England's Winter of Cricket 2022/23

Of course we have the World T20 covered in a separate thread, but I thought we should have a new one for England's upcoming games this winter, which feature:

Three ODIs in Australia (17th-22nd November)
Three tests in Pakistan (1st-21st December)
Three ODIs in South Africa (27th January-1st February)
Two tests in New Zealand (16th-28th February)
Three ODIs in Bangladesh (March)

Looking forward to the tests, but I think the ODIs will be instantly forgettable!

England named their squad today for the ODIs v Australia:

England squad in full: Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Luke Wood.

The main news being Roy retains his place, Stone may return to the fold for a run of games, and L Wood may make his ODI debut despite not playing a List A game since 2019. Under a year to the World Cup, so building some momentum before then would be well-received.

Surely for the ODI's, its a golden chance to give some of the younger players a run out?
Why select the same aging team?

I hear that one of VTR's favourite players - Luke Wright - is leading the race to get the national selector role.

The (pointless) ODIs v Australia, by the way, start in six days time, so it's a very swift turnaround from the World T20.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/county-news-will-smeed-signs-groundbreaking-white-ball-deal-with-somerset-1344894

I imagine this type of thing will become more common as time goes on - Will Smeed signs a white-ball only contract with Somerset.

So many franchise leagues, so little time...

Duty281 wrote:I hear that one of VTR's favourite players - Luke Wright - is leading the race to get the national selector role.

The (pointless) ODIs v Australia, by the way, start in six days time, so it's a very swift turnaround from the World T20.

Only just seen this! I don't namedrop him quite as often as Ravi Bopara, but it's a close run thing. As has been said before, a lot of this stems from paying good money to experience the sheer pleasure of seeing those two open in a World T20 game. Or both walk back to the pavilion very quickly as it was

I guess he could work as a selector. Just remember his own England career, and don't pick anyone like that

Duty281 wrote:https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/county-news-will-smeed-signs-groundbreaking-white-ball-deal-with-somerset-1344894

I imagine this type of thing will become more common as time goes on - Will Smeed signs a white-ball only contract with Somerset.

So many franchise leagues, so little time...

Worth pointing out Smeed averaged 15 in 5 Second XI games for Somerset last year with a HS of 37. In one of the more fragile batting line ups in the CC, he wasn’t close to getting a looking in - he’s not not some all format gun at this point.

The first of three ODIs v Australia starts in the early hours of tomorrow, for us in the UK. It's on BT Sport this one, not Sky.

Australia (probable): 1 Travis Head, 2 David Warner, 3 Steve Smith, 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Adam Zampa

England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Phil Salt, 3 James Vince, 4 Sam Billings 5 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Olly Stone

Both teams going in fairly strong. While it seems a fairly pointless ODI series, admittedly, there's places up for grabs less than a year from the World Cup, and Roy, Salt, Vince, Billings, Willey and Stone will all be looking to impress and force selection headaches. Surprised that more of the T20 players aren't getting this series off!

Well as I have nothing better to do this afternoon I am actually viewing this rather less than keenly awaited ODI in Adelaide. Crowd looks a bit sparse...

England resting as many as they can after the WC ; and so far the replacements haven't fared too well . Salt , Roy , Vince all cleaned up early...Billings battled away for a bit but departed for 17 to leave England 66/4. Since then the ever reliable Malan has continued to keep things just about afloat , and Buttler has started brightly ; but at 89/4 in the 18th , with only Dawson and the hitters Jordan and Willey really to follow , this full strength Aussie team will fancy their chances.
Very much a New England bowling group too - those mentioned above plus Stone and The Other Wood will have their work cut out. Be interesting though to see Stone in particular - he'd better not get injured or it would be down to Malan to fill in the overs

Cummins and Starc seem much happier in this than they generally looked in the WC. Who knew the prospect of an extra ten overs each makes such a difference ? Cap'n Pat has two so far , Starc nearly got a second then as Agar dropped a tough one off Malan at point... Some relief there as England do rather need this pair to bat deep.

Hundred up in the twentieth. Might see a fair bit of spin now as Hazlewood isn't playing and they probably don't want to overburden Green. No rain about anyway which makes a nice change.

Might issue another bulletin later unless my wife demands TV time for a Home Renovation Show...

I would say that England would struggle to make 230 from this position. I feel for Roy, he is just in a horrible run of form and after what Hales did in the T20WC, it would be hard to look past him with Roy dropping away.

Dawson run-out now to a stupid attempt at a single, 158/6.

So : Jos holed out to Zampa after a fairly rapid 29 ; but Dawson has been solid in support of Malan and they've reached 157/5 off thirty. Malan has been stepping it up a bit with a couple of handsome sixes and is on to 70 now from 79 balls.

But as I type , Dawson has run himself out...direct hit , yes , good work from Starc... but there was really never a single there.

Jordan up next and Malan will need some mates if he's to get this near competitive...

Oh , hi , Eirebilly... Nice to have company ! Don't think there will be too many England fans setting alarm clocks for this game

Morning alfie, at work in freezing Warsaw right now sneakily watching the game.

I really do not see the point of this ODI series at all. So close after the T20WC.

In fairness, Jordan is not playing too badly.

eirebilly_01 wrote:In fairness, Jordan is not playing too badly.

Indeed , he's doing a good job.

Warsaw , eh ? Not a place I generally associated with cricket so presume you are indebted to a streaming service

Not freezing here ; but still very cold for mid November. Though the sun is actually out now...

Could do better than your 230 from here , as long as they don't have a clatter of wickets. But one might easily bring two or three and a quick finish.

Rather a good review ! Jordan on his way...

