England's Summer of Cricket 2021

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2nd June-14th June: Two tests v New Zealand

23rd June-26th June: Three T20s v Sri Lanka
29th June-4th July: Three ODIs v Sri Lanka

8th July-13th July: Three ODIs v Pakistan
16th July-20th July: Three T20s V Pakistan

4th August-14th September: Five Tests v India

Duty281 wrote:Cricinfo thinking this for the teams:

England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Zak Crawley, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ollie Pope, 6 Dan Lawrence, 7 James Bracey (wk), 8 Craig Overton, 9 Jack Leach, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson

New Zealand (possible): 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Will Young, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Matt Henry, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Ajaz Patel / Ruchin Ravindra, 11 Trent Boult.

New Zealand's team is quite clear-cut with Southee, Santner and Williamson all out, and Boult and Henry coming back into proceedings. England finally seeing sense and playing with an actual spinner, but it could be Overton or Stone coming in for Robinson, as Wood is unlikely to be put in for two consecutive tests.

Weather's beautiful through the five days, though if all five days are played one session's worth of play will probably be lost to slow over-rates. England haven't lost a home series for 7 years (v Sri Lanka when Anderson fell almost at the last), but I think NZ are good favourites to end that.

Ravindra is a proper bat who can bowl some spin. Patel is a slightly better option than Santner as a test bowler, but not by much. So giving Ravindra a run would make more sense with Watling onwards moving a position down, particularly since they are without Kane.
There has to be a good pitch for England to go in with that attack that cricinfo is speculating. No proper Fast bowler, and no spinner who can control or attack. Anderson might be able to overcome flat conditions, can't say the same about the rest...

Just took a closer look at Rachin Ravindra's record. Seems he's a bit more than a parttime bowler. Peter Fulton had picked him along with Devon Conway, Will Young and Finn Alan to be the Gen Next of New Zealand batting. Someone who can bat top 6 and bowl at least steady left-arm spin, can be such a balancing force to the New Zealand attack that can then deploy their quality battery of seamers, Boult, Southee, Wagner and Jamieson and rotate them with Henry or Bracewell when needed.
Really hoping they'll give him a run. Ajaz Patel is not much of an improvement on Santner. Isn't worth with the bat and might actually be the closest to a number 11 in that lineup. Besides, he's 33. Lets see which way they go.
Latham
Conway
Young
Taylor
Nicholls
Ravindra
Watling
De Grandhomme
Jamieson
Boult
Wagner

They can actually include Bracewell or Henry in place of de Grandhomme. CDG is a good defensive option and can add some balance to the side. But if they are playing Ravindra as the spinner, the more attacking bowling option of Henry or Bracewell might serve them better. Bracewell is kind of bowling all-rounder at domestic level, and Henry sure can give it a thump...

Writing in tonight's London Standard, Will Macpherson (who often gets it right, as Olly will vouch) seemed sure Leach would play and thought Stone was the most likely replacement for Wood even though it lengthened the tail.

guildfordbat wrote:Writing in tonight's London Standard, Will Macpherson (who often gets it right, as Olly will vouch) seemed sure Leach would play and thought Stone was the most likely replacement for Wood even though it lengthened the tail.

Those are the changes I'm hoping for so that Macpherson is on the money as usual!

guildfordbat wrote:Writing in tonight's London Standard, Will Macpherson (who often gets it right, as Olly will vouch) seemed sure Leach would play and thought Stone was the most likely replacement for Wood even though it lengthened the tail.

Seems to be the most logical selection all round - lengthens the tail, but you can’t risk going with Overton/Broad/Anderson as a seam attack if the wicket is going to be fairly flat. Of course, Stone on the other hand brings a different risk (injury), but think he has to play if Wood is rested.

Big big game for Jack Leach, playing as the spinner in a four man attack at home. Can he offer the control needed and the odd wicket in the first innings of the game?

If the pitch is really flat England have a big problem whatever attack they end up with. Stone (or Wood , if he can play two in a row) would be necessary , I think. Agree they will also have to play Leach but would not expect him to be much use unless/until they got into a situation of bowling on a significantly worn fifth day pitch. If they don't pick Overton the tail starts at eight - and with the top seven looking weaker than it has for a long time that also adds to the risks. So one of Broad or Anderson would have to be left out ...NZ batsmen probably won't mind...

