The Ashes 21/22

[chrishlcfc]

That is the lowest of the low. I mean I know we are bad and I expected us to lose 5-0 but to just fold like that against a fat average medium pacer making his debut is just too much.

[adam]

What a shambles. The whole set up is piss poor. ECB only interested in making a few quid from the short game. The red ball players don't play enough cricket because we are obsessed with the hundred and T20 stuff. If we are serious about the test side we need to bin the hundred off and play championship cricket in the summer. Not in April and September. 

[adam]

 

[when_you're_smiling]

1 minute ago, adam said:

What a shambles. The whole set up is piss poor. ECB only interested in making a few quid from the short game. The red ball players don't play enough cricket because we are obsessed with the hundred and T20 stuff. If we are serious about the test side we need to bin the hundred off and play championship cricket in the summer. Not in April and September. 

The top bods at the ECB justifying every penny of the £2.3 million bonuses they’ve paid themselves. 

[trabuch]

Cricket really took off again after the 2005 Ashes win. That's when test matches started to get sold out. Now even T20 isn't short enough so they brought in the 100. The ECB are worse than the FA.

[chrishlcfc]

Exactly it’s been the same for years all the ECB is bothered about is money money money. They would happily do away with test cricket just for extra t20 and the hundred crap.

 

Yes it’s helped us become a hugely successful white ball team but it has all but ended the test team at the same time.

[trabuch]

I'm going to cancel BT sport. No cricket and Leicester in the Conference. Not interested.

[CrawlingFox]

Bairstow symbolises everything wrong with English test cricket.

 

An extremely talented player. Blooded to test match cricket with initially strong returns before technical and mental weaknesses worked out and exposed.

 

Could have gone away and worked on these issues to return to test match level as a really good player. Instead became one of the best white ball batters in the world (fair play, can't blame him) whilst able to still do well in County Championship where the dibbly dobblers rein supreme on seaming pitches because he can get by on existing talent alone at that level.

 

Recalled to test match squad in anycase because everyone else is working on their white ball cricket too (why bother trying to learn how to bat for long spells when Darren Stevens will come and knock you over with ease when you can learn to scoop and paddle and make thousands on the franchise circuit) and to the surprise of nobody is still poor at this level when confronted by bustling Aussie quicks.

[Leicester_Loyal]

11 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

What would you have the batting line up as going to the West Indies? Same to @coolhandfox & @Voll Blau

I honestly don’t even know mate. 
 

But we also need to start playing more test cricket again, we don’t play anywhere near enough. 

[Tommy Fresh]

Let's start picking players with decent red ball pedigree. The selectors mentality of picking players who seem average in county cricket and expecting them to thrive in test cricket is delusional. 

 

Out of this batting line up I honestly wouldn't take any of them apart from Root and Stokes to the West Indies. So let's start surrounding them with batsman who deserve to be there on form and merit a test spot 

Edited 28 December 2021 by Tommy Fresh

[leicsmac]

26 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Let's start picking players with decent red ball pedigree. The selectors mentality of picking players who seem average in county cricket and expecting them to thrive in test cricket is delusional. 

 

Out of this batting line up I honestly wouldn't take any of them apart from Root and Stokes to the West Indies. So let's start surrounding them with batsman who deserve to be there on form and merit a test spot 

... do we actually have a requisite number of batsmen in the county game that actually fulfil that criteria?

[Tommy Fresh]

Silverwood is chief selector now isn't he? How much county cricket does he even get to watch with England's schedule? What's even more baffling is, the bloke must look at stats a fair bit but still picks players like Crawley and  Hameed. I get he'll have a team around him helping out but how can you be in charge of something you simply can't have a handle on due to having such a packed schedule.

Edited 28 December 2021 by Tommy Fresh

[Tommy Fresh]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

... do we actually have a requisite number of batsmen in the county game that actually fulfil that criteria?

There's a lot who deserve selection over the weird obsession of persisting with Hameed and Crawley. Lawrence I would include but he has a good average at county level. A couple of those who are probably more deserving were selected for the Lions and some weren't.

