***Official*** West Indies Tour of the UK 2017

[S.Kennedy]

Hales back in contention presumably after that 218 v Derbyshire?

 

[Howe_zat]

Broad and Anderson play almost no cricket outside of Tests, resting them in the middle of the test summer is silly

Root, Ali and especially Stokes are the ones who might need a break. Would consider bringing in Woakes if the latter looks knackered.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Perfectly happy with Hales at 5. Guy is in form and would be brutal against an old ball.

Unsure about Hameed looking towards the Ashes as he was troubled in India of all places against the short ball so what is he going to be like against Stark? I'm also still uneasy about having him and Cook opening given Hameed makes Cook look like he's playing a T20.

If they try and play 6 bowlers again I will be sacking off watching. The team makeup is currently as it should be. Tough call for TRJ but Woakes comes in when they're all fit.

 

[91Jmay]

TRJ has looked pretty ordinary in this Test, tough on him but teams like SA have done it for ages with pace bowlers. Pick your best 11, no room for sentiment.

 

[OverratedSanity]

It did feel like he turned the corner last summer but hes not done enough to be an automatic selection right? He had one excellent series against Pakistan but that's it iirc.

Good problem to have though I suppose.

 

[Adders]

Remember just a few weeks ago when there was talk of Woakes coming back in at the expense of Anderson!!

 

[marc71178]

I'm certainly warming to it, the one area where England look to have strong batting (and batting depth) is the ODI side. I'd rather look at that team for batsmen then continuing to scrape county cricket for blokes averaging in the mid 30s with a few runs this season.

Be careful what you wish for as you might end up with Jason Roy in that case....

 

[LegionOfBrad]

I'm guessing for the first test we will be seeing a new opener but other than that the same team. Westley has shown a bit of promise and they selectors are unlikely to give Malan just 2 tests.

 

[wpdavid]

Not sure how I feel about resting players against the windies

I'm completely against it, unless we're 2-0 ahead going into the 3rd test. It just sends completely the wrong message to both sets of players.

fwiw I like the idea of Hales at 5 as well, even if smashing Derbyshire's attack doesn't actually prove a great deal.
And I'd go for Stoneman ahead of Hameed, as one decent innings isn't nearly enough to justify selection after the season he's had.

Those are the only changes I'd make at the start of the series.

 

[wpdavid]

Be careful what you wish for as you might end up with Jason Roy in that case....

I'm trying to think who else in the one-day setup would actually come into contention.
Obviously not Roy and Hales is already being discussed.

 

[wpdavid]

I'm guessing for the first test we will be seeing a new opener but other than that the same team. Westley has shown a bit of promise and they selectors are unlikely to give Malan just 2 tests.

Malan needs to pick up a minor injury that would keep him out for a few weeks, doesn't he.

 

[Howe_zat]

I'm trying to think who else in the one-day setup would actually come into contention.
Obviously not Roy and Hales is already being discussed.

I still think it's a criminal waste of talent if Jos Buttler never plays another Test, despite that looking increasingly likely

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Malan needs to pick up a minor injury that would keep him out for a few weeks, doesn't he.

Eh I'm fine with him getting another couple of tests.

He's damned if he does or doesn't get a score tho.

No score = "he's **** can't get a score"
Scores big = "It's only the Windies, he's ****"

Same really with anyone who comes in I guess.

 

[DriveClub]

Yeah the new guys dont stand to gain anything from this series, everything to lose

 

[Cabinet96]

Not sure about that tbh. Any bat who can have a good three match series at this point is guaranteed a run in the side. We're not in a position to be picky over who it's against.

 

[honestbharani]

Also, I feel you guys might be under rating the Windies pace attack. Runs against them will mean something, even though it may not be the same quality as South Africa.

 

[OverratedSanity]

This WI side isn't as bad as to say performances against them don't matter, atleast on the bowling front if Roach is actually good again. They've been a pretty alright team (by their standards) in the last 18 months or so.

Their batting is a worry though. Bravo isn't back yet so we could see some lollapses.

 

[Howe_zat]

Yeah the one thing West Indies are bringing is a genuinely quick attack with and two of Cummins, Joseph and Gabriel. Be hard to say 'he won't fare well against the bounce in Australia' if someone gets a hundred against them.

Bowling is a different story. Reckon there are plenty county seamers who could do some damage against this batting lineup at home, but not travel well.

 

[Beamer]

Yeah the one thing West Indies are bringing is a genuinely quick attack with and two of Cummins, Joseph and Gabriel. Be hard to say 'he won't fare well against the bounce in Australia' if someone gets a hundred against them.

Bowling is a different story. Reckon there are plenty county seamers who could do some damage against this batting lineup at home, but not travel well.

The batting is going to suck. Really suck. We've chucked a whole bunch of novices in conditions most of them have never played in before against a superb seam attack and said 'good luck, hope you can swim.' Generally, this approach doesn't work too well. The only hope is that a couple of them have breakthrough series and just suddenly click at test level. Shai Hope and Hetmeyer in particular have the talent to score runs in any conditions but simply put they've never done it before at test level and this is a really tough ask. I may well watch from behind my sofa on occasion.

The bowling is actually very good. Gabriel is the quickest bowler on either side by some distance and has been pretty accurate recently, Joseph is a superb young bowler, Holder has been a solid back up seamer and if Roach bowls like he did at Essex the other day he will be a right handful. If the wicket is dry and Bishoo plays, he can definitely take a bunch of wickets and Chase is a solid off spinner in a similar vein to Moeen but not quite as good as yet. As I said before though, no bowling attack can keep you in the game when you have next to no runs on the board.

I also predict that Stokes, Bairstow and Ali will score heaps of runs. Over the last couple of years we have had sides 5 down for not a lot on numerous occasions and then lost momentum/fitness to let them recover. As England's middle/lower order is insanely strong, this could be a problem.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

This has to be a confidence-boosting knock from Hetmyer; he needs to stay until the end of the match.