[Cricket] The Ashes - England v Australia - 4th Test, Old Trafford, July 19-23, 2023

[Titanic]

England squad UNCHANGED.

No Foakes.

#cuerants

England name unchanged squad for fourth Ashes Test

England name an unchanged squad for the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Mellotron]

Disappointed by how unsurprised I am.

Still, bucket hats, eh?

 

[Ali_rrr]

England squad UNCHANGED.

No Foakes.

#cuerants

England name unchanged squad for fourth Ashes Test

England name an unchanged squad for the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.

www.bbc.co.uk

Disappointed by not surprised. England love giving people multiple chances even after poor performance. I suspect had we lost the third test Foakes would have come in.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

They don't deserve anything from this series perservering with Bairstow. His keeping is truly awful and he has made one decent score in 6 innings. Talk about a closed shop/jobs for the boys attitude. I keep hearing ( mainly from ex pro's ) how well he has done to recover from his injury....really.....!!!!!.......he has missed 7 chances out of 18 behind the stumps. A decent club keeper would be disappointed with that.
Clearly, they are hoping his batting comes good. Fine, if he sticks around for any length of time but with a technique as loose as his, that is unlikely.
They have obviously decided to stick with him for the whole series, so be it. We all have to get on with it, forget about Foakes and watch him miss more chances behind the stumps and find ever more varied ways of chucking his wicket away.

 

[zeemeeuw]

England squad UNCHANGED.

No Foakes.

#cuerants

England name unchanged squad for fourth Ashes Test

England name an unchanged squad for the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.

www.bbc.co.uk

No Bristow?

 

[Mellotron]

So...what happens if Bairstow gets injured? Can we call up an emergency WK?

 

[GT49er]

Keep Bairstow for his batting - we're not over-stocked with frst class test batsmen queueing up for a place in England's middle order - but really disappointed Foakes has been frozen out again. Bairstow quite possibly cost us at least one of the first 2 tests - although that could be said of other players suffering from buterfingers too!

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Keep Bairstow for his batting - we're not over-stocked with frst class test batsmen queueing up for a place in England's middle order - but really disappointed Foakes has been frozen out again. Bairstow quite possibly cost us at least one of the first 2 tests - although that could be said of other players suffering from buterfingers too!

I'm not convinced Bairstow is a test class bat. 36 average over that duration is mediocre and it's not obviously improving. I'd prefer to try Lawrence.

 

[Eeyore]

England squad UNCHANGED.

No Foakes.

#cuerants

England name unchanged squad for fourth Ashes Test

England name an unchanged squad for the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well, as much as my feelings are BESMIRCHED by someone stealing my Monday evening before the Test ritual, I am strangely comforted knowing that the tradition of the title format has been maintained.

However, it is normally your duty to include a monologue and prediction (all of mine have been correct even down to the margins thus far) No pressure.

Oh, and the poll, you must include the poll.

For what it is worth, I am forecasting a comfortable Australia win in this event. Happy to be absurdly wrong.

 

[peterward]

They don't deserve anything from this series perservering with Bairstow. His keeping is truly awful and he has made one decent score in 6 innings. Talk about a closed shop/jobs for the boys attitude. I keep hearing ( mainly from ex pro's ) how well he has done to recover from his injury....really.....!!!!!.......he has missed 7 chances out of 18 behind the stumps. A decent club keeper would be disappointed with that.
Clearly, they are hoping his batting comes good. Fine, if he sticks around for any length of time but with a technique as loose as his, that is unlikely.
They have obviously decided to stick with him for the whole series, so be it. We all have to get on with it, forget about Foakes and watch him miss more chances behind the stumps and find ever more varied ways of chucking his wicket away.

I feel bitterly sorry for Foakes. Its worse than Dunk being overlooked.

He is without any doubt the best gloveman in the land, he'd have snagged many, maybe all of the drops Bairstow fluffed, and he's been scoring well with the bat at County level.

What more can he do....... its a travesty an overweight, out of form Batsman who is proving utterly shit with the gloves isn't judged on actual performances, but on past performance or something else and is instead kept on at the expense of the best keeper in England, whose decent with the bat.

It's nepotism, jobs for the boys.

Bairstow selection has been awful...... doubling down rather than admitting it, is an even bigger mistake.

 

[GT49er]

I'm not convinced Bairstow is a test class bat. 36 average over that duration is mediocre and it's not obviously improving. I'd prefer to try Lawrence.

His average is considerably higher when he's not keeping wicket.

 

[Eeyore]

His average is considerably higher when he's not keeping wicket.

It's not. It's about the same.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

His average is considerably higher when he's not keeping wicket.

Bairstow's average while keeping wicket: 36.43
Bairstow's average while not keeping wicket: 36.62

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

It's not. It's about the same.

Interestingly, it's a similar record with and without the gloves even down to his purple patches.
2016 season, 7 matches keeping wicket average 75.
2022 season, 6 matches not keeping wicket average 76.
Edit: I say "interesting", I've spent the last hour or so looking at bolt strengths.

 

[Questions]

Bairstow's average while keeping wicket: 36.43
Bairstow's average while not keeping wicket: 36.62

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

Foakes batting av is 32 I think

 

[Eeyore]

Foakes batting av is 32 I think

No debate then. Foakes should keep wicket. But that won't happen.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Foakes batting av is 32 I think

Yes. Looking in more detail, it's dragged down by 3 crap tours of India and the West Indies in 2019, 2021 and 2022. Now clearly he didn't play well on those tours, but to be fair I don't remember many England batters doing well in most of those matches.
Obviously when somebody's only played 20 tests it starts getting a bit meaningless when broken down, but last season in England he averaged exactly 40 against some decent (more than decent in South Africa's case) bowling.
To be clear, I think Bairstow has a much higher ceiling with the bat than Foakes, but over time I don't think he'd score many more.

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I do wish politicians would keep their noses out from this sort of thing:

UK to Aussie PM: I didn't bring my sandpaper with me

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese discuss the Ashes during their encounter at the NATO summit in Vilnius

www.espncricinfo.com

 

[GT49er]

Bairstow's average while keeping wicket: 36.43
Bairstow's average while not keeping wicket: 36.62

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

That's not what it sounded like being discussed on TMS (and, IIRC, on Talksport too)! - and no, sorry, I don't have a link. But it's not a hill I;m choosing to die on either.

 

[Eeyore]

I do wish politicians would keep their noses out from this sort of thing:

UK to Aussie PM: I didn't bring my sandpaper with me

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese discuss the Ashes during their encounter at the NATO summit in Vilnius

www.espncricinfo.com

I think it would have been quite funny if there hadn't been a staging element to it. A bit like when Johnson was seen watching the Euros a couple of years back. I think Sunak is a genuine cricket fan, but he's no John Major.