision that today at least looked decidedly dodgy and possibly will do again as this series progresses.
A keeper in cricket is to my mind just as important as a keeper in football.
It's a niche position but a critical one.

This is not a reflection of the worthiness of selection in respect of Bairstow per se.
For me he should be in the team purely on his batting to open the innings with Duckett or Crawley.

Missed catches and stumpings behind the wicket however are an absolute no no in my book.

That is exactly right - the analogy is apposite! It is the cricketing equivalent, and requires a specialist! A football manager would never put a goal scorer between the sticks, but that is - in effect - what England are doing by compromising the keeper and the specific skills required, for the chance (not necessarily likelihood by any stretch) that the batsman role will score the runs (goals) that will nullify the compromises that have to be made with the keeping role - look at the missed chances - although Bairstow can point to the No Ball issue of course!!! Nasser Hussein tried to claim that the majority (and it is a majority) - including many experts in the role of keeper/batsman - seeking to have Foakes included, were wrong, as it would mean no role for Bairstow!! That is just wrong in itself, and in any event, is Bairstow the only option to fulfill the role of 'pinch hitter' which I assume is the one assigned to him at #6?? I do not believe so - even if you accept that the team need to have such a role covered! Nassers assertion that Crawleys innings was the answer to the question marks over him, was wrong too! Crawleys innings of 61 was ok, but did it fulfill the job description of an opener in the conditions he was batting in - ie relatively favourable to him - in setting the platform?? - his strike rate wasn't even in positive territory?? I suggest no - the innings of note was J Roots yet again! So sorry, no questions answered at all. Were he to go, you could then have both Bairstow and Foakes, and Foakes himself would surely be a more solid bet at #7 - scoring at least as many runs as Crawley does - (yes opening is fundamentally different) Who to open then?? well I personally can't see an issue with swapping Pope for Duckett. It isn't moving the pieces on the board to any great degree?? - is it?? - except I guess, that it puts Root at #3??

NB Just as an aside - I wish the questions around using the 'Bazball' approach just because it is the Ashes would stop (Stokes actually responded to thinly veiled questions that meant the same thing very well I thought) Why should the M.o change?? I know that we have covered this, but this series more important?? No!! In terms of the WTC, equally maybe, but not elevated beyond that when set against any other!

The declaration too was reasonable with 8 down! With only Anderson to come, what was to be gained by continuing?? You can bet your life though, that should the first test go ass up from England's perspective, there will be plenty of questions about the approach!

^^ You're way off the mark with Bairstow, he is a specialist keeper, & always takes the gloves in Championship cricket for Yorkshire, about 100 matches.
Foakes has missed chances for England this winter, & for Surrey this season. Yes, he is better standing up to the stumps, but in England most of the deliveries will be bowled by seamers. Cut Bairstow some slack, he's coming back from what could've been a career ending injury & 6 months out the game.
Rightly or not, the fact is the very best keepers in their country rarely make the Test side. Carey is not the best, Pant is an average keeper, I could go on.
You are spot on about Crawley, Rob Key's golden boy. But I would prefer 2 specialist openers. Don't forget neither Crawley or Duckett were opening in the Championship until recently. The issue is that we have an abundance of middle order batsmen, but haven't found one opener since Cook & Straus.

In this morning's analysis, Sanga highlighted one or 2 technical issues with Bairstow's keeping.
However, his stats compare favourably with Buttler, Foakes & others. Both Bairstow & Buttler have a better catch percentage that Foakes, Buttler is way off the mark with stumpings.

Well England ended up with a lead, even if it was just 7 runs.

Back to the biff and bash this afternoon.

(17-06-2023 18:51 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  

(17-06-2023 07:45 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  England v Australia 1st Test Edgbaston Day 3 Close
Toss England
England 393-8 dec (78 overs) Root 118 no Bairstow 78 Crawley 61 Brook 32 Lyon 4-149 Hazlewood 2-61
Australia 386 (116.1 overs) Khawaja 141 Carey 66 Head 50 Cummins 38 Green 38 Robinson 3-55 Broad 3-68 Ali 2-147
England 28-2 (10.3 overs) Duckett 19
England lead by 35 runs
Match delayed by rain

Rack up a quick 300 in the afternoon session and declare with 7 sessions left .

