England v Australia, 4th Test, Trent Bridge, 06-10 August 2015

Spoiled for choice, then.

There's some reports that the Durham pair of Mark Stoneman and Chris Rushworth could be called up. I can't believe England would hand out two debuts at this stage of an Ashes series, though.

FOr Aus, I reckon they'll bring in Shaun Marsh for Voges, and Peter Siddle for Mitchell Starc.

sounds likely

Henry wrote:There's some reports that the Durham pair of Mark Stoneman and Chris Rushworth could be called up. I can't believe England would hand out two debuts at this stage of an Ashes series, though.

Jack Brookes would be the nearest thing to a like-for-like replacement for Jimmy on form,but I can't see it happening.

lardbucket wrote:I saw James Harris mentioned!

Not much love for Saj the Wonder Horse though.

He's effectively retired, hasn't even had a county contract since last year...

Plunkett and Footitt named in a 14-man squad, presumably everyone else bar Jimmy is retained.

Thank the stars. No Woakes. Thank the f*cking stars. No f*cking Woakes. No Woakes = thank the stars.

Best of luck to the two England new boys, Pluntett and the other bloke....

beamer wrote:Plunkett and Footitt named in a 14-man squad, presumably everyone else bar Jimmy is retained.

Yep. Lyth - who has less runs in the series than Gary Ballance, from one more Test - retained, everything is hunky dory, lalalala. You know the drill.

Seems like it'll be Wood if he comes up okay in the next few days, with the other two just making up the numbers. Personally, I hope Footitt knocks their socks off in the nets and demands selection, as a decent left armer would give the attack a different complexion.

Was always going to be the case with Lyth given they were back to back Tests, only changes likely to be due to injury/potential conditions.

I wonder if the Aussies will give Voges one last chance on his former home ground?

I thought Voges was a dark horse to top the batting this series. Bags of experience in English conditions, boss form in Aussie domestic cricket, he was nailed on.

I can't see Shaun Marsh not getting a game now, though. He's a quality player.

Yeah I've been very disappointed with Voges, I really thought he would be one of the performers. It's not like good balls have been getting him out - there have been some awful dismissals. Completely unlike him really. As I said, he plays well at Trent Bridge, so that may keep him in the side. He's the only expendable member of the top 6 though and it seems like Australia want to drop Clarke and hence probably Smith down a place so that points to Marsh.  TBH, their fifth bowler has been superfluous this series, they could just pick 6 specialist batsmen

We'll take him back at Middlesex (Voges that is) in a heartbeat.

However, I do agree ....  Voges in
County Cricket - a smash hit.
Ashes Tests - a Big disappointment.

Lyth stays in. Chicken shit non-call by the selectors.

Bloke who doesn't appear to have a method to cope let alone flourish versus this attack stays in the team. Makes no sense to me. What has he done to prove that he can contirubte to the cause - sweet FA.

If a bowler had had a bowling equivalent of a series to date - probably 1 for about 450 runs then I doubt whether the selectors would feel quite so generous. So why is an opening bat given any more leeway?

If he is the notional best opener from the county scene then let's look outside of an opener. Who is the best bat or form bat in the county scene? I know, people will say 'But opener is a specialist position.' Fair do's I guess, but our supposed best one is palpably short of the mark required.

The game is not exactly thick with batsmen who have moved up and down the order but it's not unknown. Gooch - batted 5 or 6 at some point and went to opener, Stewie various positions inc. opener. Brian Close FFS came in to open the batting v Mikey and the WI scud missile launchers at the age of 45 or 46. He did pretty well too all things considered.

Time to widen the net - pick someone who maybe plays compact but has quick reflexes. Maybe someone who plays front foot - to counter Cook being a back foot guy. Something to mix it up v the attack, make them change their line and length so they can't just drop into an easy rhythm.

Who's doing well? The likes of James Hildreth, Scott Borthwick, Luke Wright... all the usual candidates for opening the batting for England.

Look beyond those guys perhaps...

Try a slugger like Roy? Aus managed to convert their supposed ODI/T20 slugger to become a very effective test opener - much to many peoples surprise (I certainly didn't think Warner had the game for it - but he's proved that he does). Not sure Roy is nearly the player Warner is though to be fair. More like an Aaron Finch stand and deliver type. But look at it this way, worst that can happen - he gets two scores of zero. Not much worse than Lyth. Best case he tonks 30 or 40. It might also upset Aus a bit psychologically - they'd maybe think 'F*ck England are a bit confident, they're going to have a go at us here'. Might tense them up a bit - 'cos at the moment they're not worried about Lyth in the slightest.

James Taylor - small, quick on his feet, genuinely shouldn't be able to chase the left armers ball going wide across him so should only have to worry about the ball coming into him. Bonus - most bouncers shouldn't cause him too much grief as he can just bend the knees a bit and they'll sail harmlessly by.

Was in London CBD today. FMD, sooo many people. But saw the Oval from a distance, plus many of the sites of the great city. Will head up to Lords for the tour in coming days.

Hopefully a shithouse Aus performance in T4 doesn't ruin my trip. My daughter's anxiety is doing a good job of that already.

skully wrote:Was in London CBD today. FMD, sooo many people. But saw the Oval from a distance, plus many of the sites of the great city. Will head up to Lords for the tour in coming days.

Hopefully a shithouse Aus performance in T4 doesn't ruin my trip. My daughter's anxiety is doing a good job of that already.

F*ck's sake - I thought the Tories were supposed to be clamping down on unseemly foreigners coming over here.

Aye, ordinary effort on their part. But I am one of their own, afterall.

Dello wrote:

skully wrote:Was in London CBD today. FMD, sooo many people. But saw the Oval from a distance, plus many of the sites of the great city. Will head up to Lords for the tour in coming days.

Hopefully a shithouse Aus performance in T4 doesn't ruin my trip. My daughter's anxiety is doing a good job of that already.

F*ck's sake - I thought the Tories were supposed to be clamping down on unseemly foreigners coming over here.

Nope, they're letting all kinds in.

It's the unkinds they should be watching.

But avoiding a mirror. ...

Seen any black helicopters?

No, but ferkin heaps of big planes. Staying in south west London near Heafrow, init.

Camped in Kew Gardens?