It's The Ashes (again)

[AnelkasBeard]

Thoughts on Bess? He played a one off County game for the Bears and looked decent. Took wickets and contributed with the bat. It's foolish to judge a player on a one off game, of course, but only commentating on what I've seen whilst following Warwickshire. I'd probably select Leach and Ahmed. I'm aware Ahmed is young and inexperienced but I'd be inclined to give the brutal 'sink or swim' approach. You've either got it, or you haven't.

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2-2 is a fair series result. Both sides have had sessions of dominance and both sides have had sessions of poor cricket. Ultimately, however, I still can't help but feel that we let Aussies off the hook too many times. They're a better side than us, no doubt, but they haven't been anywhere near their best but have still managed to retain the Ashes.

I've obviously been critical of this current ethos and the unwillingness to play the game situation, I do like the positivity and I sincerely hope England learn from the mistakes they've made throughout. I'm not calling for a complete change it just needs a slight tweak to be less reckless and play sensibly when the match situation dictates. Nothing too drastic, but we do need to learn from this series. A series we could, and arguably, should have won had we taken chances and asserted our dominance when we were on top.

Anyway, what a series. And this is why Test cricket is the greatest form of the game. The best moments have been the tense situations which naturally come regardless of style. Winning Tests will get more people interested. Winning is the key. Always has been and always will be.

You don't get moments like we've seen across this series in the ridiculous Hundred or the T20 Blast. Red ball is by far the greatest form of cricket.

I feel like we've already seen this correction? Whilts we debated the approach in the first two tests quite strongly, we definitely saw a more focused correction to aggressive but sensible cricket in the last 3 Tests. And look what happened. The  first two Tests, we were definitely too far Bazball. The last 3 Tests is what we want to see.

India in the winter is going to be a massive massive test. Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar spinning it sideways is going to be oh so difficult to overcome. One things for sure, it's gunna be fun. What team would you go for? Something like this:

Crawley
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Stokes
Bairstow (it should be Foakes, especially in India, but we all know it won't be)
Dawson / Ahmed
Wood
Leach
Tongue / Potts

Harsh to drop Woakes, but India isn't the place for him, likewise Jimmy, although he'll probably play. Hopefully Stokes sorts his knee, otherwise we'll need another bowling option. Batting seems settled, the bowling is a real worry.

Yep, pretty much can't argue with how we improved. Those first two Tests were bizarre to witness. Both from selection and a style standpoint, but we've debated that. 

But for rain at OT we'd have won the series after being 2-0 down which would have been an incredible achievement. I think it's widely agreed, both on here and in the media, that 2-2 is a fair result. I don't think either team can justify saying 'they should have won the series".

Can't argue with the selection, either. Foakes has to play but for some reason we seem happy with Bairstow (again I've stated many times my thoughts on that!). He does a job but there's no doubt he costs wickets. Can we afford not to take a specialist wicket keeper given how much it spins in India? 

Is there also a chance we'll only take Leach as the spinner and rely on Root as the second option? He's a very good back up option, but I'm not sure you'd want him as a front line spinner. But I can see us going that way to possibly include Woakes?

Absolutely no fucking way we go to India without 2 front line spinners. If we do, that's absolute suicide, given the pitches they will definitely serve up.

I argued we definitely need a specialist keeper for India, but they'll stick with Bairstow. His runs were definitely valuable in the last few Tests, and his keeping did get a lot better. Maybe we're not giving enough creedence to the severity of his injuries, and the fact he's still on the comeback.

Spin wise, we'll definitely have Leach assume he's back and fit in 6 months (be very worrying if he isn't). I would imagine they'll go Ahmed, he's got the talent and he won't find friendlier conditions than in India (and they played him in Pakistan). I'd much rather see Dawson in ahead of Bess if we take 3 frontline spinners, he's been performing to a higher standard the last few years.