Cricket - the Ashes 2023

[Conrad]

1 hour ago, Jacko51 said:

Her grandad sits in the seat behind me in the Railway Stand!

Yes danni is a Vale fan.

[Paul6754]

On 09/07/2023 at 15:36, Jacko51 said:

 All this runs Bairstow scored last year were when Foakes was keeping wicket. 

On 09/07/2023 at 14:12, Aguar61 said:

Common sense... specialist keeper, specialist spinner even if he doesn't know which end is the handle.

It's often been a dilemma over the years of whether to pick a  batsman/keeper or a keeper/batsman. It isn't back and white as if it were Ben Foakes, Bob Taylor or Bruce French would have got the nod every time, it's about the balance of the team.

Given that England's top 3 are not the most consistent/reliable it makes sense to bolster the batting line up, play the better batsman ie a batsman/keeper even though there's not a great deal between the Test batting averages of Bairstow and Foakes. That's what was behind the changes for the 3rd Test I believe.

As for a specialist spinner, if England have a test class spinner then play him but it's questionable to play a spinner who may bowl a long hop an over as it's easy runs and takes the pressure off. 

Be interesting to see what England do selection wise but for us it's all about opinions!

[Jacko51]

Agree about the batsman/wk debate Paul. I remember in the 60s England persisted with Jim Parks for his batting even though he wasn’t the best keeper. Having already lost the 66 series agains the West Indies the selectors finally dropped him for the last test and brought in the best keeper, John Murray. On the brink of disaster in England’s innings Murray came in with seven down for 150 odd, scored a century, put on a huge partnership with Tom Graveney and England won by an innings!!

[valiant_593]

Think stokes and co are just being stubborn now re bairstow. He’s been dire behind the stumps, there’s backing your team mate and there’s being stupid. 
 

If he’s to play it should be as a batsman (also looked out of form) he will lose us the series being keeper with all of the drop catches. Can’t believe they have called Foakes into the squad at least. Young lad at Somerset looks an amazing prospect, probably too early for this Ashes but I’d hope after this he is brought into the mould 

[The_godfather]

One additional point about Foakes is that actually (and this is entirely anecdotal, i.e. from memory) his batting SR is well down on most others even post Bazball. It's not super slow, but it's also not up at 80-100. 

So in effect, he has something of a calming presence at the crease, as all hell breaks loose around him. In the current situation, that is probably a good thing.

[Bycarsbill]

9 hours ago, valiant_593 said:

Think stokes and co are just being stubborn now re bairstow. He’s been dire behind the stumps, there’s backing your team mate and there’s being stupid. 
 

If he’s to play it should be as a batsman (also looked out of form) he will lose us the series being keeper with all of the drop catches. Can’t believe they have called Foakes into the squad at least. Young lad at Somerset looks an amazing prospect, probably too early for this Ashes but I’d hope after this he is brought into the mould 

I would have shared a lot of your sentiments until I saw some very interesting stats this morning, comparing Bairstow's & Foakes's performances in the Tests they have played as wicketkeepers.

Bairstow has played 53 Tests behind the stumps and Foakes 20.  As you would expect, Bairstow's batting average is higher than Foakes's with 24 half-centuries & 12 centuries to his name in a total of 93 Tests. Foakes figures for 20 Tests are 4-half-centuries & 2 100's.

But by far the most interesting and, for me, the most surprising is the comparison of dismissals per innings behind the stumps: Bairstow averages 2.04 per innings, while Foakes average is 1.657!

We know that Bairstow has not been at his best so far in this series, and he has certainly dropped some gettable catches, but overall he has taken 191 catches in those 53 Tests = 3.6 catches per Test whereas Foakes has taken a total of 57 catches in 20 Tests= 2.85 per Test.

It's only when looking at stumpings where Foakes (as you'd perhaps expect from a specialist keeper) has a better aggregated figure; he has made 6 stumpings in 20 Tests and Bairstow 13 in 53 Tests and even this figure is closer than I would have expected!

I agree, James Rew at Somerset is an exciting talent.  He is fast becoming one of the highest rated youngsters in domestic cricket. At 19yrs of age, he has already made 5 centuries this season and yesterday became the fourth-youngest batsman to have scored a double century in the County Championship.  This has made him the current highest run-scorer in Division One with 952 runs  and a career average so far of 56.13--most importantly of all,perhaps, is that he's a wicketkeeper!

[Guppys left peg]

Think England can feel pleased with how today has gone. To get the Aussies 8 down on a really good surface for batting is a more than decent effort. Hopefully finish off the last two tomorrow quickly then need to set out to only have to bat once with the predicted weather around. I suspect the Aussies might regret not selecting a spinner at Old Trafford of all places.

[Valient1961]

On 10/07/2023 at 10:32, Bycarsbill said:

I didn't realise that Danni Wyatt is a local girl.  Good player!

Ye saw her at the Swindon 2 leg semifinal in her vale top 👍👍

[valiant_593]

Found it odd both captains would have bowled. Looked a great pitch and day for batting. I think given they were 180-3, England will take 300-8. Need to take the last two wickets quickly and hit a big score as quick as we can. Wish they could have reserve days in test cricket to stop complete washouts. 

First time in the series it felt like the Ausies let us off, rather than us letting them off. A lot of batsman making good starts and not carrying on. 

Think tomorrow potentially decides the series. 

[Bycarsbill]

9 hours ago, valiant_593 said:

Found it odd both captains would have bowled. Looked a great pitch and day for batting. I think given they were 180-3, England will take 300-8. Need to take the last two wickets quickly and hit a big score as quick as we can. Wish they could have reserve days in test cricket to stop complete washouts. 

First time in the series it felt like the Ausies let us off, rather than us letting them off. A lot of batsman making good starts and not carrying on. 

Think tomorrow potentially decides the series. 

A very fair assessment. I feel sure that the Aussies' will look back on yesterday as a missed opportunity!  We need to ensure that they don't get more than 340-50 in this first innings to stand any chance of forcing a result.

[Bycarsbill]

On 09/07/2023 at 19:12, Aguar61 said:

Common sense... specialist keeper, specialist spinner even if he doesn't know which end is the handle.

One out of two for both sides then in this Test!

[Guppys left peg]

Always rated Zak Crawley me 😇

Seriously that has been a wonderful innings. Played to perfection. Cummins is giving off the impression he’s run out of ideas against this onslaught since lunch.

[robf]

My cricket fantasy league team name is "Duckett, Crawley's failed again!"

I think I need a name change... 

[Guppys left peg]

The Aussie selection to me was strange not having a frontline spinner. Not saying Murphy would have solved all their issues but to go into a test without one is asking for trouble. Felt the same whenever England have done it.

[Guppys left peg]

Outstanding day for England. Finally we’ve taken a decent position in the game and really made it count. Crawley with a special innings and Root played a classy innings.

Just a bit of uneven bounce late in the day so could be something to watch. For now see if can get that lead up towards 200 and then set about the Aussies again.