England v Australia, 3rd Test, Edgbaston, 29 July - 3 August, 2015

Changes?

For Australia changes seem unlikely unless Rogers is injured (Shaun Marsh would come in) or Starc is sore (Siddle would probably come in). I don't think they'll bring Haddin back for this match, given Nevill's good debut, and obviously Haddin still has some personal or family issues to which he should be giving precedence anyway. Voges has not made many runs in this series yet, but I think he is safe from challenge (from Watson).

For England, I'm not sure. With the series poised at 1-1 I thin they should hold their horses, perhaps making one or at most two changes, with Balance and Lyth the most vulnerable. Taylor and Bairstow are the most likely to come in.

If Clarke is 'the elephant in the room' for Australia, then Anderson must be a worry for England, too, though he has built up loads of credit in recent years, and still has that hair.

England:

Hales
Robson
Pietersen*
Morgan
Bairstow
Taylor
Rashid
Woakes
Plunkett
Finn
Footitt

Second thoughts, maybe not. I think Woakes is still injured...

lardbucket wrote:Changes?

For Australia changes seem unlikely unless Rogers is injured (Shaun Marsh would come in) or Starc is sore (Siddle would probably come in). I don't think they'll bring Haddin back for this match, given Nevill's good debut, and obviously Haddin still has some personal or family issues to which he should be giving precedence anyway. Voges has not made many runs in this series yet, but I think he is safe from challenge (from Watson).

For England, I'm not sure. With the series poised at 1-1 I thin they should hold their horses, perhaps making one or at most two changes, with Balance and Lyth the most vulnerable. Taylor and Bairstow are the most likely to come in.

If Clarke is 'the elephant in the room' for Australia, then Anderson must be a worry for England, too, though he has built up loads of credit in recent years, and still has that hair.

No way you're voluntarily changing your team. And I think Haddin's days are done from what I saw of Nevill.

The brave move for us (some would say premature or reckless, others would say necessary) would be to shuffle Lyth, Ballance and Bell off the deck and find 3 other stooges to take their place. Presumably Bairstow, Taylor...Hales as opener (even though there's no way he's up to test standard but I don't know of any others, well, outside of those that have had a go and failed before).

Anderson is a worry but can't get dropped - and if we did who in the hell do we bring in. We've simply got to give him something to bowl on. The bowling stocks make our batting back-up look good (and we're talking about Jonny who cannae play the straight ball or the short ball Bairstow and Taylor who plays some very ugly looking shots that will get him into trouble in tests). Don't think Aussie batsmen would work up a sweat over facing Finn or Plunkett or Footitt, well I s'pose they might work up a sweat in scoring centuries.

Yeah, unless injury holds sway, Aus will be unchanged. Nifty had a very impressive debut. I'm very heartened at the quality of his keeping AND his batting. Koo didn't look to be favouring his ankle. Buck is the main concern, but hopefully the week and a half break is all he needs.

And I love beams' completely different XI!! But shirley at least Lyth and Ballance must go?

Gareth Batty 4-12 for Surrey, pressing his case for selection on the wickets available.

My XI for Birmingham :

Cook
Hales
Bell
Root
Bairstow (or Rashid, dependent on pitch)
Stokes
Ali
Buttler
Wood
Broad
Anderson

Bell must be skating on the proverbial thin ice.

But Bewwy-Wewwy neva eva wanna batty-wat at fwee!!!

Red wrote:Bell must be skating on the proverbial thin ice.

... attempting the Bolero naturally.
And failing.

But he ought to be given a final chance on his home ground.
's all I'm saying.

PeterCS wrote:But Bewwy-Wewwy neva eva wanna batty-wat at fwee!!!

Okay ... move Ali up to 3 and bat Belly at 4.
After all, several claim that Ali bats 3 for the Bears ... so why the hell not insert him
ooop there agin the squints?

Bears? Didn't he leave them about ten years ago.