How Zampa and Cummins missed that thick inside edge is beyond me. Review wasted for Australia...

Damn, they got that review correct.

On a project out here alfie, 10 days on and 4 at home.

I think we hexed Jordan...

Need something from Willey now at 199/7

We did alfie...

Willey can swing a bat so ye maybe right that my 230 was a touch conservative.

Well they have time to get more runs...but not much in the wicket department. Not expecting too much from Wood or Stone.

Hundred for Malan

Classy effort.

A very controlled 100 for Malan

Malan celebrating by getting stuck into Agar... That six went a long way !

232/7 and still eight overs left so this has been a good recovery. Starc's late overs could be the big danger now...

I don't know what or why it it is but I sincerely do not like Zampa.

Malan playing so well, could see him getting a new high score for himself here.

Wow, what a six from Malan off Zampa's last ball of that over.

If these two stay in, even 300 might still be on...

Malan out now but he has more than done his job in getting England to a defendable total.

Excellent stand by these two...up to 257 now with Malan launching what would have been yet another six if not for an amazing acrobatic save from Agar ! Five overs to go...

But all good things come to an end as Malan finally falls for 134 . Wonderful knock . Any more runs are a bonus now...

This has been some fight back by England. They looked in serious trouble when 158/6 but with Malan, the tail-enders have done a fantastic job

Willey and Wood adding very useful runs here...won't get the 300 that looked briefly possible before Malan got out ; but 280 plus is a lot more than seemed likely in the early stages.

Comms seem confident anything under 300 can be chased down : maybe right , with a somewhat second string England attack ; but they will probably have to work for it which will give the spectators something to watch.

Wood out so Stone in for the last seven balls...

Good last over from Agar who has been a bit expensive today... Willey only after boundaries and so had to settle for six runs...but 287 ain't at all bad

34 not out a good job from the number nine !

I actually think it is a very defendable score myself. Luke Wood is a decent bowler and very hungry. A few early wickets and the Aussies heads will drop.

Is James Vince the 6th bowler in this line up? Just shows how lucky England normally are with Livi/Stokes or sometimes Mo batting top 6.

Pretty decent start for the Aussies here. Travis head is some player, the Aussies missed him in the T20WC.

I think that, pending a major collapse, the Aussies will chase this down with ease now. This start has been brilliant for them.

Seems like a bit of a trouncing for England. Only Malan's second ODI century keeping it from being a complete humiliation.

SHall we put this one down to Australia's extra preparation time?

Actually, looking at the XIs, I'd argue that's pretty close to the Australia first choice side, while at best a relatively even mix of first and second XI players for ENgland (plus our injuries to the likes of Bairstow). A comfortable win for the Aussies and probably not that much learned by England other than it's pretty difficult to go again straight after a tournament win.

It's really just an opportunity for some of these English reserves to bump themselves to the front of the queue in case of injury/form drop off for one of the mainstays. Malan and Stone really the only ones to do that yesterday for me

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:It's really just an opportunity for some of these English reserves to bump themselves to the front of the queue in case of injury/form drop off for one of the mainstays. Malan and Stone really the only ones to do that yesterday for me

Not sure we learnt anything about Malan - we know that once he gets in he can be very effective in both formats of the white ball game, and he's either in the first XI or the first reserve for the middle order batting, and as such probably ends up playing as many games as he misses ONly thing he lacks compared to some of the other options is the ability to come in and score at a sr of 180-200 straight off in the last few overs.

We learned that James Vince might not always get to an aesthetically pleasing 20, then get out driving to the slips

Do England wish to give Roy another chance? In fairness he has some credit left in the bank but he has been woefully out of form for some time now and I am not sure if he will ever get back to the player he was.

VTR wrote:We learned that James Vince might not always get to an aesthetically pleasing 20, then get out driving to the slips

In his role as an inferior and right-handed David Gower clone, this is true - sometimes he'll make an aesthetically pleasing 70-odd first, and other times he'll slash his first ball to 2nd slip.

eirebilly_01 wrote:Do England wish to give Roy another chance? In fairness he has some credit left in the bank but he has been woefully out of form for some time now and I am not sure if he will ever get back to the player he was.

I don't think he'd have got this chance other than that circumstances played in his favour, with Bairstow's injury. He's got two matches to prove that he still has something to offer in the opener spot, otherwise it is time to move on to other, younger options. Of course you'd never totally shut the door on a player with such a high performance ceiling, but either he makes runs now or will have to demonstrate a return to outstanding form for Surrey to force his way back in to contention. Also, at 32 he isn't exactly a youngster, but smack in the middle of the age profile of an aging team.

Roy is still first choice in this ODI team, but he's drifting and needs at least a couple of big scores over the winter to assert his place in the World Cup XI.

Duty281 wrote:Roy is still first choice in this ODI team, but he's drifting and needs at least a couple of big scores over the winter to assert his place in the World Cup XI.

Should note, he has played well in India in both ODIs and T20s through his career, so will probably be given a bit of extra rope with that in mind. But do agree, he needs to show some form soon

My heart truly bleeds for Roy. He is just so woefully out of form and i do think it will be difficult for him to regain it at this level.

A second ball duck for him.

Comfortable win again for Australia, though Vince and Billings have enhanced their selection credentials going forward.

Win the T20 World Cup one week, lose the far more important ODI Ashes the next. Mott out!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/63701535

Shaheen not in Pakistan's test squad for the England games.

Poor Shaheen, I know the pain of appendicitis all too well. Wish him well.

Jaysus, the Aussies are cracking on in the third ODI. Head with a ton and it looks like Warner is nailed on for a ton as well.