England test squad for the UAE

Just saw a headline on BBC website about Jayawardene being great for England. I thought for a second he'd become a naturalised citizen and we were at last going to have a proper middle order batsman at our disposal. Alas it appears he's just getting a gig to help our batsmen in the UAE. Wonder what that means for Ramps aka El Batting Presidente on the tour then? A good holiday is my guess. Perhaps he can organise a Strictly Come Dancing competition in the team.

Oh yeah, good luck Mahela in trying to teach our guys how to play spin in a competent fashion.

As Bell gets ready to go out to bat...

"OK Ian, as we discussed, take your time to get in, play each ball on its merits and look to play gently into the gaps and accumulate, right?"

"Yes Mahela."

2 minutes later.

"OK Ian, explain to me the idea around charging the first ball like a crazed meerkat and holing out to mid off."

Or rather:

"OK Ian, explain to me the idea around staring down the pitch like a shrew with the screaming ab-dabs and chipping it up first ball to short leg."

Dello wrote:Ansari went to hospital having knackered the thumb on his bowling hand in the field today.

Major doubt for the tour already.

Dislocated. 'Doesn't look good'.

He's sort of lucky, in a way, IMO. I think the greater the spotlight is shining on him, the more likely he is to come into enforced remedial work on his action - either from the ICC or the ECB. I think Basil was with me on this one.

I've tried to encapsulate all of the points of his action before release. Haven't done the best job, really, but there's not plenty of material. But, to me, it doesn't look biomechanically sound.

p.s. 2D images blah blah blah blah straightening blah blah blah blah

Klämmssøn wrote:Since you're not forced to play at every ball in Tests I can't see Rashid doing that well. I suspect a lot of his ODI success is for that reason alone.

No need to take any risks when you can wait for the inevitable full toss/half-tracker/filthy wide.

Of course - if you are a supreme optimist - you can turn that on its head.

Without the fielding restrictions, Rashid can set his field as he wishes.

And with a different risk calculation in Tests, not so many batsmen will be prepared to try to blast him out of the attack. (From batting positions 1-7, "4, 6, 6, 6, 4, W" is still a win for the leggie. And more important, the psychology works backwards: the "W" may come nearer the start of the over: hence the batsman will in more cases get his more prudent helmet on - hence Rashid can employ more "F & G".)

Of course, none of that works if he is feeding a regular diet of filth.

Brass Monkey wrote:

Dello wrote:Ansari went to hospital having knackered the thumb on his bowling hand in the field today.

Major doubt for the tour already.

Dislocated. 'Doesn't look good'.

He's sort of lucky, in a way, IMO. I think the greater the spotlight is shining on him, the more likely he is to come into enforced remedial work on his action - either from the ICC or the ECB. I think Basil was with me on this one.

I've tried to encapsulate all of the points of his action before release. Haven't done the best job, really, but there's not plenty of material. But, to me, it doesn't look biomechanically sound.

So, Batty?

Or else Dello. I mean, Lardy. No, Dexter. Or was it Compton?

JORDAN!

No hang on - I'll get it in a minute, ...

Lyth. As you were. Little offies.

Brass Monkey wrote:

Dello wrote:Ansari went to hospital having knackered the thumb on his bowling hand in the field today.

Major doubt for the tour already.

Dislocated. 'Doesn't look good'.

He's sort of lucky, in a way, IMO. I think the greater the spotlight is shining on him, the more likely he is to come into enforced remedial work on his action - either from the ICC or the ECB. I think Basil was with me on this one.

I've tried to encapsulate all of the points of his action before release. Haven't done the best job, really, but there's not plenty of material. But, to me, it doesn't look biomechanically sound.

Good effort Danny.

There doesn't appear to be much straightening, so he might be in the clear but it doesn't look good

Two England Lions squads named:

England Lions Twenty20 squad (v Pakistan A): J Vince (captain) (Hampshire), Z Ansari (Surrey), J Ball (Notts), S Billings (Kent), (wkt), J Clarke (wkt) (Worcs), D Bell-Drummond (Kent), B Foakes (Surrey) (wkt), L Gregory (Somerset), C Jordan (Sussex), D Malan (Middlesex), T Mills (Sussex), S Parry (Lancashire), R Topley (Essex), T Westley (Essex), D Willey (Northants), R Whiteley (Worcs).

