England player ratings

Stokes- 7

The one positive for England this series. Plucky century at Perth in his second test (England's only century of the series), and lively, if inconsistent fast medium bowling. Seems to have a feisty attitude to the game as well.

Broad- 6

The only England player to perform somewhere near expectations. Is arguably now England's 'strike' bowler ahead of Anderson. Batting didn't show much gumption, though.

Anderson- 5

Seems to have lost the ability to swing the ball. Pace was actually improved after Adelaide, but he just doesn't have the same magic as we've seen in the past.

Carberry- 4

Numerous starts, but constantly gave it away after making those starts. Was confused as to how to go about structuring an innings. Was shot-less in the second innings at Melbourne, but played some nice strokes in the second innings at Sydney...but still got out in the 40s. That's probably it for his test career.

Bell- 4

Played his best when going for his shots. His 70 at Adelaide was a little gem of an innings. Had his usual share of pathetically weak dismissals, though. Hard to know which was worse- The inside edged hoik to mid on off a Steve Smith full toss at Adelaide? Or the pathetic chip to mid off first ball of Lyon in Melbourne.

Pietersen- 3

Played some awful shots to get out in Brisbane and Adelaide. The Australians frustrated him, setting clever fields and not allowing him to get away. His timing seemed to be off all series. Now clearly seems to be past his best, and there are now rumours his retirement from test cricket is imminent.

Root- 3

Just like his footwork, his game has gone backwards. Pitch it up and wait for him to nick it is a simple, and extremely effective plan to him. Another England batsman who went right into his shell. Was also shunted from likely opener before the series started, down to number six, up to number three when Trott went home, to out of the side by Sydney. He'll be back, but what long-term mental damage has been done on this tour?

Swann- 3

Has never enjoyed bowling in Australia, but even still, the rip and dip wasn't quite there like before. Dramatic retirement and on the first plane home just before Christmas was a disappointing end to a great career.

Cook- 2

Awful captaincy, and his batting wasn't much better. Needs to do some serious thinking about whether he wants to remain captain (and the ECB have been nice enough to give him a choice) and how he can put his batting back together again. Averages 25 in his last 10 tests with no centuries. Nowhere near good enough for a guy with an average in the high 40s and the most test hundreds by any England player in history.

Bresnan- 2

Despite England's best hopes and wishes, he simply isn't the bowler he used to be. He was never a world-beater, but the nip is well and truly gone. Was embarrassingly pedestrian in Melbourne and is another who must be unlikely ever to play another test. Although England are well and truly in love him him, so who knows.

Panesar- 2

Given a go at Adelaide (in combination with Swann) and Melbourne(When Swann had had enough and packed it in). Was never at his best. Unusually for him, there was a four-ball almost every over, and his action was looking ragged in Melbourne. Seemed to lose the confidence of Cook in that test, as Root was preferred in the Aus second innings ahead of him. His career is at the crossroads.

Prior- 1

The form that made him England's cricketer of the year in 2012 still hasn't returned. No runs, and terrible keeping. Was put out of his misery before the Melbourne test. Will probably be back though as we all know what he's capable of, and he's only 31.

Bairstow- 1

He just doesn't look a test cricketer. Still has several glaring technical faults with his batting, which raises the question as to what England's army of coaches have actually been doing with their time, and his keeping is no better than average. Hard to see where he fits into England's plans going forward.



Others who played one test-

Borthwick- 5

Something to work with there. Nowhere near the finished article, but he's a jack-in-the-box cricketer who could be very useful to England over the coming years. Worth persisting with.

Ballance- 3

Looked a bit meh in all honesty. Looked tentative and unsure of himself. Difficult to be too harsh all things considered though. He should play England's next test, and hopefully get a decent go in the ODI series as well.

Tremlett- 3

He wasn't terrible at Brisbane, but has clearly lost a yard of pace. I was actually surprised he only get the one test, even with the lack of pace. At least he is pretty accurate. End of the line for his international career. But for injuries, what might have been?

Rankin- 1

No fitness, no accuracy, no confidence. Was so nervous on the first day that he had to go off the
field because he couldn't feel his legs. The physio was even treating him during the cap presentation, for Christ's sake. That should have been the first clue that things weren't going to go well. It's been a nice journey Boyd, but that will be your one and only test match (unless Ireland gain test status in the next three years.)



Have I missed anyone? Probably. But what a shambles all in all. For the team as a whole, England score a 2.

Nephew?

Surprisingly I actually agree with Trev.

Only two issues I have is the high rating for Borthwick.

And the last sentence in the assessment of Carberry.

taipan wrote:Nephew?

Yep, edited him in.

Comprehensive analysis, Trev, and pretty close to the mark.

This series could see the end of Trott, Swann, KP, Bres, Monty and maybe even Prior as Test cricketers.