[Tommy Fresh]

Root actually said he looks at this squad as the best 18 red ball players in the county system 😂 

[Finnegan]

Don't worry lads, at least you've got The 100.

[Voll Blau]

7 hours ago, trabuch said:

Root should open. And someone else should be captain.

The only person I can think of with the cricket brain for that and who could also feasibly be respectable enough with the bat to justify selection is Eoin Morgan - who last played a County Championship game almost three years ago.

[RowlattsFox]

Most annoying thing is that this batting performance might not be the most embarrassing thing to happen today 

 

Not much you can do in the short term, just not good enough. Silverwood goes before Root gives up the captaincy IMO. 

 

 

[RowlattsFox]

5 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

I honestly don’t even know mate. 
 

But we also need to start playing more test cricket again, we don’t play anywhere near enough. 

For me, it's not about not playing enough test cricket. It's about the test players playing so little red ball stuff outside of test matches. 

 

Standard in county cricket is poor and does nothing to prepare you for test cricket where weaknesses are exposed quickly. Techniques are all over the place. 

 

Also because of covid our best youngsters probably haven't had the opportunity to go around the world and play some cricket in different conditions. 

 

 

[Tommy Fresh]

6 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

Start fresh and let the Lions have a go in Sydney. Jokers.

Sent them home didn't they? 😂

[Matt]

England collapse easier than our defence!

[Tommy Fresh]

11 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

For me, it's not about not playing enough test cricket. It's about the test players playing so little red ball stuff outside of test matches. 

 

Standard in county cricket is poor and does nothing to prepare you for test cricket where weaknesses are exposed quickly. Techniques are all over the place. 

 

Also because of covid our best youngsters probably haven't had the opportunity to go around the world and play some cricket in different conditions. 

 

 

A bit of a cycle there, county standard is poor but the test players need red ball game time away from test cricket...So where do you expect them to get adequate experience? Also helps if you pick players who have performed at county level anyway, what chance do players have who can't even perform at that level

Edited 28 December 2021 by Tommy Fresh

[Duquesne Whistle]

Didn't bother staying up last night. Woke up this morning to find out the lead singer of 1970's glamour band T Rex took 6 for 7 in about 3 overs.

 

I'd normally watch every test in OZ, regardless of the series score, but I don't think I'll bother renewing BT on the 4th Jan.

 

[CosbehFox]

Plenty of us warned about that ADHD, sugar rush of a tournament.
 

The biggest problem facing us is that the actual players in this England set up actually believe that the county championship isn’t fit for purpose because they have been told that so many times. And yet it produced England to become the no 1 test match team in living memory. Currently the no 1 test batsmen in the world has been playing in it repeatedly for a number of years. 

 

 

[CosbehFox]

10 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

For me, it's not about not playing enough test cricket. It's about the test players playing so little red ball stuff outside of test matches. 

 

Standard in county cricket is poor and does nothing to prepare you for test cricket where weaknesses are exposed quickly. Techniques are all over the place. 

 

Also because of covid our best youngsters probably haven't had the opportunity to go around the world and play some cricket in different conditions. 

 

 

Is it poor? Marcus Labuschagne is the worlds best test batter and he’s played for Glamorgan since 2019 (largely second division as well).
 

Let alone for his runs, I don’t think there’s a better guy at the format for reading the bowling. The CC has played its part in making him go from decent to world class

[Voll Blau]

1 minute ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Is it poor? Marcus Labuschagne is the worlds best test batter and he’s played for Glamorgan since 2019 (largely second division as well).
 

Let alone for his runs, I don’t think there’s a better guy at the format for reading the bowling. The CC has played its part in making him go from decent to world class

Odd to think Labuschagne may not have even broken through if it weren't for the Aussies taking notice of his Glamorgan form. But then they do have the advantage over us of being able to select players for away Ashes series based on First-Class form/experience in the country they're visiting (Chris Rogers too, for example).

 

I'd imagine winters playing Grade Cricket don't give you anywhere close to the same experience from an England point of view and several of the current squad have done that.