With NZ missing Williamson and Southee at least , this is looking more and more like a practice match for both teams. Which is OK , I guess : NZ have the WTC final as their main goal this month ; and England , whatever they might say , are really only interested in the India series and the Ashes.

BJ Watling ruled out with a back injury - Tom Blundell in for him for NZ

We won't have long to find out, but apparently there's whispers that England are again going without a specialist spinner and are going to pick Wood and Stone.

Duty281 wrote:We won't have long to find out, but apparently there's whispers that England are again going without a specialist spinner and are going to pick Wood and Stone.

It's the way i'd go to be honest, without the genuine all rounders you cannot go into a match with only three seamers, that fourth paceman is more important in England than a spinner who's only useful at the tail end of the match. If the pitch is spinning come the 4th and 5th days then Broad and Anderson are difficult to play bowling cutters anyway, it's ultimately what won us the West Indies series.

England win the toss and bat first - as Duty posted above, it is just Stone in for Robinson as the only change.

NZ make six changes!
Latham
Conway
Young
Taylor
Nicholls
Blundell (wk)
Mitchell
Wagner
Patel
Henry
Boult

England win the toss and bat. No spinner. Long tail. No Jamieson for the Kiwis, Wagner instead, six changes in all.

England: 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Zak Crawley, 4 Joe Root (captain), 5 Ollie Pope, 6 Dan Lawrence, 7 James Bracey (wk), 8 Mark Wood, 9 Olly Stone, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson

New Zealand: 1 Tom Latham (captain), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Will Young, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Daryl Mitchell, 8 Neil Wagner, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Ajaz Patel, 11 Trent Boult

Anderson becomes England's most-capped test player and will (hopefully) go past Kumble in the wickets column in this test.

I'd like to know how many England players have played their first and last test matches during Anderson's test match career particularly the bowlers.

Lovely to have a near-capacity crowd in and a proper atmosphere.

Burns and Sibley v a different bowling attack (Wagner apart).

Soul Requiem wrote:I'd like to know how many England players have played their first and last test matches during Anderson's test match career particularly the bowlers.

Could probably make a pretty decent test side from it!

Wood as number eight bat

Obviously not expecting much for the spinners but I guess Root might keep busy...

NZ seem to be giving their whole squad a run out.

Looks like a very good batting wicket early on. Will probably take turn on days 4/5, so Root will be hoping they don't regret leaving Leach out.

Incredibly long tail with Wood at 8, meaning proper pressure on a mostly inexperienced top 7 to deliver.

Quiet start. No Devils in the pitch and it looks a good toss to win (already slightly regretting my tipping comp choice of a NZ win ) though plenty of time for a good old England collapse later...

Supposed to be fine and fair is it not ? Looks a bit overcast on my TV but no rain yet at least.
Thirteen overs and 23 runs so fairly typical Burns/Sibley fast start. They'll be glad to have got through the opening spells unscathed at least. So , no doubt , will Crawley.

Turgid start again from England but not a problem as long as the middle order doesn't collapse again.

I enjoyied hearing Mike Holding reminiscing about Clive Lloyd's captaincy of the West Indies and his confrontations with their board.

Imo Lloyd was a very good captain who too often is unfairly regarded as doing little more than giving the ball to one of four great quicks. That overlooks the on and off field politics he had to contend with in bringing together and moulding a side from various disparate island nations.

Add to that - sure, it helps having good or great players available to you but the personalities of such players can also bring particular challenges. That never seemed to be an issue for Lloyd and the West Indies with all players appearing to be united behind him (as Holding referred to during discussion about the board and Packer).

Fifty opening stand

Burns seems to have gained a bit of confidence from the hundred at Lord's - helps that he's had a few balls where he likes them but he has been looking a bit more fluent the last few overs...

NZ obviously - and reasonably enough with the India match looming - wanting to give all their bowlers an outing but they do seem to have let England off the potential hook a little here with both Southee and Jamieson sitting this one out. Neither batsman looking too troubled. Setting up a useful platform.

Duty281 wrote:Lovely to have a near-capacity crowd in and a proper atmosphere.

Burns and Sibley v a different bowling attack (Wagner apart).