And that's ignoring Rankin who surely won't get another test.

Prior will be back immediately.

And I wouldn't rule out Monty - he's still the best finger spinner available to us.

Henry wrote:Stokes- 7

The one positive for England this series. Plucky century at Perth in his second test (England's only century of the series), and lively, if inconsistent fast medium bowling. Seems to have a feisty attitude to the game as well.

Broad- 6

The only England player to perform somewhere near expectations. Is arguably now England's 'strike' bowler ahead of Anderson. Batting didn't show much gumption, though.

Anderson- 5

Seems to have lost the ability to swing the ball. Pace was actually improved after Adelaide, but he just doesn't have the same magic as we've seen in the past.

Carberry- 4

Numerous starts, but constantly gave it away after making those starts. Was confused as to how to go about structuring an innings. Was shot-less in the second innings at Melbourne, but played some nice strokes in the second innings at Sydney...but still got out in the 40s. That's probably it for his test career.

Bell- 4

Played his best when going for his shots. His 70 at Adelaide was a little gem of an innings. Had his usual share of pathetically weak dismissals, though. Hard to know which was worse- The inside edged hoik to mid on off a Steve Smith full toss at Adelaide? Or the pathetic chip to mid off first ball of Lyon in Melbourne.

Pietersen- 3

Played some awful shots to get out in Brisbane and Adelaide. The Australians frustrated him, setting clever fields and not allowing him to get away. His timing seemed to be off all series. Now clearly seems to be past his best, and there are now rumours his retirement from test cricket is imminent.

Root- 3

Just like his footwork, his game has gone backwards. Pitch it up and wait for him to nick it is a simple, and extremely effective plan to him. Another England batsman who went right into his shell. Was also shunted from likely opener before the series started, down to number six, up to number three when Trott went home, to out of the side by Sydney. He'll be back, but what long-term mental damage has been done on this tour?

Swann- 3

Has never enjoyed bowling in Australia, but even still, the rip and dip wasn't quite there like before. Dramatic retirement and on the first plane home just before Christmas was a disappointing end to a great career.

Cook- 2

Awful captaincy, and his batting wasn't much better. Needs to do some serious thinking about whether he wants to remain captain (and the ECB have been nice enough to give him a choice) and how he can put his batting back together again. Averages 25 in his last 10 tests with no centuries. Nowhere near good enough for a guy with an average in the high 40s and the most test hundreds by any England player in history.

Bresnan- 2

Despite England's best hopes and wishes, he simply isn't the bowler he used to be. He was never a world-beater, but the nip is well and truly gone. Was embarrassingly pedestrian in Melbourne and is another who must be unlikely ever to play another test. Although England are well and truly in love him him, so who knows.

Panesar- 2

Given a go at Adelaide (in combination with Swann) and Melbourne(When Swann had had enough and packed it in). Was never at his best. Unusually for him, there was a four-ball almost every over, and his action was looking ragged in Melbourne. Seemed to lose the confidence of Cook in that test, as Root was preferred in the Aus second innings ahead of him. His career is at the crossroads.

Prior- 1

The form that made him England's cricketer of the year in 2012 still hasn't returned. No runs, and terrible keeping. Was put out of his misery before the Melbourne test. Will probably be back though as we all know what he's capable of, and he's only 31.

Bairstow- 1

He just doesn't look a test cricketer. Still has several glaring technical faults with his batting, which raises the question as to what England's army of coaches have actually been doing with their time, and his keeping is no better than average. Hard to see where he fits into England's plans going forward.



Others who played one test-

Borthwick- 5

Something to work with there. Nowhere near the finished article, but he's a jack-in-the-box cricketer who could be very useful to England over the coming years. Worth persisting with.

Ballance- 3

Looked a bit meh in all honesty. Looked tentative and unsure of himself. Difficult to be too harsh all things considered though. He should play England's next test, and hopefully get a decent go in the ODI series as well.

Tremlett- 3

He wasn't terrible at Brisbane, but has clearly lost a yard of pace. I was actually surprised he only get the one test, even with the lack of pace. At least he is pretty accurate. End of the line for his international career. But for injuries, what might have been?

Rankin- 1

No fitness, no accuracy, no confidence. Was so nervous on the first day that he had to go off the
field because he couldn't feel his legs. The physio was even treating him during the cap presentation, for Christ's sake. That should have been the first clue that things weren't going to go well. It's been a nice journey Boyd, but that will be your one and only test match (unless Ireland gain test status in the next three years.)



Have I missed anyone? Probably. But what a shambles all in all. For the team as a whole, England score a 2.

Pretty accurate appraisal.

