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Major surgery required on this team.

 

Cook is frazzled, needs taking out of the firing line, I'd replace him with Key to open and captain, Hales in for Robson, Bopara/Lyth/Vince in for Ali, Buttler for Prior, Finn for Broad, Kerrigan for Plunkett or Stokes.

 

None of this will happen of course.

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Major surgery required on this team.

 

Cook is frazzled, needs taking out of the firing line, I'd replace him with Key to open and captain, Hales in for Robson, Bopara/Lyth/Vince in for Ali, Buttler for Prior, Finn for Broad, Kerrigan for Plunkett or Stokes.

 

None of this will happen of course.

Of this side currently, only Root, Bell, Broad & Anderson would survive the cull if I was in charge.

 

Id take Cook out of the firing line, and give the captaincy to either Broad or Anderson. Robson and Ballance arent quite there yet, Ballance is closer than Robson. Ali isnt quite good enough a spinner to justify his inclusion as a batter (if you know what i mean?) and for me, Prior shouldn't have come back into the side this last time anyhow.

Plunket is a tough one, as he has bowled really well in spells, but i'd have Jordan in there instead.

Stokes has done Ok with the ball, but his batting has been shocking; so Bresnan if fit or Jordan for Stokes and Finn for Plunkett.

 

Major surgery needed here, the team needs ripping up and starting again for me...

Edited by slystallone
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Of this side currently, only Root, Bell, Broad & Anderson would survive the cull if I was in charge.

 

Id take Cook out of the firing line, and give the captaincy to either Broad or Anderson. Robson and Ballance arent quite there yet, Ballance is closer than Robson. Ali isnt quite good enough a spinner to justify his inclusion as a batter (if you know what i mean?) and for me, Prior shouldn't have come back into the side this last time anyhow.

Plunket is a tough one, as he has bowled really well in spells, but i'd have Jordan in there instead.

Stokes has done Ok with the ball, but his batting has been shocking; so Bresnan if fit or Jordan for Stokes and Finn for Plunkett.

 

Major surgery needed here, the team needs ripping up and starting again for me...

Granted, relieving Cook of the captaincy will probably help his batting no end. But you'd completely get rid of a player who at the age of 29 has over 8000 test runs and more centuries than any other England test batsmen ever?

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Ballance looks a real find, one of the only positives in the team, proper test player.

 

Don't think Jordan is a test player yet, would like to see him tearing through county sides with a red ball first.

 

Robson is a massive meh for me, Hales first class record is nowt to shout about but think he could our Warner.

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Balance looks OK. Moeen Ali looks to me like the best batsman that we have found since, er Cook and Root, and it is not his fault that there are no spinners available to be selected above Monty-he is not a true all rounder but an excellent batter who can spin it a little, give him time. Hope he doesnt become the new Ramprakash!

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Granted, relieving Cook of the captaincy will probably help his batting no end. But you'd completely get rid of a player who at the age of 29 has over 8000 test runs and more centuries than any other England test batsmen ever?

Yep, as i said, Id take him out of the firing line short term.

 

With the pressure of the captaincy having had such a negative effect on his batting, he doesnt look anything like the batter he actually is. On current form, and with the current technical issues that have also crept into his game, he wouldnt make the line-up for me - sort term mind.

 

Form is temporary but his class remains. I think time away from side, to get his head back straight, might - just might; get Cook the worldclass batter back?

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Yep, as i said, Id take him out of the firing line short term.

 

With the pressure of the captaincy having had such a negative effect on his batting, he doesnt look anything like the batter he actually is. On current form, and with the current technical issues that have also crept into his game, he wouldnt make the line-up for me - sort term mind.

 

Form is temporary but his class remains. I think time away from side, to get his head back straight, might - just might; get Cook the worldclass batter back?

 

I'd take the captaincy off him and keep him in the side. If his form doesn't return before the end of this series, he then has 9 months before the next test match which is plenty of time out of the firing line.

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I think Cook leaves a lot to be desired as captain.

 

But he's got this one spot on.

 

Good personal contribution.

 

No follow-on to protect his key bowlers.

 

Timely declaration once the game was beyond India.

 

Switching around part-time spinners to pick up wickets of top batsmen.

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Timely declaration once the game was beyond India.

This is the only mistake he's made thus far, and as Raggy's pointed out in his defence it seems no one knew the rule!

 

However if he'd declared 4 minutes earlier the Indians would have had to come in before Tea for about half an hour or so, which would be much more uncomfortable for them to have to come back out a second time. But as I, well Ragg, says it seems most people didn't know the timing rule about bringing Tea forwards.

