NWR Cricket

I can see why they've given Malan another go, with an away Ashes series coming up. And I think he's 'battle-hardened' in a way that some of the youngsters aren't and may stand up to the pressure. I hope they dispense with Curran...he cannot be in the best 3-4 available quick bowlers.
 
I'm scratching my head asto why they are picking Malan. All recent form is limited overs. Admittedly his last first class knock back in June yielded a knock of 199. But at 34, it isn't exactly looking towards the future is it?

The type of cricket being played at the moment isn't really helping England look for cricketers to slot into the test side. The last first class match was played at the start of June. The top first class scorer this season is Adam Lyth. Why not pick him, similar career to Malan and age?

With the emphasis on razzle dazzle cricket at the moment, it's going to be a lean next few years for England's test side. Feck it, why not give The Irish captain a go?
 
It’s all about the ashes....ever was ever will be. Malan has some test experience and would probably “do a job” in the short term. The county schedule has done absolutely nothing this season to help prepare for the tests and I fear this won’t change with the 100 getting priority in mid summer. How on earth the counties are supposed to be producing red ball cricketers good enough to step up to the test side is beyond me. The future is bleak.
 
It’s all about the ashes....ever was ever will be.
Is it?

This is the issue is it not? That the emphasis has clearly shifted towards the white ball. It clearly attracts the sponsors money as it attracts the crowds. The money clearly isn't going back into the first class game as there were only 10 first class games this year played from April - 1st week in June. Half of what there traditionally were. With our climate, English cricketers will play much less cricket than other countries at the first class level.

Let's just face it, we're just old fogies and our view of the way the game should be played is but a dim and distant memory.
 
Just enjoy the moment.... Am sure the post-tea session will give most/all of us the frighteners but we are due something other than collapsing like seaside deckchairs from everyone other than Root. I am sure the bowlers would appreciate more than 2 sessions before they bowl again. (Living in perpetual hope as an England supporter is something like a post-millennial owner of white Burgundy...surely one of these bottles has to not be poxed?
 
I'm thinking more that the internationally the game has moved more towards the one day format which has led to the demise of the test game. Therefore I don't think you can lay the blame for the test team struggling at the door of the ECB. After all England are the current 1 day world Cup champions.

As I've said earlier, the pressure on the county game due to the 1 day format has led to the amount of 3 day cricket being reduced and also being played at the most rain affected time of the year.
 
Clearly not the former... Seems like we've been talking about the death of Test cricket since at least the 1980s. Ain't happened yet.

Is the Test team really struggling? We lost heavily to India in India, but that's hardly unusual. I think I'm right in saying that prior to this summer, losing to an extremely strong New Zealand team, the last home Test series we lost was a very tight two-gamer against Sri Lanka in 2014. That's pretty remarkable.

Looking at the team it feels like we've got a really solid seam bowling unit - even with all of Archer, Broad, Wood and Woakes injured, and Stokes missing - how would the Aussies get on if Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood were out? It's easy to make arguments about who should be picked at wicket keeper but while I guess most of us here would prefer to see a genuine specialist like Foakes, it wouldn't be an unarguably idiotic decision to play Buttler there if he was in some kind of batting form.

Batting is definitely a bit frail at the moment but if Hameed can cement the opening position, Stokes returns, and Pope recovers from injury and starts to fulfil his undoubted promise then all of a sudden that could start looking a bit rosier.

All in all yeah, we're certainly not world-beaters right now but no team should ever be the unchallenged best. Words like "demise" I just don't understand at all.
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I was surprised to see this but facts are facts! Not just a great test batsman but also a pretty fair captain!
 
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