Pevenseagull
Anti-greed coalition
- Jul 20, 2003
- 19,627
Compton out, fair enough, he's had enough chances.
Replaced by:
Gary Ballance
Replaced by:
Gary Ballance
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Test Squad v Pakistan
- Thread starter Pevenseagull
- Start date
pasty
A different kind of pasty
Full England squad for first Test against Pakistan:
Cook (c), Hales, Root, Vince, Ballance, Bairstow (wk), Moeen, Woakes, Broad, Finn, Ball, Roland-Jones.
Cook (c), Hales, Root, Vince, Ballance, Bairstow (wk), Moeen, Woakes, Broad, Finn, Ball, Roland-Jones.
Stumpy Tim
Well-known member
Glad Ballance is back - test average of 48. I would drop him down the order though
Papa Lazarou
Living in a De Zerbi wonderland
They have brought Ballance to the forcst test.
pasty
A different kind of pasty
Could be interesting having Root up at 3 now. If one of the openers goes in the first couple overs Root could be back "sort of" opening.
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
Tobias Skelton Roland-Jones, to give him his full name. I wonder if he went to a comprehensive.
Finchley Seagull
New member
But, given the way Compton was playing and getting out early, he's often been in early anyway so may not make much difference. He's also a much better player than he was when he opened, in my view.
BensGrandad
New member
Didnt I read Compton was taking a break from all cricket for a while.
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
GT49er
Well-known member
Is James Anderson injured then?
Saturn
Vicarious
- Feb 11, 2016
- 186
I have to say that I believe this to be something of a missed opportunity and a bit of step backwards. Sure, on the face of it, Ballance's average for England is very good. However, his technique was giving him all sorts of troubles shortly before he was dropped last year and he was making very few runs. I've followed his progress this year at first class level and whilst his scoring has picked up a bit, someone like Sam Robson or Scotty Borthwick would have been a much more progressive choice. Borthwick has had a few games recently where he hasn't delivered, but Ballance, aside from his recent century, has rarely done anything of note this season at all. Borthwick also brings greater bowling options.
I am however glad that they have chosen not to bring Buttler back into the test fold – I strongly believe he should become the next limited overs captain whenever Morgan goes and his focus should be on continuing our growth in those formats rather than muddling him around in the test game.
The other thing I take issue with is promoting Root to number three. The higher Root bats, the fewer runs he has scored. He averages in the 70s when batting at 5 – that drops to the low when he is played at 4 50s (still good, obviously) and we all remember what happened when they tried having him opening the batting. He is most dangerous in the middle order once the openers have taken the shine off of the ball. Build your team around your strongest batsman, don’t move him around to accommodate everyone else.
I am however glad that they have chosen not to bring Buttler back into the test fold – I strongly believe he should become the next limited overs captain whenever Morgan goes and his focus should be on continuing our growth in those formats rather than muddling him around in the test game.
The other thing I take issue with is promoting Root to number three. The higher Root bats, the fewer runs he has scored. He averages in the 70s when batting at 5 – that drops to the low when he is played at 4 50s (still good, obviously) and we all remember what happened when they tried having him opening the batting. He is most dangerous in the middle order once the openers have taken the shine off of the ball. Build your team around your strongest batsman, don’t move him around to accommodate everyone else.
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ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
He's still recovering from a shoulder injury.
Mackenzie
Old Brightonian
Shame that this has come too soon for Mark Wood.
BensGrandad
New member
Trescothick hit a ton against them.