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This is the only mistake he's made thus far, and as Raggy's pointed out in his defence it seems no one knew the rule!

 

However if he'd declared 4 minutes earlier the Indians would have had to come in before Tea for about half an hour or so, which would be much more uncomfortable for them to have to come back out a second time. But as I, well Ragg, says it seems most people didn't know the timing rule about bringing Tea forwards.

Michael Vaughun knew it! On TMS

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This is the only mistake he's made thus far, and as Raggy's pointed out in his defence it seems no one knew the rule!

 

However if he'd declared 4 minutes earlier the Indians would have had to come in before Tea for about half an hour or so, which would be much more uncomfortable for them to have to come back out a second time. But as I, well Ragg, says it seems most people didn't know the timing rule about bringing Tea forwards.

We took 4 wickets before the close of play, so calling it a mistake is a bit harsh. He might have known the rule and declared then on purpose. Get an early tea and have a long session at them. If that was the case then it worked.

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This is the only mistake he's made thus far, and as Raggy's pointed out in his defence it seems no one knew the rule!

 

However if he'd declared 4 minutes earlier the Indians would have had to come in before Tea for about half an hour or so, which would be much more uncomfortable for them to have to come back out a second time. But as I, well Ragg, says it seems most people didn't know the timing rule about bringing Tea forwards.

 

He will have known the rule. If Root had stayed in we'd have batted to tea. He added 10 minutes back into play by declaring when he did.

 

As for Moeen Ali, I'm sure he never got one to turn. They all got out expecting the ball to spin. It just went straight!

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He will have known the rule. If Root had stayed in we'd have batted to tea. He added 10 minutes back into play by declaring when he did.

 

As for Moeen Ali, I'm sure he never got one to turn. They all got out expecting the ball to spin. It just went straight!

Well that's fantastic bowling then.

 

"They think it's going to spin. I can bowl at 2000 rpm but I'm going to bowl straight."

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He will have known the rule. If Root had stayed in we'd have batted to tea. He added 10 minutes back into play by declaring when he did.

As for Moeen Ali, I'm sure he never got one to turn. They all got out expecting the ball to spin. It just went straight!

They must not get much practice against spinners then! Or against spinners that dont spin it! Well done Mo

Well that's fantastic bowling then.

"They think it's going to spin. I can bowl at 2000 rpm but I'm going to bowl straight."

He got a few deliveries to turn quite a bit but most of his wicket-taking deliveries were ones where the Indians were expecting it to turn but it didn't. There's a lesson there for any aspiring spinners, you don't need to have every ball turn to take wickets. The trick is to make the ones that turn look as identical as possible to the ones that won't.
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Of this side currently, only Root, Bell, Broad & Anderson would survive the cull if I was in charge.

 

Id take Cook out of the firing line, and give the captaincy to either Broad or Anderson. Robson and Ballance arent quite there yet, Ballance is closer than Robson. Ali isnt quite good enough a spinner to justify his inclusion as a batter (if you know what i mean?) and for me, Prior shouldn't have come back into the side this last time anyhow.

Plunket is a tough one, as he has bowled really well in spells, but i'd have Jordan in there instead.

Stokes has done Ok with the ball, but his batting has been shocking; so Bresnan if fit or Jordan for Stokes and Finn for Plunkett.

 

Major surgery needed here, the team needs ripping up and starting again for me...

So, good job i'm not a selector eh?

 

Mo Ali looks worth keeping on with, with work (lots) he could well become on an outright International spinner, who bats a bit; or worst case an all-rounder.

 

Balance again needs perservering with; at his age (24?) he could nail that number 3 spot for years to come

 

Robson isnt up to it though, yet.

Root looks a good bet at #5 now, so i'd leave him there, and Bell at 4 - i wouldnt look to have either of them opening.

 

Adam Lythe or James Taylor for me as the next ones to be given a shot. Dont think Taylor did a lot wrong when he was included last time, And i was surprised he was forgotten about.

 

Woakes was unlucky, he beat the bat so much without having that little bit of luck to bring him a wicket. I used to see him as 1 day only; but - he might have just played his way into the 3 seamer role.

 

Jordan had one didnt he? They need to decide if its Stokes or him, and give whichever one it is a real run. He hasnt helped his cause with his bowling performance; but id still go with him. Proper athlete and a bonus is his close fielding too.

 

Maybe its all not as bad as it seemed. Amazing what a win does!

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