It's The Ashes (again)

[AnelkasBeard]

England Men's XI

1. Ben Duckett
2. Zak Crawley
3. Ollie Pope
4. Joe Root
5. Harry Brook
6. Ben Stokes *
7. Jonathan Bairstow +
8. Stuart Broad
9. Ollie Robinson
10. Josh Tongue
11. James Anderson

Sigh. We haven't learned from our mistakes. No specialist wicket keeper, the continued selection of Crawley and no front line spinner. What is going on? I'm not sure if it's sheer overconfidence, arrogance, and ignorance, or stupidly? Possibly a combination.

No spinner kinda makes sense at Lords?

But how has Tongue got in ahead of Wood, Woakes and/or Potts?! Really baffling. Woakes averages 61 with the bat and 11 with the ball at Lords... and we all know what Mark Wood can do.

And as much as we'd all have wanted to see Foakes in to the team, I think we all knew it wasn't going to be happening.

I'm not sure I feel comfortable with Joe Root being our main spin option regardless of venue. He's not a bad second option but there's no way he should be heading into a Test as the main option. 

Completely agree with Tongue. He has a bright future, and is clearly a talent but Woakes is the obvious option if we wanted to get another seamer in. 

Crawley is never going to get dropped because his dad's best mate is part of the selection team. Crawley making way for Foakes (Bairstow moving to opener) makes sense to anyone with half a Braincell. 


I can't help but feel we're conceding an advantage to Australia even before the coin toss. Apologies for being too negative, but this selection is just bizarre. It really is. It's almost as if we're trying too hard to think outside the box, while it's a pretty idea, it, like our overly aggressive batting, is reckless.

I agree with your negativity this time, it's a really weird selection. If you're going 4 seamers, go Woakes, his record speaks for itself. If you want a quicker seamer in that 4, go Wood, his record and experience speaks for itself.

Re: Chesh - Jimmy himself was very negative about his performance as well, he knows he didn't bowl well. Hopefully he can regain something at Lords.