Rankin looked out of his depth. Early to make a call on Borthwick but he looks athletic and willing. Obviously Cook or someone else has to make a call on his captaincy soon and maybe plan for a fresh era.

Can't see KP's pride allowing him to bow out of test cricket at the nadir of his career. Prior might be recalled unless they have someone else in the wings because Bairstow doesn't look up to it. Surely there has to be someone superior to him as a keeper/batting package. Anderson has lost his zip and swing. Broad toiled manfully though his batting didn't come to fruition until late. Bell's shot selection, seeming inability to play his shots in front of the wicket and lack of capacity to fight was a strong negative for England. Carberry was an interesting player but clearly not a long-term option given his age.

Stokes is the big acquisition and he should be the cornerstone of the rebuilding.

JGK wrote:This series could see the end of Trott, Swann, KP, Bres, Monty and maybe even Prior as Test cricketers.

And that's ignoring Rankin who surely won't get another test.

Tremlett's surely played his last as well, Carberry probably won't be seen as one for the future, and what Jimmy has left in the tank is questionable. Bell's at the age where one more poor year will see him finished, despite last summer's heroics. As for Cook, there's been talk of him challenging Tendulkar's career aggregates. I'd say it's equally likely his career will be done in a year.

Bankers for the first test of 2015, if fit - Broad and Stokes. Everything else is pure guesswork, I would imagine there will be players who nobody has even considered yet who establish themselves by then. Of course if things don't settle down by then it could well be a three captains/25 players sort of series.

So for a composite team based on the series would only Broad and Stokes be the likely inclusions? Perhaps Siddle and Bailey to miss out.

Ratings? F*ck ratings. Do you search for the little good bits of poo in your diarrhoea?

My only thoughts are this:

Cook will be the captain regardless, so we'll just have to deal with it.

Either keep Carberry or pick Sam Robson... no-one else.

One of the old hands pussies need to step up and bat at three - not sure how they can get away it whilst Trott is broken - fair play to Ronnie for doing it now.

The rest is just as big a mess - after KP at four, we have no clue. Yeah, Stokes has held his hand up, and well done him, he's averaging 35 and 32 with bat and ball respectively - that's a decent achievement considering the mire surrounding him. But, again, I'm not sure he's there yet as a genuine #6 and he can't keep it tight with the ball. We'll have to stick with him, but he's not what I'd call a reliable Test cricketer as of yet.

#5? There's a quandary - only seems to be Nephew or Ballance. Considering their obsession at playing Nephew up the order, I'd probably go for Ballance ATM.

It's either Prior or Davies. maybe Beddy as an outside. I'd play Davies and I'd play him at #6, with Stokes dropping down a place.

As for the bowlers - what can you do? We'll never know how amply they'd have performed if the batting line-up preceding them had any semblance of spine or brains - I'd have bigtime words with Jimmy and Broad either way. They'd be my main focus going into our season. But I don't think they're done for.

The third seamer role has to go to someone with pace and hostility - which are in very short supply in England ATM. It brings us down to a totally defunct gangler (who needs to get away from the England set-up) and bloke that barely plays for his county and can be pretty all over the shop. Let the dice decide, because I haven't a f*cking clue.

As for the spinner's role. I'd be tempted to keep Borthwick in, although I think that his batting has been shown to be a fallacy against such bowling... I'd have backed Monty to do better TBH. But, one has to think of the forthcoming opposition, and who really will trouble SL/India more? You'd have to say Monty. There's no room for both, in England.

For the next Test, I'd have to go for:

Cook
Carberry
Bell
KP
Ballance
Davies
Stokes
Broad
Finn
Anderson
Panesar

I'm not happy about it. I'd prefer it if Prior, Trott, Root and Finn weren't completely shot-to-ribbons. But they are. That's leaving another 4 or 5 in the side that are completely shot-to-ribbons. But there we go.

Or how about telling Swann to man up, get his form back with Notts, put his media career on hold for a couple of years and make it up to the fans and players who he abandoned mid-tour by winning back the Ashes for us next year. He's 34 not 44 FFS.

He's toast. In his autobiography he says he doesn't like training and doesn't like doing technical work. What use is he when his natural revs start to decline (which they have)? He doesn't want to do the work, he doesn't want to think about his game.

He's got nothing to offer.

Brass Monkey wrote:

For the next Test, I'd have to go for:

Cook
Carberry
Bell
KP
Ballance
Davies
Stokes
Broad
Finn
Anderson
Panesar

I'm not happy about it. I'd prefer it if Prior, Trott, Root and Finn weren't completely shot-to-ribbons. But they are. That's leaving another 4 or 5 in the side that are completely shot-to-ribbons. But there we go.

For Sri Lanka, I wouldn't play Anderson. Let him properly recuperate, and later in the summer, if he still can't bowl with any energy, f*ck him off.

