Champions Trophy 2017 Squads

So the first Champions Trophy squad has been announced with others soon to come.

South Africa
Hashim Amla
Quinton de Kock
Faf du Plessis
AB de Villiers (c)
JP Duminy
David Miller
Farhaan Behardien
Chris Morris
Wayne Parnell
Andile Phehlukwayo
Dwaine Pretorius
Kagiso Rabada
Morne Morkel
Imran Tahir
Keshav Maharaj

Mostly as expected. Only real talking points are Morkel and Maharaj ahead of Ngidi and Shamsi

More squads:

Bangladesh
Tamim Iqbal
Soumya Sarkar
Imrul Kayes
Sabbir Rahman
Mushfiqur Rahim
Shakib Al Hasan
Mahmudullah
Mosaddek Hossain
Mashrafe Mortaza (c)
Mustafizur Rahman
Rubel Hossain
Taskin Ahmed
Shafiul Islam
Sunzamul Islam
Mehedi Hasan

As expected. Still no Nasir Hossain (wonder if there's some kind of story behind that).

Australia
Steve Smith (c)
David Warner
Aaron Finch
Travis Head
Chris Lynn
Glenn Maxwell
Moises Henriques
Marcus Stoinis
Matthew Wade
Pat Cummins
John Hastings
Josh Hazlewood
James Pattinson
Mitchell Starc
Adam Zampa

More surprises here, the biggest being no Faulkner or Khawaja, and the inclusion of Henriques.

Sri Lanka
Upul Tharanga
Niroshan Dickwella
Kusal Perera
Kusal Mendis
Chamara Kapugedera
Dinesh Chandimal
Asela Gunaratne
Angelo Mathews (c)
Thisara Perera
Lasith Malinga
Suranga Lakmal
Nuwan Pradeep
Nuwan Kulasekara
Lakshan Sandakan
Seekkuge Prasanna

New Zealand
Kane Williamson (c)
Martin Guptill
Ross Taylor
Tom Latham
Neil Broom
Luke Ronchi
Corey Anderson
Jimmy Neesham
Colin de Grandhomme
Trent Boult
Mitchell McClenaghan
Adam Milne
Tim Southee
Mitchell Santner
Jeetan Patel

England
Eoin Morgan (c)
Jonny Bairstow
Sam Billings
Jos Buttler
Alex Hales
Joe Root
Jason Roy
Ben Stokes
Moeen Ali
Chris Woakes
Liam Plunkett
David Willey
Jake Ball
Mark Wood
Adil Rashid

Pakistan
Azhar Ali
Ahmed Shahzad
Babar Azam
Umar Akmal
Fakhar Zaman
Sarfraz Ahmed (c)
Mohammad Hafeez
Shoaib Malik
Fahim Ashraf
Mohammad Amir
Wahab Riaz
Junaid Khan
Hasan Ali
Imad Wasim
Shadab Khan

India
Rohit Sharma
Shikhar Dhawan
Ajinkya Rahane
Virat Kohli (c)
Manish Pandey
Yuvraj Singh
Kedar Jadhav
MS Dhoni
Hardik Pandya
Umesh Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
Bhuvuneshwar Kumar
Mohammed Shami
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran Ashwin

Thanks for the thread, James.

I was slightly surprised to see Imran Tahir there. He seems to have been around forever. He's had summers in the sun in domestic cricket - I was keen on Surrey trying to sign him a few years back - but is probably an unfulfilled talent on the international stage.

As a general point, I heard somewhere that teams can change their squads up to the last day or so before this tournament starts - is that right, do you know?

Guildford - feel like I've heard the same thing about the squads but not 100% on that.

Tahir's been in excellent form in international limited overs cricket. He is, or recently was, the number one ranked bowler in both ODIs and T20s. Very much an unfulfilled talent in Tests though.

Thanks, James. That shows my lack of knowledge on ODIs and T20s - didn't realise Tahir was still up there.

Updated to include Australia and Bangladesh.

Here are my thoughts on teams 

--Tahir has been in superb form in IPL...and looks a very deceptive and potent limited over bowler

ABDV has fitness issues and I don't think he will keep wickets....won't be surprised if Faf is captaining some games.....SA has  a solid side nevertheless...and if the pitches turn a bit like they did in last Champions trophy....they can play 2nd spinner Maharaj also..whom I haven't see but do appreciate he picket quite a lot of wickets even in unhelpful NZ conditions.

--Aus also have an imposing side......Warner, Lynn and Head have shown excellent form in IPL...Lynn has developed a few strokes...using which he has been whacking nothing-wrong-good-length deliveries...out of the park....he was seriously injured though and remains to be seen if he can get fit again in time.

