[Cricket] The Ashes 2015 ***OFFICIAL SERIES THREAD***

Bold Seagull said:

Eoin Morgan has to come in doesn't he!?

Gary Ballance recent county scores: 14 (CC) 9 (T20) 16 (T20) 1 & 29 (CC) 31 (T20)

Just not cutting the mustard and the Ashes is no place to be ironing out technical flaws. I see Bell has hit a 90 in t20 and 111 in the Championship which is good to see.

Morgan's record in tests is not all that bad despite being dropped in that ill fated tour against Pakistan in Dubai in 2012. He is in fine form and sometimes you just have to go with a bit of momentum. He's in a good place right now, and personally I'd be thinking about taking the risk on him.

Cook
Lyth
Bell
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Moeen
Broad
Wood
Anderson

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big nuts said:

You want to drop someone average over 52 in test match cricket for a one day specialist who at no stage has ever looked comfortable in test cricket and possesses major technical flaws outside of his off stump in the longer form of the game.

Ballance will play the first two matches minimum and his place quite rightly will come under scrutiny if his low scores were to coincide with other batsman hitting form in county cricket.

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jakarta said:

My major concerns are Bell, who hopefully has batted himself back into form in County Cricket but much more so Anderson and Broad.

Vs. the Kiwis they didn't look like a Test Side opening pace pair to me - I know Broad got at 5-for in the last Test but at a horrendous cost.

Maybe risk Anderson but replace Broad with Finn who looks like he is getting back his mojo?

Also maybe a second spinner (Rashid) by Tests 4 & 5 as wickets get dry & dusty?

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Uncle Buck said:

I would think if Ballance is dropped, Hales is the next pick rather than Morgan.

Also if Ali is dropped, I suspect they would look to replace with an off spinner and that is more likely to be Tredwell, who is playing for Kent again.

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big nuts said:

You want to drop someone average over 52 in test match cricket for a one day specialist who at no stage has ever looked comfortable in test cricket and possesses major technical flaws outside of his off stump in the longer form of the game.

Ballance will play the first two matches minimum and his place quite rightly will come under scrutiny if his low scores were to coincide with other batsman hitting form in county cricket.

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Uncle Buck said:

I would think if Ballance is dropped, Hales is the next pick rather than Morgan.

Also if Ali is dropped, I suspect they would look to replace with an off spinner and that is more likely to be Tredwell, who is playing for Kent again.

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Gwylan said:

I'd say Morgan is way down the list of possible replacements - he's looked at sea in test cricket.

I'm not so sure about Tredwell though: I reckon Rashid is higher up the pecking order - the selectors like a spinner who can bat (which is why Ali got the gig in the first place),

What's most worrying for me is that Mitchell Johnson is playing at Canterbury today in a shoot-out with Harris for the third seamer spot. If Australia can afford to leave out Johnson (who ripped us apart just 18 months ago) then we're really in trouble this summer

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big nuts said:

Why do people put such credence on performances with the White ball it's totally different to test cricket.

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Bold Seagull said:

Firstly, Ballance's average is over a very small number of tests in which he enjoyed a bumper summer against Sri Lanka and a limp India in 2014. His other big score was against the West Indies. You can't just say he has to be in because he averages 50 when he's barely faced a first rate seam attack yet, and when he did against NZ he was a walking wicket and looked terribly out of sorts. So did Bell, but Bell's dismissals have been varied because of a lack of form where as Ballance is getting out to the same type of delivery repeatedly.

It would undoubtedly be a massive call, and Ballance is someone who did look the business last year, but Morgan didn't do as bad as people think in test cricket with a top score of 130, and another 100 against India. Until that ill fated tour to Dubai against Pakistan (where the whole team collapsed at the start of the rot) he averaged 39 batting at no.6.

Both of them have issues outside off stump, but Morgan has definitely improved since his last test in 2012. If Ballance had gone back to Yorkshire following the NZ tests and like Bell got a couple of big scores, I wouldn't even be suggesting it to be honest. However, he's gone back and looks shot to pieces for some reason. Sometimes you have to ignore stats, and reputation and the past, sometimes you just have to go with a gut reaction of who is in form, and who might pull a few surprises.

However, I wouldn't be upset if Ballance plays which he probably will. He does obviously have the potential to be a superb no.3, however you'd be mad not to think Bayliss and Farbrace are discussing this right now.

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KZNSeagull said:

I would get Rashid in there somewhere as another option but I would leave the rest of the one day side to concentrate on one-dayers and keep the Test side separate. Smacking NZ bowlers for six in one day games is not quite the same as having Johnson and co trying to knock your head off for 6 hours a day.

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Bold Seagull said:

Of course it is, but when you've had such a dramatic seismic change as we've seen in the one day team, you'd be mad not to try to transfer some of that across. Thankfully he isn't being mentioned very much, but the same thing was said when KP was introduced into the side for his Test debut in the Ashes in 2005. A one day specialist no less!

You also can't argue that suddenly Mark Wood looks even more of a player with his performances with the white ball following a good couple of tests v NZ.

I do agree with most of what you are saying, but sometimes you need a little sprinkle of magic dust, and that comes from going with your gut. I think Farbrace did that with this ODI side, the selectors wanted a certain set of players, but he in insisted on a few left field picks and they paid off.

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