England v Ireland, Only Test, Lords, 1-4 June, 2023

It will be interesting to see the make up of England's bowlers, given the current spate of niggles.

England men's Test Squad: Ben Stokes (capt), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

So Tommy, Spliffy and Glassy are in pole position to support the big two. Harsh on Foakes, thought Bairstow might have opened the batting. Woakes gives some all-rounder cover if the skipper is struggling to bowl.

I'm surprised to see Woakes and Wood available at the same time.

Still, any time a team has Harry Brook available has to be considered formidable.

Duckett, Brook, Bairstow and Stokes (and even Creepy) have to be considered Bazball central.

skully wrote:I'm surprised to see Woakes and Wood available at the same time.

Still, any time a team has Harry Brook available has to be considered formidable.

Duckett, Brook, Bairstow and Stokes (and even Creepy) have to be considered Bazball central.

Yeah… Root is now the Boycott of this side, and he has the third-best strike rate (after Lara and Ponting) of the 10k club!

Pope in VC. Quite an elevation, and given the likelihood of a stokes injury, probably he will be
called into action at some point during the summer. Hopefully he wont have to captain from short leg.

Still a mystery how Lawrence gets in the squad, since his form in the CC is more hit and miss than
creepy. I think that this irish test will be Root and Brooks first and only FC match b4 the ashes.
Roots had 1 innings since the last NZ test.

If Pope captains I’m sure he will give someone else the helmet! A lack of obvious alternatives though he needs runs to fully cement his place.

Hopefully they'll let Bairstow keep for the whole summer.

Shame we can’t have “special teams” wicketkeepers like kickers and punters in NFL.

JGK wrote:Hopefully they'll let Bairstow keep for the whole summer.

I would've thought the debacle of a series "Steel Gloves" Buttler had in the Covid "voided" Ashes in Aus would ensure that the Pom NSP would forever more go for a specialist keeper, espesh one as good as Foakes.

skully wrote:

JGK wrote:Hopefully they'll let Bairstow keep for the whole summer.

I would've thought the debacle of a series "Steel Gloves" Buttler had in the Covid "voided" Ashes in Aus would ensure that the Pom NSP would forever more go for a specialist keeper, espesh one as good as Foakes.

I think specialist keepers are an anachronism especially in the Bazball world… Foakes is very unlucky but Bairstow had to come back in, Brook has made himself undroppable in the meantime so the only alternative was to put Jonny up to open which is untried with the red ball.

Furry muff, beams.

Not long now. First decent cricket for firkin ages ...

Go the Paddies.

England XI to face Ireland: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Josh Tongue, Jack Leach

tongue instead or woakes. didnt expect that. mr bazball likes to surprise doesnt he? but mr t is another injury
prone seamer with 11 wkts at 40+ in the CC, so clearly
he sees something special. but with stokes knee prob,
we've only got 4 bowlers, so have to hope no more
injuries.

Kudos to England for blooding Tongue, albeit only v Paddies.

Jimmeh and Sturat certainly ain't getting any younger.

where can WE watch this? (oh, Fox Cricket showing. that's good)

skully wrote:Kudos to England for blooding Tongue, albeit only v Paddies.

Jimmeh and Sturat certainly ain't getting any younger.

Yeah, and Woakes is 34 and even Robinson is 29… worth seeing what they have in some of the younger bowlers, though not sure the Irish batting line-up will be a real indication of what’s to come.

Go the Paddies.

England bowl. Could be a short one…

Tongue debuts for England
Hand debuts for Ireland

never underestimate the irish. especially when they play england.

WideWally wrote:Tongue debuts for England
Hand debuts for Ireland

BBC text comms: “We've got a Mr Hand and a Mr Tongue - both debutants - playing today.

It sounds like the perfect opportunity for a Body Parts Cricketers XI.

If anyone says David Willey or a certain South African wicketkeeper-batter, you're not getting in...”

Lost Wombat wrote:never underestimate the irish. especially when they play england.

If it was white-ball cricket (or rugby) I’d agree…

Sturat had the Paddies 3-19 but McCollum and Stirling are steadying.

Paddies 3-56.

Anybody else notice something that seems unusual about this Irish team? (Seems unusual to me anyway)

(Actually it's something that's missing ....)