Moises over Faulkner is inexplicable
that Moises has been in scheme of things for 5 years without delivering anything only shows how desperately Aus are craving for an all rounder.....and as it's been noted here....how severely they miss Watson.

BD..not much to say...except that they have been playing good cricket, working well as sum of parts.... and are no less a contender than SL, NZ, Pak and WI.

Ind, Aus, SA and Eng  remain the top 4 contenders...

Hey that makes it 9 teams.......aren't there only 8 sides in this CT?
what am i missing or counting more

KP_fan wrote:Here are my thoughts on teams 

--Tahir has been in superb form in IPL...and looks a very deceptive and potent limited over bowler

ABDV has fitness issues and I don't think he will keep wickets....won't be surprised if Faf is captaining some games.....SA has  a solid side nevertheless...and if the pitches turn a bit like they did in last Champions trophy....they can play 2nd spinner Maharaj also..whom I haven't see but do appreciate he picket quite a lot of wickets even in unhelpful NZ conditions.

--Aus also have an imposing side......Warner, Lynn and Head have shown excellent form in IPL...Lynn has developed a few strokes...using which he has been whacking nothing-wrong-good-length deliveries...out of the park....he was seriously injured though and remains to be seen if he can get fit again in time.

Moises over Faulkner is inexplicable
that Moises has been in scheme of things for 5 years without delivering anything only shows how desperately Aus are craving for an all rounder.....and as it's been noted here....how severely they miss Watson.

BD..not much to say...except that they have been playing good cricket, working well as sum of parts.... and are no less a contender than SL, NZ, Pak and WI.

Ind, Aus, SA and Eng  remain the top 4 contenders...

Hey that makes it 9 teams.......aren't there only 8 sides in this CT?
what am i missing or counting more

WI didn't qualify

Updated to include Sri Lanka

England announce their squad for this today as well as the odis against Ireland and south Africa

NZ Squad is out - likely 1st choice starting XI of
Guptill
Latham (he's the only other opener in the squad so hopefully he re-finds form) wk
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Broom/Ronchi (wk if playing)
De Grandhomme
Santner
Southee
Milne
Boult


Full Squad:
Kane Williamson (c),
Corey Anderson,
Trent Boult,
Neil Broom,
Colin de Grandhomme,
Martin Guptill,
Tom Latham,
Mitchell McClenaghan,
Adam Milne,
Jimmy Neesham,
Jeetan Patel,
Luke Ronchi,
Mitchell Santner,
Tim Southee,
Ross Taylor.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:NZ Squad is out - likely 1st choice starting XI of
Guptill
Latham (he's the only other opener in the squad so hopefully he re-finds form) wk
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Broom/Ronchi (wk if playing)
De Grandhomme
Santner
Southee
Milne
Boult


Full Squad:
Kane Williamson (c),
Corey Anderson,
Trent Boult,
Neil Broom,
Colin de Grandhomme,
Martin Guptill,
Tom Latham,
Mitchell McClenaghan,
Adam Milne,
Jimmy Neesham,
Jeetan Patel,
Luke Ronchi,
Mitchell Santner,
Tim Southee,
Ross Taylor.

No sodhi - has he fallen out of favour?

Same old names for England, disappointed Livingstone didn't get a call up. Also Dawson not in either squads...?

The Dawson one seems an odd choice, given they've continued picking him for so long.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:NZ Squad is out - likely 1st choice starting XI of
Guptill
Latham (he's the only other opener in the squad so hopefully he re-finds form) wk
Williamson
Taylor
Anderson
Broom/Ronchi (wk if playing)
De Grandhomme
Santner
Southee
Milne
Boult


Full Squad:
Kane Williamson (c),
Corey Anderson,
Trent Boult,
Neil Broom,
Colin de Grandhomme,
Martin Guptill,
Tom Latham,
Mitchell McClenaghan,
Adam Milne,
Jimmy Neesham,
Jeetan Patel,
Luke Ronchi,
Mitchell Santner,
Tim Southee,
Ross Taylor.

No sodhi - has he fallen out of favour?

He's close - the resurgence of Jeetan Patel has cost him. He'd be in the ODI squad if it was played in Asia, & he's a regular starter in the T20 team. Todd Astle (leg spinning all rounder) could well be close to the mix too.

Expected England squads really - harsh on some players yes, but ultimately when you've got a pool of really good players and a settled performing side as England do, it's gonna be tough to break into that. Happy to see Wood back in there

Eng have one of the most settled sides.....and they won't tinker nor experiment in the CT.
there will be one more round of experimenting / optimization for all sides after CT and before World cup.