England Performance Programme 2015-2016: Z Ansari, D Briggs (Hampshire), J Clarke, D Bell-Drummond, B Foakes, L Gregory, C Jordan, D Malan, S Parry, T Westley, R Whiteley, J Vince, J Ball, C Miles (Glos), T Mills, C Overton (Somerset), J Overton (Somerset), O Stone (Northants).

Pleased for Joe Clarke and Ross Whitely,but has no-one told the selectors that Clarke has not kept for the firsts this season (apart from a couple of meaningless Royal London games)

PeterCS wrote:
So, Batty?

Or else Dello. I mean, Lardy. No, Dexter. Or was it Compton?

JORDAN!

No hang on - I'll get it in a minute, ...

Lyth. As you were. Little offies.

No-one. Why have three spinners? If two aren't doing it, three won't. We were more reliant on our pace bowlers last time around (although we had two outstanding English spinners in the side at the time - and they performed). Saying that, it seems that our pace attack no longer have the gumption on pitches not conducive to pace bowling - just give up and 'sit in the game' in between new balls.

I wonder if they have (or had) Ansari in mind as a back-up opener if / when Hales fails.

Basil wrote:Two England Lions squads named:

England Lions Twenty20 squad (v Pakistan A): J Vince (captain) (Hampshire), Z Ansari (Surrey), J Ball (Notts), S Billings (Kent), (wkt), J Clarke (wkt) (Worcs), D Bell-Drummond (Kent), B Foakes (Surrey) (wkt), L Gregory (Somerset), C Jordan (Sussex), D Malan (Middlesex), T Mills (Sussex), S Parry (Lancashire), R Topley (Essex), T Westley (Essex), D Willey (Northants), R Whiteley (Worcs).

England Performance Programme 2015-2016: Z Ansari, D Briggs (Hampshire), J Clarke, D Bell-Drummond, B Foakes, L Gregory, C Jordan, D Malan, S Parry, T Westley, R Whiteley, J Vince, J Ball, C Miles (Glos), T Mills, C Overton (Somerset), J Overton (Somerset), O Stone (Northants).

Pleased for Joe Clarke and Ross Whitely,but has no-one told the selectors that Clarke has not kept for the firsts this season (apart from a couple of meaningless Royal London games)

No-one seems to have told the selectors about the Curran boys at Surrey either. Nor that Tymal Mills is in semi-retirement now with a degenerative back injury which means he can only just about play T20 matches. Nor that Danny Briggs was a thing about four years ago. Dawid Malan, even further back.

Good to see Craig Miles in there. Saw him earlier in the season, and he was a young Stuart Broad. Just looked an obviously good bowler. I assume he's injured as he hasn't been on the Gloucestershire scorecards for a month or so.

Basil wrote:I wonder if they have (or had) Ansari in mind as a back-up opener if / when Hales fails.

Could be.

Further to your above point Basil I note with interest your post on the Lions tour and EPP 15-16 squads.

Unless I'm going blind then Roy seems to be a notable and perhaps strange omission? England are seemingly confining him to the senior ODI and T20 squads for UAE tour so, if they only see him as an ODI/T20 specialist why doesn't he stay on/re-join the Lions team to play the additional ODI stuff and gain further experience at that level (or maybe even provide senior team wisdom to the young'uns)?

Beyond that I am struggling to understand why, given his performance in the recent Aus ODI series, he hasn't been given a call-up to the test squad. He can obviously handle pace and he appears to be quick enough to react to it in a way that Hales, to date, appears to be unable to. ECB just sticking stubbornly to their 'next cab off the rank' policy? Or do they just not rate him in the long format?

Brass Monkey wrote:

PeterCS wrote:
So, Batty?

