5th Test (The Oval) - 31st July to 4th August

[Ju7]

Is this the worst bowling attack england have fielded in, like, decades? Unless Atkinson is suddenly fully fit, woakes is the best bowler in this side and he's averaging 53 this summer with the ball.

I seem to recall worse one's in the 90's.

 

[mackembhoy]

Pope record as captain on DRS is 13 failed attempts from 13 DRS reviews.

11 against Sri Lanka and 2 against Pakistan.

England captain Ollie Pope uses DRS 13 times and failed on all of them | Cricket News | Sky Sports

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

No way Archer plays to back up having looked knackered trying to bowl on a road all week this week. Carse was off colour in Manchester but I don’t think it was a pitch that helped him- if he’s genuinely fit I’d pick him, he’ll go okay at the Oval.

I think we should be very careful with Stokes and if we were brave enough to rest him, I’d go with

Crawley
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bethell
Smith
Atkinson
Woakes
Carse
Tongue

Long tail, 4 genuine seamers, two part time offies.

What was the point in picking Archer in the squad if he was never going to play? Is he just that great of a guy?

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

gotta say fair ****s to chris woakes at 36 years of age getting through five test matches on these horrendous anti cricket pitches. he's not been good but in a world of workload management that is some effort.

Woakes is not what he was, but we seem to have forgotten that you don’t need everyone capable of bowling at 90mph, you need someone to do the donkey work and bowl all day without falling apart, and perhaps this series was a missed opportunity to blood someone to replace Woakes considering he’s shown us that he’s not going to be around forever

 

[govinda indian fan]

We should play kuldeep at any cost. England have weak bowling but strong batting to cover it. But again with no pant idiot gambhir might play no rounder thakur

 

[govinda indian fan]

Its shame that pant and strokes two of most charismatic players and game changers are missing test. Game is poorer without them

 

[Niall]

Its shame that pant and strokes two of most charismatic players and game changers are missing test. Game is poorer without them

No Bumrah and to a lesser extent Archer, all box office cricketers.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

No Bumrah and to a lesser extent Archer, all box office cricketers.

Still got Woakes though!

 

[Chin Music]

I seem to recall worse one's in the 90's.

ENG vs AUS Cricket Scorecard, 6th Test at London, August 24 - 29, 1989

I was trying to think of ones from the 1989 Ashes series. This one above was fairly gruesome. I seem to remember some decent bowling combos at different times in the 90s but they never use to get on the park too regularly.

Edit: In my opinion here is an even worse attack, even though England won the game, it was at Headingley back in the old days ENG vs PAK Cricket Scorecard, 4th Test at Leeds, July 23 - 26, 1992But an attack of Lewis, Munton and Pringle is pie-chucking. I recall Neil Mallender, he wasn't that bad a bowler but was very much horses for courses. Munton and Pringle being very English medium pacers who would have got nowhere near any team from the Duncan Fletcher period onwards.

 

[kevinw]

England could do with the flattest road in the world here because their bowling attack is pretty threadbare and shows the folly of going all in in the last test and for retiring Anderson. Another twenty four wicket test should be in the offering.

 

[Prince EWS]

England could do with the flattest road in the world here because their bowling attack is pretty threadbare and shows the folly of going all in in the last test and for retiring Anderson. Another twenty four wicket test should be in the offering.

Replacing Stokes with a batsman rather than a bowler despite the strength of the lower order suggests they may be thinking this too. If they were down 2-1 instead I think Dawson would probably play ahead of Bethell.

 

[Molehill]

England could do with the flattest road in the world here because their bowling attack is pretty threadbare and shows the folly of going all in in the last test and for retiring Anderson. Another twenty four wicket test should be in the offering.

For all the criticism, at least they're bringing in 3 fresh bowlers. I don't get the Overton selection at all, but Atkinson would've been first choice when fit whilst Tongue has one of the better averages from this series so far.

And has been pointed out, Surrey have rarely used a spinner at home this season so dropping Dawson is not that a bizarre move.

Replacing Stokes with a batsman rather than a bowler despite the strength of the lower order suggests they may be thinking this too. If they were down 2-1 instead I think Dawson would probably play ahead of Bethell.

It's more that they've replaced Dawson with a seamer.

 

[Prince EWS]

It's more that they've replaced Dawson with a seamer.

I think they've only done that because Stokes is out and the fifth bowler is now a combination of two part-time spinners.

If they needed to win a 6-11 of Smith, Dawson, Woakes, Overton, Atkinson and Tongue would have made more sense IMO. That's still a very strong lower order and Stokes has been adding more as a bowler as a batsman this series.

 

[Molehill]

I think they've only done that because Stokes is out and the fifth bowler is now a combination of two part-time spinners.

