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England Test Selection Thread - Winter 2016

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yeah especially given our spin problems, no Broad we might be able to get away with but would not want to be without Anderson.
 

JRC67

U19 12th Man
Speaking as a Surrey man, I don't get the idea of Ansari batting in the top 4. Granted that's based on the odd match that I've followed rather than taking a moment to check out his season average, but every time I've looked, he's failed with the bat. imo anyone playing half of his county games at The Oval should be averaging 45+ to even be considered.

I can live with the thought of Ali batting at 5. As someone wrote the other day, batting at 7 in tests is probably a better audition for the role than maintaining a mediocre average at 4 or 5 in the CC.
I certainly can't live with the thought of him being our main spinner again, so something has to give.

Ali at 5 also means we're not introducing 3 completely new batsmen in our top 5, even if they do decide to drop all of Hales, Vince and Ballance.
Which would be a brave call in India. Whether we move Ballance up to 4 or play Borthwick at 3 or 4, I'll leave to others. The latter's leg-spin, imo, is irrelevant nowadays.
On this season's form one would hope the selectors agree with you and Ansari is only considered as a spin bowler. Similarly Borthwick has no form as a bowler and the decision must be to pick him as a batsman or not at all. Neither has done enough to be picked as an all rounder, so whatever they contribute in the other discipline should really be a bonus and not a reason to pick them.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
Wasn't he ruled out for six months recently? If they were to rush him back and it would be very dangerous it will be for the limited over series.

I think Bangladesh will be content to roll out two roads and settle for 0-0 which is a shame as while England are rightful favourites, they are not exactly unbeatable in Asia.
Baby steps tbf. Building confidence that at least they'll be hard to beat at home is absolutely the right approach for Bangladesh to take right now rather than any "prepared to lose to win" garbage.
 

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