I was thinking last night and there is clearly something very wrong with England's selection policy. Imagine, for a moment, that our top 8 is as good as we can field. That's not beyond the realms of imagining because it might well be true. Then look at the order they bat in. We have two openers opening. Fair enough, one might think. Then, it gets complicated. Our number 3 is a county number 4/5. At number 4, we have a county number 3. Then follows another county opening bat. Our number 6 is generally a number 6, and our number 7 is generally a number 7. Then, at 8, we have another number 3. Logically, based on experience and, where relevant, choosing a player over another based on their superior record, our top 8 would look like this:

Cook
Root
Lyth
Bell
Ali
Ballance
Stokes
Buttler

Which looks sturdier to me and more reasonable than the present arrangement.

tricycle wrote:Bears? Didn't he leave them about ten years ago.

Pears! Pears !! Pears !!!

Bears are the Birmingham lot!

I'll get sh*t now from Bazza for getting it wrong!

Chivalry Augustus wrote:I was thinking last night and there is clearly something very wrong with England's selection policy. Imagine, for a moment, that our top 8 is as good as we can field. That's not beyond the realms of imagining because it might well be true. Then look at the order they bat in. We have two openers opening. Fair enough, one might think. Then, it gets complicated. Our number 3 is a county number 4/5. At number 4, we have a county number 3. Then follows another county opening bat. Our number 6 is generally a number 6, and our number 7 is generally a number 7. Then, at 8, we have another number 3. Logically, based on experience and, where relevant, choosing a player over another based on their superior record, our top 8 would look like this:

Cook
Root
Lyth
Bell
Ali
Ballance
Stokes
Buttler

Which looks sturdier to me and more reasonable than the present arrangement.

Just a shame we would have to effectively sacrifice our best player to do it... and if Lyth's not going to open when he's a specialist opener, why exactly would you keep him in the team?

Merlin wrote:

PeterCS wrote:But Bewwy-Wewwy neva eva wanna batty-wat at fwee!!!

Okay ... move Ali up to 3 and bat Belly at 4.
After all, several claim that Ali bats 3 for the Bears ... so why the hell not insert him
ooop there agin the squints?

Ali can't hack it at 3 - he would get worked over and get out very quickly. Mind you, I'm pretty sure it would be less painful than watching Ballance standing there getting hit like the heavy bag in a gym.

Post-match the likes of Bumble were advocating no change and that change is madness. His point being these are the best we've got so stick with them.

He wasn't pushed by Ian Ward at all to answer the question of, say, 'Well, they appear to be found seriously wanting - so do you just keep them in, knowing they're out of their depth and have minimal chance of succeeding?' 'Hope that they re-discover their form in the crucible of the Ashes against a fired-up and very much on-form bowling attack?' That's a good idea isn't it Bumble.

Or even, 'Well Aus made a change to a guy, Watto, who has been a mainstay of their team and relatively speaking (versus Bell/Ballance/Lyth) had an OK game at Cardiff - how did that work out for them Bumble?'

Didn't Root open last time the ashes were played in England?

Is James Taylor still on the radar?

Ballance will be back in the team and Bell is just about young enough for a recall if dropped. Whether he should get one is a different question.

Bowler wise #teamfootitt

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Is James Taylor still on the radar?

Must be after scoring 291 yesterday... having an ordinary FC season up until then though.

beamer wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Is James Taylor still on the radar?

Must be after scoring 291 yesterday... having an ordinary FC season up until then though.

A big score didn't help KP much.

Talk is that Haddit will replace Nifty.

Big Dog wrote:Talk is that Haddit will replace Nifty.

for the tour match only?

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Is James Taylor still on the radar?

Ballance will be back in the team and Bell is just about young enough for a recall if dropped. Whether he should get one is a different question.

Bowler wise #teamfootitt

At 168cm, only highly sensitive military grade ones.

You'd have to think they'll rethink the pitch.

Bradman wrote:You'd have to think they'll rethink the pitch.

They did. It is now 24 yards.