If they needed to win a 6-11 of Smith, Dawson, Woakes, Overton, Atkinson and Tongue would have made more sense IMO. That's still a very strong lower order and Stokes has been adding more as a bowler as a batsman this series.

Yeah, obviously Stokes being out changes the balance, but clearly 4 seamers was the key requirement. It seems that having watched Dawson for 60 overs at OT, they've decided that selecting Bethell doesn't lose much from the bowling options. They might well be right.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'm a bit late on the whole Gambhir vs curator altercation at the Oval, but here's my 2 cents.

I think both men were in the wrong. With the curator, Mr. Lee Fortis, he was reportedly acting in a disrespectful manner with the Indian team's support staff when they brought a water cooler on. As the head coach, Gambhir was right to be irked by the manner of Fortis's behavior, especially if they have not dealt with this at other grounds. Although it is understandable that the pitch must be protected, all Fortis had to do was ask nicely that they avoid using shoes with spikes (which wasn't even a problem anyway) and be cautious around the pitch. Ultimately, it is cheating to prevent the visiting team access to the facilities needed for preparation. I'd also note that Mr. Fortis was seen recently with the England coach Brendon McCullum and the director Rob Key near the pitch. Although it should have been handled better by Gambhir, many teams, particularly those outside the old powers, have reason to be angered by the perceived double standards in cricket, whether it be through umpiring decisions/match referee input on penalties for bad behavior going against them disproportionately, or through being set up to fail while on tours. This hypocrisy can be seen, for example, when many commentators and pundits from England, Australia, etc. have called out India and other teams from the "lesser nations" for actions deemed to be against the "spirit of the game", while ignoring the flaws in their own players. Not to mention the imposing of their own morals on other countries like mankading, when to shake hands, and so on. Previous generations of players probably took this crap head on because there was nothing they can do and that's the way it was. In other words, a "yes, sir" mentality. But with the current crop, not so much.

As for Gautam Gambhir, although understandably frustrated, he was wrong to behave in an abusive manner towards the curator. Using bad words, pointing fingers, and belittling someone for nothing other than his profession is not only cruel, but unbecoming of someone representing his country while overseas. We should never disrespect or discriminate against anyone on the basis of their occupation (or anything, for that matter). Although we may have issues with the anal nature of groundsmen and curators, we must realize that without them, the matches cannot go on. Also, I'm sure Gambhir would understand that, being from a developing 3rd world country, many in India are not fortunate enough to have good paying jobs with healthy workplace conditions. Though poverty has declined over the last couple of decades, it still remains pretty high. Many are also in tough, hard skilled jobs like the labourers in many cities. How would they feel when seeing a head coach of the national team behave in such a classist manner? Would they feel more inclined to support India in cricket? The right way to go about this would be to take the high road and respond with grace, while reporting misconduct through appropriate channels (in this case, the Surrey County Cricket Club). Not as Gambhir did, which was to respond in a rude, uncalled for manner that undermines the contribution of the other person in the game. I'd remind the Indian head coach that there are certain actions that are deemed as being out of line and disrespectful, particularly in the western world. His thin skinned, prickly press conferences also do little to boost the perception of the Indian cricket team. Handling tough questions and criticism is a key part of his role, and this should be welcomed, not cancelled. After all, we are in the middle of a test series, not in the Trump White House. It's also bad optics to stoop down to the level of England, to whom the cricketing world and media have not been kind to because of their disreputable conduct of late.

Ok.

 

[govinda indian fan]

Will England risk with green wicket?

 

[honestbharani]

I think GG getting angry and swearing etc are kinda understandable as its normal human reaction when you feel someone is being unfair and rude to you. It was really the whole "groundsman" dig that shows he is a pretty rude person himself, at least based on his public persona so far.

 

[Chin Music]

Will England risk with green wicket?

I think you will find that they will leave a reasonable amount of grass on because otherwise, the Oval is just slow and low. It does tend to deteriorate in the latter part of a game, but would otherwise just be a completely dead pitch and quickly if they didn't leave some grass on it. Tomorrow could have some rain around but the weather is then set fair for the rest of the match.

 

[govinda indian fan]

I think you will find that they will leave a reasonable amount of grass on because otherwise, the Oval is just slow and low. It does tend to deteriorate in the latter part of a game, but would otherwise just be a completely dead pitch and quickly if they didn't leave some grass on it. Tomorrow could have some rain around but the weather is then set fair for the rest of the match.

Then i hope india win toss for first time and bowl. We need some luck to level the series

 

[Molehill]

Then i hope india win toss for first time and bowl. We need some luck to level the series

Of course India wins the toss, no team loses 15 on the trot!!