Or else Dello. I mean, Lardy. No, Dexter. Or was it Compton?

JORDAN!

No hang on - I'll get it in a minute, ...

Lyth. As you were. Little offies.

No-one. Why have three spinners? If two aren't doing it, three won't. We were more reliant on our pace bowlers last time around (although we had two outstanding English spinners in the side at the time - and they performed). Saying that, it seems that our pace attack no longer have the gumption on pitches not conducive to pace bowling - just give up and 'sit in the game' in between new balls.

I agree with you on the two v three argument. But I'd guess if they want to take a third spinner then it'd be a left-arm spinner for reasons of variety and also as a back-up plan if Rashid (presuming they might have the nerve to actually play him at last) gets tonked all over the gaff. Anyway, there is a third way already in the team - Root - his stuff is usually pretty dry and occasionally picks up a wicket or two. Or are they going to stop him from bowling in an effort to protect his back?

I'm sure his back is concerning them, he was used quite sparingly in the last couple of Tests. I'm certain that Rashid will get the whole series - we're not ones to chop and change until absolutely, positively, definitely, completely certain about a player. Unless they really, really don't like him.

Brass Monkey wrote:I'm sure his back is concerning them, he was used quite sparingly in the last couple of Tests. I'm certain that Rashid will get the whole series - we're not ones to chop and change until absolutely, positively, definitely, completely certain about a player. Unless they really, really don't like him.

Well, we're all pretty sure that Cooky-wooky doesn't. So let's see if he goes crying to Daddy Straussy or mans the ****** up and bowls him properly - i.e. decent fields, bringing him on to bowl proper spells rather than junk overs before intervals and throwing him the ball with some enthusiasm instead of looking like he's handling a runny turd.

Lindsay no.2 wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:I'm sure his back is concerning them, he was used quite sparingly in the last couple of Tests. I'm certain that Rashid will get the whole series - we're not ones to chop and change until absolutely, positively, definitely, completely certain about a player. Unless they really, really don't like him.

Well, we're all pretty sure that Cooky-wooky doesn't. So let's see if he goes crying to Daddy Straussy or mans the ****** up and bowls him properly - i.e. decent fields, bringing him on to bowl proper spells rather than junk overs before intervals and throwing him the ball with some enthusiasm instead of looking like he's handling a runny turd.

Cook hasn't liked any spinner he's captained. The only reason Swanny got to bowl was because he had 'great bants'.

PeterCS wrote:

Klämmssøn wrote:Since you're not forced to play at every ball in Tests I can't see Rashid doing that well. I suspect a lot of his ODI success is for that reason alone.

No need to take any risks when you can wait for the inevitable full toss/half-tracker/filthy wide.

Of course - if you are a supreme optimist - you can turn that on its head.

Without the fielding restrictions, Rashid can set his field as he wishes.

And with a different risk calculation in Tests, not so many batsmen will be prepared to try to blast him out of the attack. (From batting positions 1-7, "4, 6, 6, 6, 4, W" is still a win for the leggie. And more important, the psychology works backwards: the "W" may come nearer the start of the over: hence the batsman will in more cases get his more prudent helmet on - hence Rashid can employ more "F & G".)

Of course, none of that works if he is feeding a regular diet of filth.

Of course all of the above worked well for Tahir.

Dello wrote:

Basil wrote:Two England Lions squads named:

England Lions Twenty20 squad (v Pakistan A): J Vince (captain) (Hampshire), Z Ansari (Surrey), J Ball (Notts), S Billings (Kent), (wkt), J Clarke (wkt) (Worcs), D Bell-Drummond (Kent), B Foakes (Surrey) (wkt), L Gregory (Somerset), C Jordan (Sussex), D Malan (Middlesex), T Mills (Sussex), S Parry (Lancashire), R Topley (Essex), T Westley (Essex), D Willey (Northants), R Whiteley (Worcs).

