England Cricket Tours 2018-19 (and everything off the field during that period)

Cafc43v3r said:

Addick Addict said:

Cafc43v3r said:

cantersaddick said:

Cafc43v3r said:

Addick Addict said:

The_President said:

Very happy for Ben Foakes. Brought in coz he is regarded as best keeper, and then scores a ton ! Hopefully will give the selectors the nudge to play Bairstow as batter only.

Yes but who for in the next Test as Bairstow will be fit then? I think we're all in agreement that we hope, ultimately, it will be for Jennings but it is highly unlikely that the selectors will do that for the next match.

In which case, Burns could be vulnerable thus forcing their hand in opening with Bairstow as there are no other obvious openers in this X1. Or they just continue to leave Bairstow out of the side? Or, as absurd, they drop Foakes!

The correct thing to do would be to drop Stokes........

As I said before the game. That does leave us with only 2 quicks though. Don't really want to rely on Jennings bowling as useful as it may be as backup.

Sri Lanka were quite happy going into this game with 1. Stokes should be bowling a 3 or 4 over spell now, as the game drifts. He isn't. If he isn't bowling, he isn't an all rounder. Bairstow is the better batsman.

Which makes it all somewhat absurd that Stokes, a potential match winner, is being talked about as being dropped whereas Jennings who is an average county player is, in theory, safe.

Jennings, for all his faults, is a good player of spin. Stokes is a potential match winner, the key word being potential. It does seem a long time since he delivered with the bat.

Accepted but Jennings simply isn't an option at Test level as a bowler - he has 28 just first class wickets to his name whereas Stokes took 14 wickets at less than 18 against India this summer. We might just be trying to get through this Test without using him but, if he can bowl in the next, then he should play.

And look who is coming onto bowl.

cantersaddick said:

Addick Addict said:

Addick Addict said:

Addick Addict said:

Of course the other thing to bear in mind if we play all of Bairstow, Burns, Buttler and Foakes is that we will have no wicket keeper cover if all four get injured in the game!

Problem solved I forgot - we could play Pope too and have five keepers in the side.

Catch up Canters!

Erm Nope.

Pope not "nope"

McBobbin said:

Tidy bowling from all the spinners, and good to see a real wicketkeeper in action. If we put on 200-250, then Sri Lanka will pray for rain

Wouldn't think we'll need that many. Anything between 100-150 should be more than enough.

The really good keepers make the job look simple. Both the stumping and catch were anything but easy but Foakes made it look as such. His technique is consistent which allows him to take those chances when the batsman is moving and the bat is being flung.

I am a massive fan of Buttler as a cricketer but Foakes is in a different league to him as a keeper.

Cafc43v3r said:

Riviera said:

Makes Rashid's red ball retirement look even more ridiculous.

Which came as a result of being discarded by England. Cook and Root never showed enough confidence in him and even today Root took him off as soon as he took a wicket albeit to get Ali bowling at the incoming left hander.

When he first came into the side and was getting shedloads for bowling full tosses and half trackers I said that we had to persevere with him because he was the one bowler who could bowl the unplayable. I also pointed out that spinners don't mature 'til their late 20s/early 30s - Ali is 31, Rashid is 30 and Leach 27. Even Graeme Swann didn't make his Test debut 'til he was 29.

A loss of confidence at a relatively young age and the player goes backward as a result. Look at Simon Kerigan - debut for England at 24 and finished as a first class player just four years later. It is the confidence and consistency that Rashid got playing white ball cricket has allowed him to return to the Test side a better, older and wiser player.

killerandflash said:

Addick Addict said:

The really good keepers make the job look simple. Both the stumping and catch were anything but easy but Foakes made it look as such. His technique is consistent which allows him to take those chances when the batsman is moving and the bat is being flung.

I am a massive fan of Buttler as a cricketer but Foakes is in a different league to him as a keeper.

When a proper keeper can make a century on debut, it makes you wonder why we've been scratching around with batsman/keepers for so long. Especially with Foakes' first class batting average of over 40, which is higher than Buttler's

Billings is better than Buttler and Bairstow too and probably on a par with Foakes as a keepr. He doesn't enjoy the same first class average as Foakes though. The selectors, as we all know, don't like Kent though.