An anxious time atm for the Surrey bean counters. The Oval is fully sold out and expecting a crowd of 20 odd thousand for the ODI against Sri Lanka on 1st July. Most tickets were bought in late 2019 / early 2020, originally intended for last summer's ODI at the Oval which obviously no one could attend due to the pandemic and subsequently carried forward to now. However, if current covid restrictions don't end on 21st June and are extended by two weeks (as widely speculated), then this ODI will be caught causing administrative chaos and significant loss of revenue for the club plus disappointment for many would be spectators.

Duty281 wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:I'd like to know how many England players have played their first and last test matches during Anderson's test match career particularly the bowlers.

Could probably make a pretty decent test side from it!

Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Paul Collingwood
Matt Prior
Tim Bresnan
Graham Swann
Steven Finn
Chris Tremlett

Not bad at all!
Nick Compton, Geraint Jones, Liam Plunkett and Monty Panesar in the squad too!

Good start for England on what seems like a flat wicket. Boult being Boult, did manage to ask a few questions without being supported by the pitch, but the English openers could negotiate those without too many dramas.
Disappointed with Watling missing out injured. Was really looking forward to watching him action in his last series... Blundell is a very good bat and a good overall replacement for Watling, so no major loss for the team as such. Also disappointed that they didn't give young Rachin Ravindra an early taste of test cricket, in New Zealand they are rather conservative about these. Other than Kane Williamson, can't remember too many of them who were thrown in that early, particularly if big things are expected of the player...
Much better over rate from New Zealand so far. Will have to see who England is going to manage that. Root is setting himself for a possible ban sooner rather than later, with the make of his attack. All the more reason if not Stokes, their other all-rounders are back in the mix for selection soon... Guess not a major worry as Stokes himself is expected to be fit for the India series right?

Interestingly, Sibley has more runs than Burns at the moment! He has outscored his partner!

Boult getting some swing now... Rob Key tempting fate with this question about the last time an England opening pair batted through the first session ...still five minutes to go !

Outstanding over rate by modern standards ...into the 29th now

Latham lost a very important, possibly match decisive toss on a flat pitch. And then not sure they've got the team composition right either. While only Patel is close to a number 11, Boult is a good 10, and Wagner and Henry are also more number 10 than up the order. In that sense, New Zealand also have a rather long lower order light on batting.

Doddle of a session for these two, just what England wanted to see. Root probably confused at not having to come in at 25/2.

Pretty loose session from the Kiwis. Some good balls from Boult/Henry in the opening hour, but quite a few more poor ones from the rest on a good batting wicket.

Still a long way to go. We know how much England love a collapse!

Solid first session from Sibley/Burns, negated the NZ attack nicely - bit of swing for Boult/Henry, but not major demons, and Boult already has 9 overs in the legs for the day.

England owned that session. Flat pitch or not, Joe Root would have been expected to move to 20 at least by lunch by default in this England lineup! For the 2nd game, the openers doing a decent job... Patel bowling so many in the first session, indicates about the kind of pitch we have.
Anderson and co would be happy they didn't have to bowl on it upfront.

msp83 wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:I'd like to know how many England players have played their first and last test matches during Anderson's test match career particularly the bowlers.

Could probably make a pretty decent test side from it!

Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Paul Collingwood
Matt Prior
Tim Bresnan
Graham Swann
Steven Finn
Chris Tremlett

Not bad at all!
Nick Compton, Geraint Jones, Liam Plunkett and Monty Panesar in the squad too!

Pretty much England's number one team from 2010/11, minus Anderson and Broad. And Broad would get into this team if Anderson can outlast him!

Duty281 wrote:Looks like a very good batting wicket early on. Will probably take turn on days 4/5, so Root will be hoping they don't regret leaving Leach out.

Incredibly long tail with Wood at 8, meaning proper pressure on a mostly inexperienced top 7 to deliver.

For sure. As if we didn't know, it again demonstrates how (near) impossible it is for England to have a balanced side when Stokes is missing. It also shows how well - and I promise I'm only talking cricket here - Robinson fitted in last time. His 7 match wickets stand out but his 42 with the bat and partnership with Burns was incredibly valuable and perhaps salvaged a draw from what could have been a defeat.

Duty281 wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:I'd like to know how many England players have played their first and last test matches during Anderson's test match career particularly the bowlers.

Could probably make a pretty decent test side from it!

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/56972045

I got 89.

Survived. 67/0 off 29. Will take that for a start ; though I'd hope to see a little more enterprise after lunch.