Chris Jordan, Steven  Finn, Dawson, and that batsman who opened and got a hundred on debut in India ( sorry name eludes me) are probably the first line of reserves 

They are a bit short on "inning-building" type batsmen......is the only shortcoming I see...in case they run into a pitch with some juice in it for seamers....a perfect T20 side

jimbohammers wrote:Same old names for England, disappointed Livingstone didn't get a call up. Also Dawson not in either squads...?

Hardly room for three spinners in English conditions , though , jimbo ? And he was unlikely to oust Moeen or Rashid.
It might have been an idea to get Livingstone into the squad for the SA games - but I imagine they are prioritizing warm ups for the players actually playing in the trophy ...which is fair enough ; think most people want winning the thing to be the focus.
Livingstone will likely get a chance in the West Indies matches later in the season : who knows ? maybe even in the Tests ...

KP_fan wrote:Eng have one of the most settled sides.....and they won't tinker nor experiment in the CT.
there will be one more round of experimenting / optimization for all sides after CT and before World cup.

Chris Jordan, Steven  Finn, Dawson, and that batsman who opened and got a hundred on debut in India ( sorry name eludes me) are probably the first line of reserves 

They are a bit short on "inning-building" type batsmen......is the only shortcoming I see...in case they run into a pitch with some juice in it for seamers....a perfect T20 side

Its Keaton Jennings. Hes not a shabby limited overs player but didnt do well on thge winter tour with the Lions or in the "North South" games which were his two chances to make a case.

Id expect someone like Duckett to be ahead of him if they needed a replacement opener (despite being dropped previously), hes in the squad for the Ireland games.



The only possibly controversial ommission is Livingstone whos had a great start to the county season. But thats 4 day county cricket, which is frankly a joke. His scores with the Lions and N/S werent especially great either. Bell Drummond was the real star with the bat over the winter, but is struggling so far in the county season.
Overall as KPfan says England are very settled and have a functional squad. Theres a few borderline calls with the seamers, but they are pretty much on a level. The only areas where changes are maybe wanted are in the spinners with neitehr Rashid nor Moeen really cutting it ...but noone has put their hands up to replace them. Dawson is first reserve but frankly Id rather EWngland risked having to go into a game with 1 spinner than include 3 in the squad who arent good enough. The advantge of being at home is they can quickly call in resrves anyway.

The usual questions about keeper remain of course.

Goose - in line with Alfie's post, the word during the recent Surrey v Lancs game was that Livingstone has been ''pencilled in'' for the West Indies games. Whilst a lot of cobblers does get spoken at matches, that did seem to have some substance.

PS Assume your Ansari tribute is at the printers.

Of all the spinners who werent good enough to be playing test cricket for England this winter he was certainly the youngest. Sad end to a career.

I was sorry to see Ansari had given it away. (I thought immediately of Olly , of course - but at least his advocacy achieved some Test Caps for his man )

As has been noted , the young man had other interests ; but I can't help wondering if he might have persisted a little longer were it not for the confluence of three factors : injury issues ; a somewhat disappointing campaign with England ; and perhaps a perceived fall in status at Surrey in that he seems to no longer command an automatic place in the team due to Batty being ever-present as skipper and Borthwick being on hand for part time spin. (I guess he'd play more later in the summer at the cost of a seamer ; but he may have been discouraged by the early season signs ?)

Ah well...three Tests is more than most of us will play I wish him well in his civilian career.

Suprise suprise team BCCI haven't named a squad and threatning to pull out, because they aren't getting their way with money again... #yawn

India have been put in their place and have backed down from their ridiculous stance and have now named their squad

Thoughts on it msp/kpf? No pant is a surprise to me

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:India have been put in their place and have backed down from their ridiculous stance and have now named their squad

Thoughts on it msp/kpf? No pant is a surprise to me

It's not ICC or it's members stance that has put "India" in place...
but a Supreme court appointed and empowered administrative committee ( called CoA) that put "BCCI" in place.


The CoA advised BCCI to not use a mega event like CT to blackmail ICC , hence creating uncertainty in the minds of their own team regarding participation thereby jeopardizing their preparation and  chances.....and worse if they do execute their threat....million of fans would be devoid from watching  their top ranked side defending the prestigious trophy second only to world cup.

The game, the fans the spirit is as important as the monetary part....they have advised BCCI not to give up on monetary negotiations but holding their own team , fans and the rest of the world hostage is not negotiation...it's called coercion and threatening...which BCCI was advised ( directed) not to do.

