We all love to play "If I was selector..." and at the end of the test match summer my squad for the Ashes tour would be;
Root, Cook, Stoneman, Hameed, Malan, Hales.
Bairstow, Buttler.
Stokes, Woakes, Broad, Anderson, Wood, Finn
Ali, Rashid,
I expect the selectors will go for Crane and Ball ahead of Rashid and Finn, we'll see..
As usual the Selectors saw things very different with Gary Ballance and James Vince called up instead of Hales (disciplinary?) and Hameed (the future!). Ballance must have compromising photographs of one of the selectors and Vince seems to have come from nowhere, his county form unspectacular. Foakes instead of Buttler as reserve keeper is a little more predictable but I didn't see Overton (who? Impressive county stats) being picked. TRJ & Wood (both injured) must be gutted.
Can England win? Yes, if everything goes right, like it did in 2010/11. England went into that series with a settled batting line up that gave the selectors no headaches, the top six picked itself. This time around the uncertainties are obvious. Like 2011 they have to hard and play to win in the warm up games, these matches will be tough and may well help finalise the batting line up. We have to hope our bowlers stay fit and are picked on a 'horses for coarses' basis, again like they did in 2011. England can't afford to drop as many catches as they have in recent matches either. If all of those things fall into place and England come away from Brisbane unscathed, then yes they can win the series.
Likely XI ?? Cook, Stoneman, Ballance, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson
Root, Cook, Stoneman, Hameed, Malan, Hales.
Bairstow, Buttler.
Stokes, Woakes, Broad, Anderson, Wood, Finn
Ali, Rashid,
I expect the selectors will go for Crane and Ball ahead of Rashid and Finn, we'll see..
As usual the Selectors saw things very different with Gary Ballance and James Vince called up instead of Hales (disciplinary?) and Hameed (the future!). Ballance must have compromising photographs of one of the selectors and Vince seems to have come from nowhere, his county form unspectacular. Foakes instead of Buttler as reserve keeper is a little more predictable but I didn't see Overton (who? Impressive county stats) being picked. TRJ & Wood (both injured) must be gutted.
Can England win? Yes, if everything goes right, like it did in 2010/11. England went into that series with a settled batting line up that gave the selectors no headaches, the top six picked itself. This time around the uncertainties are obvious. Like 2011 they have to hard and play to win in the warm up games, these matches will be tough and may well help finalise the batting line up. We have to hope our bowlers stay fit and are picked on a 'horses for coarses' basis, again like they did in 2011. England can't afford to drop as many catches as they have in recent matches either. If all of those things fall into place and England come away from Brisbane unscathed, then yes they can win the series.
Likely XI ?? Cook, Stoneman, Ballance, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson
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