Cook
Robson
Bell
Pietersen
Ballance
Prior + (the little break will do him good. Has to break up the newbie batsmen with an experienced head)
Stokes (a natural seven, I think)
Batting-spinnner/spinning-batter. (I sort of think Moeen Ali might get the gig. In which case he'll bat six. See how he fares with the Lions)
Broad
Meaker
Finn

If everyone's on their game (if), that's two 90mph bowlers (one tall, one skiddy), a line-and-length (when Broad isn't dicking around) bowler, an all-rounder with a knack of nipping out a couple of batsmen per innings and a token spinner with a bitching beard. And batting down to 8.

I've thought about this a lot in the last one minute.

Brass Monkey wrote:He's toast. In his autobiography he says he doesn't like training and doesn't like doing technical work. What use is he when his natural revs start to decline (which they have)? He doesn't want to do the work, he doesn't want to think about his game.

He's got nothing to offer.

Well, we've seen how much good technical work and analysis does... perhaps we should make him coach! With Gough as his assistant, that would be fun...

Carberry- 4

Numerous starts, but constantly gave it away after making those starts. Was confused as to how to go about structuring an innings. Was shot-less in the second innings at Melbourne, but played some nice strokes in the second innings at Sydney...but still got out in the 40s. That's probably it for his test career.

Yeah? Do they have a swag of options?

OP Tipping wrote:

Carberry- 4

Numerous starts, but constantly gave it away after making those starts. Was confused as to how to go about structuring an innings. Was shot-less in the second innings at Melbourne, but played some nice strokes in the second innings at Sydney...but still got out in the 40s. That's probably it for his test career.

Yeah? Do they have a swag of options?

Well, there's plenty we could try who are young enough to improve. Carberry is unlikely to be more than a 30-average stopgap at this level.

Swap Robson for Carberry in the current side and you'll have 6 different nationalities in the England team.

No one has mentioned Onions? I'd have thought the best way to see if Anderson has still got it would be to pick a direct replacement alongside him for Sri Lanka in May and see how he performs.

As for Stokes, I think his emergence will mean Bresnan is put out to pasture.

Gary 111 wrote:No one has mentioned Onions? I'd have thought the best way to see if Anderson has still got it would be to pick a direct replacement alongside him for Sri Lanka in May and see how he performs.

As for Stokes, I think his emergence will mean Bresnan is put out to pasture.

Onions hasn't done much in SA this season

taipan wrote:

Gary 111 wrote:No one has mentioned Onions? I'd have thought the best way to see if Anderson has still got it would be to pick a direct replacement alongside him for Sri Lanka in May and see how he performs.

As for Stokes, I think his emergence will mean Bresnan is put out to pasture.

Onions hasn't done much in SA this season

Onions isn't the answer - his pace was down last season and you factor in half his cricket being played at Chester-Le-Street. Jordan on the other hand is definitely one to consider.

I think Swann might try to come back. Possibly through a "well if they really need me" halfway through a test series.

I'm afraid you're stuck with Cook. He should probably get off the farm and spend a couple of months building schools in Africa or something. His really just needs to understand there are different ways of doing things and situatios evolve, sometimes quite rapidly.

There's probably nothing wrong with your bowlers that a Duke ball and doctored tracks can't fix.

Carberry should definately stay. He sort of did well in a situation that he was totally unprepared for. As above: nice stop-gap.

I think even if Monty's bowling improves he's just too much a liability in the field. Not just on the balance sheet. That display must just drag the whole team down.

Haven't you got any other keepers?

Swann's gone for good. His stats in our Summer masked a decline in his ability which was cruelly exposed in the current series.

Cook will be skipper come the first test against Sri Lanka but I would rate his chances of still being in the job by 2015 as no more than 50/50 - it all depends on how he reacts to this whipping.

I will put my mortgage on Prior being in place for the first test next Summer. After him - who knows. I think Steve Davies is probably the most mature of the likely replacements, but he hasn't come within a bull's roar of the side since the last Ashes tour. Buttler is the chosen keeper for the ODI's but he really needs to score some runs in the first class game as well as improving his keeping whicg currently is on a par with Bairstow's.

Replacement batting options-

Openers- Robson, Chopra, Lees

Middle order- Ballance, Bopara, Vince, Moeen

Keepers- Davies, Kieswetter, Foster, Buttler, Foakes

Fast bowlers- Finn, Meaker, Jordan, Mills, Onions, J.Overton

Spinners- Borthwick, Rashid, Tredwell, Moeen (again), Kerrigan, Rafiq


Ignoring the fact that Borthwick and Ballance played in England's last test, that's probably the pool of replacements that will most likely be considered.

Can't think of any wildcards that might emerge. Foakes, perhaps. Or Alex Lees.