England in the Caribbean

[nutsaboutamber]

Usual shite then.

[SFCU]

The fight is back on

[danielcufc]

Lack of preperation again on an away tour. England just roll up and go in under cooked. Totally the wrong team selection and balance. Curran is never going to be an opening bowler. 4th seamer is his role as an all rounder who will end up batting at 6 or 7. Rashid shouldnt have been in side either as Root doesnt trust him.

[imp566]

Jan 25, 2019 9:39:50 GMT danielcufc said:

Lack of preperation again on an away tour. England just roll up and go in under cooked. Totally the wrong team selection and balance. Curran is never going to be an opening bowler. 4th seamer is his role as an all rounder who will end up batting at 6 or 7. Rashid shouldnt have been in side either as Root doesnt trust him.

Summed it up for me. Two "non games" to get match practice before a Test series is ridiculous. West Indies have out-thought and out-fought us so far. 4 day defeat looming.

[nutsaboutamber]

I honestly thought we’d be 30-1 at the close. Lucky I’m going to St Lucia which will be the DECIDER.........🤸🏿‍♀️

[danielcufc]

That went well....

[nutsaboutamber]

From 134-1......on a good pitch and against a part time bowler who didn’t turn it. I didn’t expect us to bat out two days but at least we could have gone out in a blaze of some iota of respectability.

[nutsaboutamber]

So, usual shite then. I must admit a big part of me likes the West Indies, great people and cultures and I love maroon. But this is awful, isn't it? What was Buttler up to on day one? It is also properly good to see a fast bowler(fast/fast, not fast/medium)....ie the idiosynchratically named Shannon Gabriel.

[SFCU]

Dear oh dear, what have i just watched.

[imp566]

A bunch of 20/20 players who don't know how to adapt their game when the big hitting doesn't work. We don't breed test match cricketers anymore.

[SFCU]

You are dead right Imp. Why is it just the fans who see these problems?
I said this a while back as well.
I cant make out why our two top class bowlers are made to look normal.

[danielcufc]

County Championship being moved to April/May and Sept doesnt help breed decent batsmen any more. Medium paced seamers cause damage as the ball moves around. All the young players are being bought up to play 20/20 cricket but judging by the big bash this year even interest in that is starting to wane. The ECB arent helping with the ridiculous 100 comp either. The Windies also showed that by following the basics is how you play test cricket. Batsman prepared to tough it out and defend and 4 quick tall bowlers not a side filled with all rounders and keepers like England.

[imp566]

It's a very straightforward answer to why though. It's down to money. County cricket, played over 4 days just doesn't bring in the punters, One day and 20/20 do. That's why the counties (and through them, the ECB) promote the shorter version of the game and why this bizarre "100" game has been designed. I have no doubt at all when we are doing well in the World Cup later this year we will all be very happy at how good we are at that form of the game. To do the same at the traditional longer game, something has to give.

Personally, I think we have very talented cricketers in this country, but the mental capacity to concentrate and "tough out" an innings doesn't seem to be a quality many have. I'm disappointed in our skipper this series if I'm honest, he hasn't stood up and led by example. And to add insult to injury, we have the one man in recent times who was (and still probably is) capable of building an innings sat in the commentary box, passing on his wisdom to the listeners. Cook retired too soon, I hope that doesn't come back to bite us when the Aussies arrive in the summer, we are still desperately scratching around for a decent opener who can fill his shoes. At the very least, get him involved in mentoring and coaching these players to think the way he did when batting in trying circumstances.

[jfox]

Feb 3, 2019 13:55:49 GMT imp566 said:

Cook retired too soon, I hope that doesn't come back to bite us when the Aussies arrive in the summer, we are still desperately scratching around for a decent opener who can fill his shoes. At the very least, get him involved in mentoring and coaching these players to think the way he did when batting in trying circumstances.

Completely agree with this. He’s only just turned 34, so physically he could quite easily have gone on for another 4 or 5 years.

I’d like to see James Vince given a crack at opening. He’s proven over a number of seasons he’s the best at County level. Appreciate he’s not done it in tests, but who else realistically is there?

[danielcufc]

So Jennings back, possibly Mark Wood as well. Can England put up any fight this time or will it be a 3-0 loss