Had BCCI not fallen in place..... CoA  would have used the powers vested in them by Supreme Court to over-rule BCCI.

On the team itself....the selectors are quite clear with following criteria:
1) that First class and domestic one dayers are given much higher weight than IPL.....hence Raina  and Gambhir are not even considered.
2) and selectors haven't forgotten the recent history of performances......every one who is in the squad had been performing well when they were last fit or when last given a chance....and hence Dhawan and Pandey are in....

Pant is good, a younger and left-handed version of Dhoni....and his time will come....but going by their criteria as in 1) and 2) ...which b.t.w they have followed with consistency for some time...there was no room to fit Pant now.
Jadhav is the spare WK in emergency and Rahane the back-up opener in squad.

In Pant, Samson and Kishan India has 3 terrific batsmen WK all very young who will serve India for the next decade in all forms..... once Dhoni is gone and eventually in a few years when Saha retires or loses form and place.
Also invoking a healthy fight for places between them 


The only question mark I have is over Ashwin...who at best is a provisional selection...subject to proving fitness and playing somewhere, somehow a competitive game or two..  
if he doesn't prove his fitness...Jayant or Kuldeep will come in his place.

know this isn't the thread for it - but Shannon Gabriel just played the worst shot of 2017 to lose WIndies the series against Pakistan with only two overs left of the final day!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:know this isn't the thread for it - but Shannon Gabriel just played the worst shot of 2017 to lose WIndies the series against Pakistan with only two overs left of the final day!

all 3 tests swung *against the odds*....literally

both teams are the *most suspicious* candidates in international cricket

Chase looks like a cementing himself as the new star to be let down by mediocre / uncaring west indies teammates.

in Chase, Dorwich and Holder they have 3 very competent allrounders

I know he played an awful shot, but I really like Gabriel as a quick bowler - has some serious pace when he fires it up. WIndies lack batting badly though

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I know he played an awful shot, but I really like Gabriel as a quick bowler - has some serious pace when he fires it up. WIndies lack batting badly though

yeah WI has  decent spinners.....very  good pacers, Jerome Taylor is back I read somewhere, Gabriel and Azari Joseph are fast......and good batsman WK in Dorwich and at-least two bowling all-rounders in Chase, and Holder in the middle order...
they lack a decent top order...

in principal their problem appears to be similar to England's 

KP_fan wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I know he played an awful shot, but I really like Gabriel as a quick bowler - has some serious pace when he fires it up. WIndies lack batting badly though

yeah WI has  decent spinners.....very  good pacers, Jerome Taylor is back I read somewhere, Gabriel and Azari Joseph are fast......and good batsman WK in Dorwich and at-least two bowling all-rounders in Chase, and Holder in the middle order...
they lack a decent top order...

in principal their problem appears to be similar to England's 

?

Really? England lack batting but have good spinners and genuine pace?
Surely the complete opposite!
England are a strong batting side with lots of decent but not great seamers, and have no spinners worth a place in the side on bowling alone. The only similarity really is that they both have some all rounders, but who doesnt?
Im not sure you can class Dorwich alongside Buttler ....hes never even played an international limited overs game and has a poor domestic batting record. His battings good enough for 7 in tests but if they are planning to use him inm the CT they are in trouble.

And the Windies real isue is attitude and application, something the current England side doesnt lack....although they have a habit of crumbling when tests conditions arent in their favour.

Chase was a one man show in the last test (ignoring any conspiracy theories and betting patterns) , I dont see that much has changed for West Indies. They are still a side with a couple of good players and others who perform patchily then a few makeweights. Bishoo being a great example of a player who has patches of brilliance but also goes missing far too often.

Gooseberry wrote:

KP_fan wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I know he played an awful shot, but I really like Gabriel as a quick bowler - has some serious pace when he fires it up. WIndies lack batting badly though

yeah WI has  decent spinners.....very  good pacers, Jerome Taylor is back I read somewhere, Gabriel and Azari Joseph are fast......and good batsman WK in Dorwich and at-least two bowling all-rounders in Chase, and Holder in the middle order...
they lack a decent top order...

in principal their problem appears to be similar to England's 

?

Really? England lack batting but have good spinners and genuine pace?
Surely the complete opposite!
England are a strong batting side with lots of decent but not great seamers, and have no spinners worth a place in the side on bowling alone. The only similarity really is that they both have some all rounders, but who doesnt?
Im not sure you can class Dorwich alongside Buttler ....hes never even played an international limited overs game and has a poor domestic batting record. His battings good enough for 7 in tests but if they are planning to use him inm the CT they are in trouble.