(17-06-2023 22:45 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  ^^ You're way off the mark with Bairstow, he is a specialist keeper, & always takes the gloves in Championship cricket for Yorkshire, about 100 matches.
Foakes has missed chances for England this winter, & for Surrey this season. Yes, he is better standing up to the stumps, but in England most of the deliveries will be bowled by seamers. Cut Bairstow some slack, he's coming back from what could've been a career ending injury & 6 months out the game.
Rightly or not, the fact is the very best keepers in their country rarely make the Test side. Carey is not the best, Pant is an average keeper, I could go on.
You are spot on about Crawley, Rob Key's golden boy. But I would prefer 2 specialist openers. Don't forget neither Crawley or Duckett were opening in the Championship until recently. The issue is that we have an abundance of middle order batsmen, but haven't found one opener since Cook & Straus.

Badly worded on my part Booms! You are of course right, Bairstow is a specialist keeper, but he isn't the # 1 by a distance! My point was that instead of picking the keeper for doing the specialist job at the highest possible standard just about everyone says that is Foakes _ 'Bairs' keeping for yorkshire is a whole different ball game, you know that as well as I do!, you compromise based on another set of criteria! Not sure many fans (albeit ashes only fans) will cut him any slack, if his errors (leaving aside the previously mentioned bowler no - ball issue) are the difference in the end!

One other issue, is that around Moeen Ali!! It looks like he may be struggling with that digit, with a tight schedule ahead in the series! What do England do then?? If they dragged Moeen Ali away from his pipe and slippers test retirement for this Ashes journey, what does that say about the next cabs off the rank?? Who would they turn too if he can't complete the next 6 weeks?? Further, It is said that come the end of the Ashes, he won't continue in tests??, so they will have to find someone for the winter tours, and - of course - next summers test series and beyond! That being the case, are they really sure that there was no other candidate who could have come in during the current series?? but will be the suitable replacement in a few short months?? If that is true, that shouts loudly the fact that they see (we already knew this) the Ashes as the true and only barometer, so are unwilling to try anyone else at this point, but moving forward, consider opponents to come as a 'trial' for the next occupant?? I know we have done this to the point of boredom, but, I am sorry, it is ludicrous!

NB Looked like the end of the world when they came off! Not sure how much more there will be today with more rain! When Green took that latest grab (he is a phenomenal fielder in that position) there was some serious water that sprung up!

Moeen bowled 26 overs in 2 months of IPL, 28 on day 2 of this Test. With regular bowling in 4 day cricket your skin gets hardened, this is not helped by our Dukes ball with a pronounced seam. Compared to Australia this England team has been just thrown together.

The keeper issue has gone on for years. Stewart playing instead of Russell, Prior instead o Foster. If you go back further some great keepers at county level & country would be almost rabbits with the bat & come in at 9 or lower. This is just no longer acceptable.
I have a theory that the reason behind the very best keepers not being quite the standard of batsman they are looking for, is down to the practice required to become an elite keeper doesn't allow time to work on another discipline & also reach the same elite level with the bat. Only so many hours in the day.
When Sanga was batting 3 for Sri Lanka in Tests it just became too much, he's a very intelligent man & he realized that one skill was compromising the other, he couldn't give his best to 2 disciplines. He gave up the gloves & his batting average went through the roof, from a very good 40+ to 60-70.

(18-06-2023 13:04 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  

(17-06-2023 18:51 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  

(17-06-2023 07:45 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  England v Australia 1st Test Edgbaston Day 4 Close
Toss England
England 393-8 dec (78 overs) Root 118 no Bairstow 78 Crawley 61 Brook 32 Lyon 4-149 Hazlewood 2-61
Australia 386 (116.1 overs) Khawaja 141 Carey 66 Head 50 Cummins 38 Green 38 Robinson 3-55 Broad 3-68 Ali 2-147
England 272 (66.2 overs) Root 46 Brook 46 Stokes 43 Cummins 4-63 Lyon 4-80
Australia 107-3 (30 overs) Warner 36 Khawaja 3 Broad 2-28
Target 281

Never mind the state of the game.
I'm still trying to recover from Joe Root trying to reverse ramp Pat Cummins at the start of the day .