England Performance Programme 2015-2016: Z Ansari, D Briggs (Hampshire), J Clarke, D Bell-Drummond, B Foakes, L Gregory, C Jordan, D Malan, S Parry, T Westley, R Whiteley, J Vince, J Ball, C Miles (Glos), T Mills, C Overton (Somerset), J Overton (Somerset), O Stone (Northants).

Pleased for Joe Clarke and Ross Whitely,but has no-one told the selectors that Clarke has not kept for the firsts this season (apart from a couple of meaningless Royal London games)

No-one seems to have told the selectors about the Curran boys at Surrey either. Nor that Tymal Mills is in semi-retirement now with a degenerative back injury which means he can only just about play T20 matches. Nor that Danny Briggs was a thing about four years ago. Dawid Malan, even further back.  

Good to see Craig Miles in there. Saw him earlier in the season, and he was a young Stuart Broad. Just looked an obviously good bowler. I assume he's injured as he hasn't been on the Gloucestershire scorecards for a month or so.

A guy like Steven Parry doesn't need to be in any Lions squad. We, and the England selectors know exactly what he does/can do/can't do. Canny one day bowler not suited to four day cricket. They should either have him in the senior squad, or not have him at all. Wasting a spot in the Lions squad at 29.

I find Tymal Mills's statement that his four day career might be over as a bit of a cop out. Bowling is bowling. If he can bowl four over spells in one day cricket, then he can do the same in four day cricket. Might need a County and a captain that has the slightest clue as to how to handle young quick bowlers, though. It seems ridiculous for him to effectively 'retire' from four day cricket at the age of 23.

As for the Curran boys, it seems it was either the Overtons or the Currans who were picked. Some sort of brother quota.....Or perhaps the ECB feel Surrey have bowled the Currans into the ground this season, and they could do with six months off.

Basil wrote:Two England Lions squads named:

England Lions Twenty20 squad (v Pakistan A): J Vince (captain) (Hampshire), Z Ansari (Surrey), J Ball (Notts), S Billings (Kent), (wkt), J Clarke (wkt) (Worcs), D Bell-Drummond (Kent), B Foakes (Surrey) (wkt), L Gregory (Somerset), C Jordan (Sussex), D Malan (Middlesex), T Mills (Sussex), S Parry (Lancashire), R Topley (Essex), T Westley (Essex), D Willey (Northants), R Whiteley (Worcs).

England Performance Programme 2015-2016: Z Ansari, D Briggs (Hampshire), J Clarke, D Bell-Drummond, B Foakes, L Gregory, C Jordan, D Malan, S Parry, T Westley, R Whiteley, J Vince, J Ball, C Miles (Glos), T Mills, C Overton (Somerset), J Overton (Somerset), O Stone (Northants).

Pleased for Joe Clarke and Ross Whitely,but has no-one told the selectors that Clarke has not kept for the firsts this season (apart from a couple of meaningless Royal London games)

Doesn't matter these days. If a talented young batsmen has any experience at all of wearing the gloves, they figure he can be coached into being a decent enough keeper. Keeping skills have become irrelevant as long as the player has a good basic technique.

Ansari has busted his thumb playing for Surrey yesterday. Apparently it's busted pretty badly and he must now be in doubt for the UAE.

I guess his 'like-for-like (and England love that phrase so much) replacement would be Liam Dawson from Hants??

Henry wrote:

Dello wrote:

Basil wrote:Two England Lions squads named:

England Lions Twenty20 squad (v Pakistan A): J Vince (captain) (Hampshire), Z Ansari (Surrey), J Ball (Notts), S Billings (Kent), (wkt), J Clarke (wkt) (Worcs), D Bell-Drummond (Kent), B Foakes (Surrey) (wkt), L Gregory (Somerset), C Jordan (Sussex), D Malan (Middlesex), T Mills (Sussex), S Parry (Lancashire), R Topley (Essex), T Westley (Essex), D Willey (Northants), R Whiteley (Worcs).

