Road to the Ashes 2021/22

[Chubb]

Continued calls for Parkinson to come in ignore the abysmal record leg spinners from across the world have accumulated over the last few years in Australia. There is nothing that suggests he will fare any better than Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Yasir Shah, Scott Borthwick or Mason Crane. I continue to be amazed how often teams think throwing a young leg spinner into a test v Australia is a good idea, given how badly Shah and Tahir fared with far more experience and knowing it has not worked with Sharma or Crane.

 

[Shady Slim]

Continued calls for Parkinson to come in ignore the abysmal record leg spinners from across the world have accumulated over the last few years in Australia. There is nothing that suggests he will fare any better than Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Yasir Shah, Scott Borthwick or Mason Crane. I continue to be amazed how often teams think throwing a young leg spinner into a test v Australia is a good idea, given how badly Shah and Tahir fared with far more experience and knowing it has not worked with Sharma or Crane.

nah in any good ashes series loss in australia england make wholesale meme changes for the last test that don't work out, it's great, more of it please

 

[ImpatientLime]

Continued calls for Parkinson to come in ignore the abysmal record leg spinners from across the world have accumulated over the last few years in Australia. There is nothing that suggests he will fare any better than Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Yasir Shah, Scott Borthwick or Mason Crane. I continue to be amazed how often teams think throwing a young leg spinner into a test v Australia is a good idea, given how badly Shah and Tahir fared with far more experience and knowing it has not worked with Sharma or Crane.

and i think everyone agrees that parkinson in all likelihood wouldn't make much of a difference (although make no mistake he is mad better than crane ever was). but the idea that your young leggie probably won't go so well so you take a spinner instead who is actually worse than him and gives you even less chance of competing is peak england.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

and i think everyone agrees that parkinson in all likelihood wouldn't make much of a difference (although make no mistake he is mad better than crane ever was). but the idea that your young leggie probably won't go so well so you take a spinner instead who is actually worse than him and gives you even less chance of competing is peak england.

To be fair I don't mind Parkinson getting to bowl for the Lions while Bess runs drinks for the Test side.

 

[theegyptian]

I don't think Fred was being entirely serious with his post. Having Parkinson in the squad or not wouldn't really impact England's chances in any way imo.

Parkinson chances of being selected were greatly reduced by not having Stokes in the original squad. No way they could have picked Parkinson as part of a 4 man attack in Aus. And even a 5 man attack problematic given the batting would likely be very weak.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I couldn't think of any spinners who've played a major role in any of our hen's teeth wins down under, so took the last refuge of the scoundrel and went to statsguru to check how England's twirlers have gone, post WW2.

Doesn't make pretty viewing, except for dear old Dusty Miller's improbably decent record. He's one of precisely 4 English spinners to take more than 10 wickets at less than 30:

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

 

[wpdavid]

I couldn't think of any spinners who've played a major role in any of our hen's teeth wins down under, so took the last refuge of the scoundrel and went to statsguru to check how England's twirlers have gone, post WW2.

Doesn't make pretty viewing, except for dear old Dusty Miller's improbably decent record. He's one of precisely 4 English spinners to take more than 10 wickets at less than 30:

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

Miller wasn't exactly hindered by playing in all six of the 1978/79 tests against the Packerless Australians, helping himself to 23 wickets at 15. That being said, he performed respectably against a much stronger Australian side in 1982/83, taking 13 wickets at 31. That surprised me actually, as his only contribution that I remembered from that series was his decisive catch to remove Thomson at the end of the 4th test which we won by 3 runs.

The other beneficiary from Packer was Emburey, who also cashed in during the 1978/79 series, with 16 wickets at 19. He didn't do quite so well when playing something closer their first XI (apart from those who had taken the rand) in 1985/86, when his 18 wickets cost 37 runs apiece. Again, that's not how I remembered things, as I'd imagined that he and Edmonds were able to cash in all series against that young Australian side. Clearly that wasn't the case.

My other impressions from your stats are that they show up the myth that Laker could only perform on the helpful wickets that we provided in 1956. And that Johnny Wardle remains a seriously under-rated cricketer.

 

[Starfighter]

BTW, inb4 Stokes tweaks a hammy or something and doesn't take part in most of the series.

 

[Red]

Why is Marcus Harris being considered but Usman isn’t.

Usman is clearly still in the top 6 bats in Australia. If Pukovski isn’t avail Usman should open.

Warner
Khawaja
Labuschagne
Smith
Head
Green
Paine
Cummins
Starc
Hazelwood
Lyon

 

[Gob]

Why is Marcus Harris being considered but Usman isn’t.

Usman is clearly still in the top 6 bats in Australia. If Pukovski isn’t avail Usman should open.

Warner
Khawaja
Labuschagne
Smith
Head
Green
Paine
Cummins
Starc
Hazelwood
Lyon

abott for starc

 

[Shady Slim]

Why is Marcus Harris being considered but Usman isn’t.

Usman is clearly still in the top 6 bats in Australia. If Pukovski isn’t avail Usman should open.

Warner
Khawaja
Labuschagne
Smith
Head
Green
Paine
Cummins
Starc
Hazelwood
Lyon

nobody on here would disagree with you there

thankfully everyone here knows harris is not very good at test batting

 

[GotSpin]

Khawaja is soft and I never wanted him back in the test side. But to be honest...I’d give him a run again anyway

 

[Red]

Khawaja is soft and I never wanted him back in the test side. But to be honest...I’d give him a run again anyway

What do you mean by soft?

He’s class, and twice as good as Harris

 

[GotSpin]

What do you mean by soft?

He’s class, and twice as good as Harris

Just a history of falling apart and not coming through when it really matters. Aside from that knock against Pakistan, he had so much opportunity to prove that he has it and completely failed when given any sort of leadership in the battling line up

Terrible attitude and body language on the field as well.

He's better than Harris without a doubt though

 

[TheJediBrah]

What do you mean by soft?

like if you poked him in the stomach it would take a few minutes for the indent to disappear

 

[Red]

Just a history of falling apart and not coming through when it really matters. Aside from that knock against Pakistan, he had so much opportunity to prove that he has it and completely failed when given any sort of leadership in the battling line up

Terrible attitude and body language on the field as well.

He's better than Harris without a doubt though

I think he was partly misunderstood but also he’s worked on this aspect. Doing a cracker job as Qld skipper

 

[GotSpin]

I think he was partly misunderstood but also he’s worked on this aspect. Doing a cracker job as Qld skipper

As such I would give him another run

 

[stephen]

Khawaja also has that great innings against South Africa when he was forced to open under lights.

He's actually played some amazing innings. He's also got out softly a number of times. Still better than any other option to partner Warner.

 

[Kraken]

He definitely should be there, I just think unfortunately his cards are marked *never again* by Langer

 

[Burgey]

What do you mean by soft?

He’s class, and twice as good as Harris

He’s a pillow. One great knock under pressure but otherwise a walking embarrassment.