Have to say I don't altogether mind the bowling selection , though it does make for a long thin tail : will be interesting to see the two fast men alongside the two Old Masters. In truth unless Woakes or Curran is around , England will always really struggle to fit Jack Leach into the attack so not totally shocked he's missed out today. And they were hardly going to push Bess in ahead of him today. Msp may well have a point in saying "don't totally write off Moeen "

guildfordbat wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Looks like a very good batting wicket early on. Will probably take turn on days 4/5, so Root will be hoping they don't regret leaving Leach out.

Incredibly long tail with Wood at 8, meaning proper pressure on a mostly inexperienced top 7 to deliver.

For sure. As if we didn't know, it again demonstrates how (near) impossible it is for England to have a balanced side when Stokes is missing. It also shows how well - and I promise I'm only talking cricket here - Robinson fitted in last time. His 7 match wickets stand out but his 42 with the bat and partnership with Burns was incredibly valuable and perhaps salvaged a draw from what could have been a defeat.

What is worse, Tremlett or Wood coming in at 8 in a test match?

Serious question!

Sexy slow start from England.

Nice ball from Henry. Think of him more as an ODI bowler than a test bowler, but he's hit a good line consistently today.

Door ajar and an out-of-form Crawley at the crease.

Job just about done for Sibley so he can go back knowing he did the minimum, really.

Crawley looked a mess there and gone for 0

Utterly hopeless from Crawley, no surprise, his form is completely shot to pieces. He can't play v India.

Two down. Four away from the tail!

Crawley has been well and truly found out.

Apparently, without Crawley's innings of 267 (a real outlier so far!), he averages below 20 with the bat in test cricket.

Perhaps time to rediscover his stuff in county cricket.

Ha...didn't take long to go downhill , did it ?

I half thought it might have been wise to pick Hameed in place of Crawley for this one as he seems to have pretty much lost all form lately. Pretty sure he will need to go back to the county game now and (hopefully) regain some touch. So unfortunate there is no county red ball stuff for a fair while...

Root will no doubt find this scoreline a little more familiar than the lunchtime mirage

Oh dear...Root gone now , 85/3.

Think England will be bowling before this day is out...

It’s an old fashioned collapse

Beautiful bowling from Henry and a neat grab from the replacement keeper.

Root didn't look assured in that short stay. Edged one for four the ball before.

Anderson bowling tonight?

Credit to NZ , they've bowled well since the break , and the ball is certainly moving more now. But this is still very disappointing from England after the good start.

Pope under some pressure too so this partnership is very important. I really don't have too much faith in the rest of the order : hope they can prove me wrong.

At least the crowd are too hammered to actually notice England sinking, getting through drunken renditions of GSTQ, In-ger-land, and Swing Low.

[/quote]

What is worse, Tremlett or Wood coming in at 8 in a test match?

Serious question![/quote]

I think the answer to that question is Andy Caddick

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Job just about done for Sibley so he can go back knowing he did the minimum, really.

That's my concern with Sibley, he doesn't seem to be improving from what he offered when he first came in. By seeing off the new ball he often does more than other openers since Strauss and Cook have. By failing to capitalise on the starts and averaging low thirties he's not going to be a long term Test player though.

As I said during the last Test I'm not expecting Burns or Sibley to suddenly bloom into an opener averaging over 40 in Tests but if one of them can press on to average around 35 or 36 over 50 or 60 Tests that would at least reward the investment made in them.

Crawley needs time in the CC, similar to Bess. He has plenty of talent but averages 32 in FC cricket with only 5 centuries. His England selection was a punt due to the dearth of options at the top. Honestly he's done better than I expected given the holes in his game. He needs lots of time in the middle with Kent ironing out the technical issues that make dismissing him bread and butter to Test bowlers.

alfie wrote:Ha...didn't take long to go downhill , did it ?

I half thought it might have been wise to pick Hameed in place of Crawley for this one as he seems to have pretty much lost all form lately. Pretty sure he will need to go back to the county game now and (hopefully) regain some touch. So unfortunate there is no county red ball stuff for a fair while...

Root will no doubt find this scoreline a little more familiar than the lunchtime mirage

I wasn't hugely enamoured by Crawley's 267 and did worry it would affect his immediate career after, there's was too much talk about being a long term fixture in the side and that he'd arrived. It felt set up to then see him fail, the way he carried himself after that innings was that of a man who thought he'd arrived.