India V England 2021 Tour

(17-02-2021 12:32 )winsaw Wrote:  ^^ Root said yesterday he had gone home off his own back as was not feeling mentally right, then to day he's back out spinning it saying it was all pre planned total rubbish, Root told the truth yesterday now we are just getting ecb spin to try to cover everyone ass, don't fall for it mate, if it was pre planned then the games he was available for would have been announced before the tour started like it was for every other player who was planned to miss part of it ,

Winsaw I'm pointing out to you particularly that it really is not good to make comment on peoples mental state when frankly you don't know anything about his current mental state. You actually said looking like he just can't take the pressure of test cricket sadly . Well if you had Covid in Sri Lanka and had been in a cricket bubble away from home for months how do you think you would feel?

I would be hugely grateful I had been lucky enough to play cricket for England and be doing everything I could to stay here doing that for as long as possible, I wouldn't be letting my teammates down by clearing off after I don't have a great game and force them to cover for me,

(17-02-2021 12:32 )winsaw Wrote:  total rubbish, Root told the truth yesterday now we are just getting ecb spin to try to cover everyone ass, don't fall for it mate, if it was pre planned then the games he was available for would have been announced before the tour started like it was for every other player who was planned to miss part of it ,

It's not total rubbish. Ali's departure was part of England's rest and rotation policy and, contrary to what winsaw claims, was definitely pre-planned. It was however complicated because Ali missed the Sri Lanka tour and the England management weren't sure how that should affect the plans for his scheduled break. Ali spoke about it before the series started:

"I've been speaking to the selectors and the coaches. They've picked the squad for the first 2 games and it all depends where I'm at really. I think I'm due to go home during the 3rd and 4th Tests but we're not 100 percent sure yet. At the moment I'm here for the first 2 games and depending on how things go, there's a chance I'll be going home after that."

^^ You must not have seen the Test Match then Winsaw. 8 wickets and a flurry of runs at the end in his first Test Match since 2019. I've looked at various player ratings and they score his performance at between 6 & 7 which is up there with the best performance of any England player in the 2nd test. He got Kohli out in both innings as well. The statement on the BBC website makes clear it was always planned he would be rested for the final 2 test but England asked him on the last day of the second test if he would stay.

He's also in the T20 squad so will be back in India in March. If he gets picked up for the IPL and had not gone home now he would have been away for 5 months.

However if you want to castigate him for being a human being then have your fun

(17-02-2021 13:29 )SecretAgent Wrote:  England asked him on the last day of the second test if he would stay.

If he gets picked up for the IPL

exactly England said they needed him and he turned them down no one should ever put themselves before the county, he should be ashamed of himself,

and no way will he get into the ipl as no side could trust he would not be wanting to go home all the time,

he should not be enjoying the greatest honer there is playing for England again until he can sort his head out and prove he is fully committed to England,

I think that anyone who has suffered from mental health issues, however minor, or have friends or family that have suffered, it's a very real thing, & something not to be taken lightly. I'm sure Moeen has even more claim to a rest than most, he's a deeply religious man & people of his faith tend to be very family orientated.

The IPL is something that England have come to terms with long ago. With back to back T20 World Cups, they will be actively encouraging IPL involvement for our top players. I'm sure the IPL money would be happy to have Ali on board, he didn't feature much in the last tournament, but yesterdays knock was just a glimpse of what he can do, & win 2 or 3 games on his own, that would be money well spent.

The England management is at fault. They made an unfair request to Ali and a request they haven't made to any of the other rotated players. They apparently no longer have confidence in Bess, so asked Ali if he would mind staying with the squad, but they put him in a pretty impossible position.

Ali had already promised his family he would come home for a few days and he could hardly turn round and tell them there's been a change of plan, it'll be another 3 months. By the way, Ali's break really is just a few days. His flight back to India to rejoin the England squad leaves on 26 February.

^would that be subject to negative COVID test before lieaving I assume?

Just a little head to head comparison of England's off-spinners

Ali - 61 Tests - economy 3.62 - S/R 59.99
Bess - 13 Tests - economy 2.88 - S/R 66.66

Difficult to compare with Bess only 13 Tests to date, but, despite what we've seen, Moeen goes for more runs, but takes less balls to strike.

Looking more closely into England's lack of confidence with Bess, & dissect his 3 sub-continent matches, he has bowled a staggering 33 full tosses in 119.1 overs. that's 4.6% of his deliveries & 67 short of a length deliveries (9.4%) The full tosses alone cost 56 runs with 10 boundaries & an overall economy rate of 3.19.

When the expected wicket model was run in the 2 Sri Lanka Tests, it calculated 7 wickets at 35.9, when he actually took 12 wickets at 21.25. This backs up the theory that the Sri Lanka batsmen played him poorly & he was more than a little lucky.

(17-02-2021 17:58 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  ^would that be subject to negative COVID test before lieaving I assume?

Ali will be tested at the airport when he arrives back in India.