England Performance Programme 2015-2016: Z Ansari, D Briggs (Hampshire), J Clarke, D Bell-Drummond, B Foakes, L Gregory, C Jordan, D Malan, S Parry, T Westley, R Whiteley, J Vince, J Ball, C Miles (Glos), T Mills, C Overton (Somerset), J Overton (Somerset), O Stone (Northants).

Pleased for Joe Clarke and Ross Whitely,but has no-one told the selectors that Clarke has not kept for the firsts this season (apart from a couple of meaningless Royal London games)

No-one seems to have told the selectors about the Curran boys at Surrey either. Nor that Tymal Mills is in semi-retirement now with a degenerative back injury which means he can only just about play T20 matches. Nor that Danny Briggs was a thing about four years ago. Dawid Malan, even further back.  

Good to see Craig Miles in there. Saw him earlier in the season, and he was a young Stuart Broad. Just looked an obviously good bowler. I assume he's injured as he hasn't been on the Gloucestershire scorecards for a month or so.

A guy like Steven Parry doesn't need to be in any Lions squad. We, and the England selectors know exactly what he does/can do/can't do. Canny one day bowler not suited to four day cricket. They should either have him in the senior squad, or not have him at all. Wasting a spot in the Lions squad at 29.
...

He is in the Senior T20 too though. Maybe they want to give him max practice in the H & G (hitngiggle).

Brass Monkey wrote:

PeterCS wrote:
So, Batty?

Or else Dello. I mean, Lardy. No, Dexter. Or was it Compton?

JORDAN!

No hang on - I'll get it in a minute, ...

Lyth. As you were. Little offies.

No-one. Why have three spinners? If two aren't doing it, three won't. We were more reliant on our pace bowlers last time around (although we had two outstanding English spinners in the side at the time - and they performed). Saying that, it seems that our pace attack no longer have the gumption on pitches not conducive to pace bowling - just give up and 'sit in the game' in between new balls.

The genuine point I was arsing around over was: Who will replace Ansari if, as seems likely, he's out? (Which ?back-up? opener, if not back-up spinner.)

Since I presume they won't just cut the place.

taipan wrote:

PeterCS wrote:Of course - if you are a supreme optimist - you can turn that on its head.

Without the fielding restrictions, Rashid can set his field as he wishes.

And with a different risk calculation in Tests, not so many batsmen will be prepared to try to blast him out of the attack. (From batting positions 1-7, "4, 6, 6, 6, 4, W" is still a win for the leggie. And more important, the psychology works backwards: the "W" may come nearer the start of the over: hence the batsman will in more cases get his more prudent helmet on - hence Rashid can employ more "F & G".)

Of course, none of that works if he is feeding a regular diet of filth.

Of course all of the above worked well for Tahir.

This is what worries me. I hope he does well, he's clearly going to play and a leg spinner is a great asset, he bats well etc. etc. but the precedent is there and he seems to lack some control.

Good luck to him though. I'm never really too concerned about selection anyway since I don't get to vote on it.

Klämmssøn wrote:

taipan wrote:

PeterCS wrote:Of course - if you are a supreme optimist - you can turn that on its head.

Without the fielding restrictions, Rashid can set his field as he wishes.

And with a different risk calculation in Tests, not so many batsmen will be prepared to try to blast him out of the attack. (From batting positions 1-7, "4, 6, 6, 6, 4, W" is still a win for the leggie. And more important, the psychology works backwards: the "W" may come nearer the start of the over: hence the batsman will in more cases get his more prudent helmet on - hence Rashid can employ more "F & G".)

Of course, none of that works if he is feeding a regular diet of filth.

Of course all of the above worked well for Tahir.

This is what worries me. I hope he does well, he's clearly going to play and a leg spinner is a great asset, he bats well etc. etc. but the precedent is there and he seems to lack some control.

Good luck to him though. I'm never really too concerned about selection anyway since I don't get to vote on it.

He'll have to go some to be worse than the last two English leggies

The bar is set pretty damn low indeed.

To replace Ansari? I can think of a few players and some reasons why they wouldn't want to select any of them. That cupboard is bare and rotten. It's a shame we don't get a free pinger this time around...