Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:24 pm  

Utterley brilliant performance from England, completely dominant.

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:47 pm  

Great performance from England, again!

Good to see the depth in the seamers with 6 or 7 top quality bowlers to pick from.

Only problem I could see is a lack of depth amongst the batsmen if there was an injury. Who would be the next choice as I'm not a big follower of county cricket?

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:58 am  

theres Bopara but personally if it was upto me the next in line would be young James Taylor at Leicstesher the lad looks class. I do agree though there arent many stand out batters wheresas the bowlers just seems too be a long que

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:38 am  

oggy123 wrote:

theres Bopara but personally if it was upto me the next in line would be young James Taylor at Leicstesher the lad looks class. I do agree though there arent many stand out batters wheresas the bowlers just seems too be a long que

Bopara was very unlucky to miss out to Morgan at the stat of the Sri Lanka series, having worked hard with Essex in the first six weeks of the season. He also offers a back-up seam bowling option. He's had a bit of an up and down season with three first class tons and two fifties, but a lot of single figure sscores in his other innings. I think I'd pick him at five, behind Bell & KP and ahead of Morgan.

Taylor is a terrific prospect and should cme into consideration. The only other option I can think of is Samit Patel, who also bowls left arm spin. I don't think anyone else will come into the equasion.

It was hinted on BBC Sports round up that Tremlett might return as a fifth bowler, but I can't see that when we're 2-0 up. I think we'll look to continue with the same formula and a new batsman in the middle order.

I wouldn't rush Tremlett back anyway. He's one of those players who needs a run of games to produce his best; he always looks rusty after a break.

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:25 am  

i agree i wouldnt be fussed with ether of Bopara or Taylor coming in. Always been a big fan of Boparas think hes been unlucky Collingwood retired and i thought this will be Ravis turn but then up pops Morgan. As for the Tremlett situation i would stick with bresnan let Tremlett work hes way back with Surrey. Isnt it a good thing losing a star player and replacing him with another England are by far the best team in the world for me now

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:32 pm  

Bopara does himself no favours by missing out for the Lions against Sri Lanka A.

If England want a fourth seamer option to replace Trott, then the natural solution is to keep Bell at three and give Ben Stokes a shot batting at six IMO.

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:40 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Bopara does himself no favours by missing out for the Lions against Sri Lanka A.

If England want a fourth seamer option to replace Trott, then the natural solution is to keep Bell at three and give Ben Stokes a shot batting at six IMO.

I hope this match at Scarborough isn't going to be turned into an audition, like the last Lions match when Morgan got a big ton and Bopara missed out after scoring heavily for Essex while Morgan was faffing around in the IPL. Bopara got a 150+ at Southend last week, a notoriously bowler-friendly ground where no individual had scored more than 77 in the previous nine innings. Surely that needs to be taken into account as well as this current Lions match.

Morgan, like Broad, seems to be one of those players the selectors fancy, whereas Bopara looks like becoming another Owais Shah.

I'm sure James Taylor will do well if picked. This is his third season and he's been very consistent with no real spell of lean form of any length. He batted superbly in a losing cause against Surrey's full strength pace attack of Tremlett, Meaker, Dernbach & Arafat when I saw him at The Oval in May, and coped comfortably when Tremlett tried to bully him with short stuff. I reckon the selectors will pick him on the basis he is ready and is the better prospect in the long term, which would probably be fair enough.

Ben Stokes has only just come back after a two month injury lay off and hasn't bowled since, so it's not really the time to consider him given his lack of experience.

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:53 am  

Prince of Denmark wrote:

I hope this match at Scarborough isn't going to be turned into an audition, like the last Lions match when Morgan got a big ton and Bopara missed out after scoring heavily for Essex while Morgan was faffing around in the IPL. Bopara got a 150+ at Southend last week, a notoriously bowler-friendly ground where no individual had scored more than 77 in the previous nine innings. Surely that needs to be taken into account as well as this current Lions match.

Morgan, like Broad, seems to be one of those players the selectors fancy, whereas Bopara looks like becoming another Owais Shah.

I'm sure James Taylor will do well if picked. This is his third season and he's been very consistent with no real spell of lean form of any length. He batted superbly in a losing cause against Surrey's full strength pace attack of Tremlett, Meaker, Dernbach & Arafat when I saw him at The Oval in May, and coped comfortably when Tremlett tried to bully him with short stuff. I reckon the selectors will pick him on the basis he is ready and is the better prospect in the long term, which would probably be fair enough.

Ben Stokes has only just come back after a two month injury lay off and hasn't bowled since, so it's not really the time to consider him given his lack of experience.

I like Bopara but there's something not quite right about him. Technically very correct, capable of a gorgeous innings, but there's just something missing. This week I've heard the word 'dozy' so many times about Ian Bell, well that's what I see Bopara as really, his running between the wickets, he never looks alert in the field to me, his batting in test matches was worked out easily.

The way I see Test Cricket at the top, I'm talking Ashes/This Series, you have to be alive every ball, every single ball. If you're at third man, mid on, batting, bowling, whatever - be alive. I don't think Flower thinks he has those powers of concentratuin and to be honest, I think Morgan is struggling with it. I think the T20/ODI thing he finds easy, but I've seen the same traits in him. It tests your mental state test cricket, I think that's why he'll be a Shah.

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:53 pm  

JWP wrote:

I like Bopara but there's something not quite right about him. Technically very correct, capable of a gorgeous innings, but there's just something missing. This week I've heard the word 'dozy' so many times about Ian Bell, well that's what I see Bopara as really, his running between the wickets, he never looks alert in the field to me, his batting in test matches was worked out easily.

I think he's got a lot in common with Bell, who is three years older and has only really come good consistently in the last couple of years. Do you persevere with Bopara and trust him to come good? He's a former county teammate of Flower's, while Gooch coaches him at county level and is involved with the England coaching, so to be fair he's not likely to be overlooked without good reason.

Re: Super Cricket - England vs India : Sat Aug 06, 2011 8:41 am  

Bopara in the squad for the third test in place of the injured Trott, Tremlett and Finn both included as well.