Ireland vs England, Friday 8th May

Over a week to go, but the squad for this game will be announced this afternoon (and updated here).

Without the players currently in the Caribbean and in IPL, James Taylor is expected to skipper a side that should include an opening pair of Jason Roy and Alex Hales. Unless England fly players not involved in the test home early we could also expect to see Sam Billings feature. Spots for James Vince, David Willey and Zafar Ansari also rumoured to be on the cards.

England squad to play Ireland:
Taylor Ansari Bairstow Billings Bresnan Finn Gregory Hales Roy Vince Willey


A number of players will be added to the England squad following selection for the third Test against West Indies beginning on Friday May 1

James Taylor (c)
Alex Hales
James Vince
Jason Roy
Sam Billings
Zafar Ansari
Jonny Bairstow
Tim Bresnan
Lewis Gregory
David Willey
Steven Finn


Really like the look of this squad. Only strange one there is Tim Bresnan over Mark Footitt?

Guess my post was not good enough

Whooops, Didn't see it - anyway this can be deleted please?

I must admit I was surprised to see Bresnans name but this is very much reserves squad. He does look to be right back on form, good start to the county season anyway.

Hales is right back on form as well, scoring runs for fun in the CC. Given hes supposed to be a T20 specialist it makes you wonder how lethal he might have been in this mood in IPL and certainly bodes well for the ODI.

Finns taken a few wickets in his latest game but still looks to be struggling for real pace. Hes perhaps still being selected on wishful thinking rather than what hes actually producing.

It is a rather pointless game in the wider context, but definitely one to give some of the new guys a taste of international cricket and maybe rehabilitate guys like finn and bresnan.

jimbohammers wrote:Whooops, Didn't see it - anyway this can be deleted please?

I've merged it into Tiger's thread, jimbo.

It will probably be rained off.

Jetty wrote:It will probably be rained off.

Weather forecast currently dry for Friday. Could all change as the week progresses of course.

Suprised there is no thread for this yet. England featuring quite a few names that posters on here would like to see in the set up: Ansari, Roy and Rashid all play

Ireland struggling early on at 44-3 as I type

David willey is a all rounder who has great potential imo

Can be our Corey Anderson

What is Tim Bresnan doing out there though? At his very best, and when the rest are also doing the same, he could bmake a decent third seamer in tests. But he was generally awful to average in the ODIS he had played. Very surprised he's the new face of the New England!.

I guess with five new players it was thought reasonable to include a couple of players with some experience.
I rather doubt Bresnan will be part of the ODI team going forward ; although with all the cricket going on and the need to rest the likes of Broad and Anderson when possible he may be handy as a reserve.

to be fair to Bres, he bowled well, albeit in good bowling conditions...but got a wicket, and went at less than 2 an over, a lot better than the other seamers did, again albeit in a short spell in the field..

Hope England won't do a Devon Smith though, impressed by that performance. Its one game too many that he's been selected for already, they've to stop there.

Noones going to step up off the back of that non game. Bresnan is back in the reckoning because hes been playing well again and is over his injuries.
I dont see much major value in him though, its not like the side needs another right arm fast medium who can bat at 8. The left armer chap is much more exciting to see getting a look in, f he can continue to progress he could actually add something to englands arsenal rather than just being more of the same

Meanwhile Boycott is probbly flipping out that Rashid has spent another day sat in an england dressing room.

Well, the weather won.

Not sure we can read anything into the few overs available - but have to wonder what happens to usually reliable catchers of the ball when they wear england kit.

LondonTiger wrote:Well, the weather won.

Not sure we can read anything into the few overs available - but have to wonder what happens to usually reliable catchers of the ball when they wear england kit.

Sure, only 18 overs in poor batting conditions but I thought it looked pretty encouraging for England. The XI selected were more ''possibles'' than ''probables'' (at least they were in the selectors' eyes before the World Cup started) and they showed they were not out of place in England colours being well on top when the heavens opened. Before anyone says ''it was only Ireland'', worth bearing in mind they had a better World Cup than England.

Bresnan doesn't excite but he showed he can still do a job in case needed to fill in whilst Wood displayed some pace and Finn some accuracy. I'm not sure that Willey will be quick enough against leading international batsmen but his left arm provided some useful variation to the attack and will hopefully kill off the ludicrous calls for the inclusion of Tymal ''let my bowling test our wicket keeper'' Mills.

Finally, I hope Le Roi was not amongst the duff England catchers that Tiger had in mind. A cracker taken by him at slip. One of the best fielders and catchers I have ever seen. At risk of appearing to go OTT and holding myself open to claims of massive Surrey bias, Ansari is also a very good fielder and not too far behind.

Have England named Morgan as ODI skipper going forward? Or are they leaving the announcement of the skipper till when they announce a full squad? In the malaise of the world cup debacle, I honestly can't remember!

No future ODI captain announced

Think they should give the role to Root without any further experiments. Morgan can't make the side on current form, and the side is in no position to carry a player at this ppoint.

msp83 wrote:Think they should give the role to Root without any further experiments. Morgan can't make the side on current form, and the side is in no position to carry a player at this ppoint.

Makes sense. Regardless of what goes on with the Test captaincy , Root is one player who looks sure to be in the ODI side at all times leading up to the next WC ; and is the heir apparent for the Test job so might as well be thrown into a position of responsibility straight away.
Doesn't rule Morgan out as a player if he recovers his form.

LondonTiger wrote:No future ODI captain announced

Cheers. Thought so.

Think it has to be Root. No other real candidate, with the form Morgan is in. As much as I would love it to be Jimmy full time, I can't see it yet.

With Strauss the new DoC I think Morgan will still be captain.

Jetty wrote:With Strauss the new DoC I think Morgan will still be captain.

Confirmed. Under the radar, but probably the worst decision Strauss made yesterday/today.

Morgan needs to refind his form quickly

Guess they are expecting (hoping?) Morgan will come back to form quickly. At his best , he's a fine limited overs player. But I'm not sure he offers anything special as a captain ; so I think I'd have looked elsewhere.
If he really doesn't score serious runs it mightn't matter ; being nominal captain won't automatically fix him in the team - ask Cook.

Strauss indicated they want to separate the Test and One Day teams a bit more : I suspect choosing a captain who certainly won't feature in the Tests is partly down to that . We shall see...

alfie wrote:Strauss indicated they want to separate the Test and One Day teams a bit more : I suspect choosing a captain who certainly won't feature in the Tests is partly down to that . We shall see...

I suspect you are right.

Fascinated to see what bowlers they select, as if thw WC told us anything it is that you need bowlers who will take wickets, rather than bowl a tight line.

Morgan only averaging 20 something in IPL, hardly suggests hes back to the sort of form that should save his pace in the side let alone his captaincy.
Maybe Strauss will leave it to the coach to make the longer term decision once hes in place, but i does seem a bit bonkers. It may also be that. Possibly an effort to protect Rot a little as well.

It is a while till England play a meaningful limited overs ame too so that does give them some breathing sace in making a long term decision on the way forwards for those squads.

Even so he really woudnt be getting on the side in merit based on the last two years.