And the Windies real isue is attitude and application, something the current England side doesnt lack....although they have a habit of crumbling when tests conditions arent in their favour.

Chase was a one man show in the last test (ignoring any conspiracy theories and betting patterns) , I dont see that much has changed for West Indies. They are still a side with a couple of good players and others who perform patchily then a few makeweights. Bishoo being a great example of a player who has patches of brilliance but also goes missing far too often.

Erm, WI aren't going to the Champions' Trophy. Failed to qualify.

England have a problem with the combination of the top order - but you've got two undoubted world class batsmen in there Cook and Root. I don't see how this is in any way similar to the Windies who if they cloned Ravi Bopara 6 times that would probably displace their current top six

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

Erm, WI aren't going to the Champions' Trophy. Failed to qualify.

Possibly a significant point! It wasnt me that started discussing them on the CT squads thread

VTR wrote:England have a problem with the combination of the top order - but you've got two undoubted world class batsmen in there Cook and Root. I don't see how this is in any way similar to the Windies who if they cloned Ravi Bopara 6 times that would probably be their top six

If we are discussing the test team though its fair to say Englands batting has been a bit mixed. I was thrown a bit of a banana by this being in the ODI thread, where undotably they have one of the strongest batting line ups in world cricket.
Even so yeah ... guys like Bairstow would walk into the Windies test side. The struggles with the batting over the winter were partly down to trying to fit in 7 bowlers / 2 wicket keepers.

I'd agree, England's batting has been chopped and changed too many times and hasn't under-delivered. Windies though, they are just stacked with bad players who wouldn't in some cases even make a Div 2 county championship batting line up

*has under-delivered

VTR wrote:they are just stacked with bad players who wouldn't in some cases even make a Div 2 county championship batting line up

*Leicestershire shuffle uncomfortably*

Gooseberry wrote:

VTR wrote:they are just stacked with bad players who wouldn't in some cases even make a Div 2 county championship batting line up

*Leicestershire shuffle uncomfortably*

Well Kraig Braithwaite and Shai Hope are now available for them to sign up!

well I didn't mean Eng is same as WI.....I said in principal..
means the strengths and weaknesses of WI and Eng...follow same pattern as WI

Eng's strength....are it's various all rounders and it's seam bowlers
Often Eng are top order down and all rounders / lower order doing the run scoring.

WI's strength are it's various allrounder's and seam bowlers....
they are also marked by inconsistency and lower quality of their top order...relative to their allrounders


this comparison does not mean WI have the same quality of batsmen, bowlers or allrounders as Eng.
Although spin is one deptt where WI has probably superior resources

Indian middle-order batsman Manish Pandey has been ruled out of next month’s ICC Champions Trophy due to a side strain and will be replaced in the squad by wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, the BCCI announced on Thursday.



Good move....DK is in prime form and provides cover for Dhoni as a WK too

india's Sami and Jadeja bowled well in the warm-up....vs NZ
actually everyone except Pandya and ashwin bowled well

after NZ-Ind....the Pak-Aus game also washed away.
It will be a rainy CT....and it means more help for seamers.

Ind might leave out Ashwin and play 4 seamers ( including pandya)

Ashwin although ironically he started as a one day bowler for India, isn't particuarly threatning in limited overs, and rarely bowls his full allocaton...may as well just pick Jadeja, and use Yuvraj, rohit etc as part time spinners, unless they get on a rank turner, which could happen at the oval

wisden wrote:Ashwin although ironically he started as a one day bowler for India, isn't particuarly threatning in limited overs, and rarely bowls his full allocaton...may as well just pick Jadeja, and use Yuvraj, rohit etc as part time spinners, unless they get on a rank turner, which could happen at the oval

 that's true...he adopted a lot of flight, loop and variations....qualities that make him a top class test bowler.....are the ones that make him less suited for limited overs these days
Yuvi, Rohit and Jadhav will make up the quote of second spiners...all of them are no less than Moeen and ansari

Karthik retired hurt 94 shows good form and throws a spanner in the works....will he play ahead of Yuvraj who is recovering from a viral fever

Pandya toyed with the bowling in the end.
he is a very exciting cricketer...hope he gets a good spell with the ball

Bangladesh falling in a heap in their warm-up game

Thursday's opening game is now "that team who were 20-6" vs "that team who were 22-6"

only a warm up game, best to get the shockers out of the way now..

india's seamers are all bowling well...they will have to sit two or atleast one of them out.
Karthik may play ahead of Yuvi