My old man reckons Cook wonāt be captain by the summer. Iāve bet Ā£20 with him that he will. I know thereās been a bit of chat about him stepping down, but I canāt see him going before heās done another Ashes, and his formās not bad enough to push him out. My dad reckons his āeyes have goneā.
He was last year, but that was the first time really. Heās another Iām putting down as āone good seasonā, but weāll see. The pitches in the CC were better for spin in general than they have been recently, maybe that will continue.
Rayner is another one for our ludicrously tall spinners club. 6ā5" according to wikipedia
Thatās what I was going to say. Iām not sure he does anything special but he gets crazy bounce.
Would be interested to see Moeenās batting av. breakdown based on batting position. Seems like he does a lot better batting up the order, and that heās therefore wasted at 7/8. I feel like heās good enough to be a specialist bat and they could get away with picking another spinner, even in English conditions.
Iām pretty sure they said om TMS yesterday that seven is by far his best position. Elsewhere heās in the 20s
this is from August, but still:
97.16: Aliās batting average at No. 7 in Tests - the highest by far for any batsman with at least 500 runs in that position - he has made 583 runs with three hundreds and two fifties at No.7. It is also the highest he averages in any batting position. Elsewhere in the order, Moeen averages 23.97, with 839 runs from 39 innings.
Interesting, my memory is extremely faulty. Thatās a huge difference as well.
I feel the same about Hameed at the moment tbh, heās only done it over 3 matches on Indian pitches, but he can only perform on what heās given, and he should definitely be in there for the start of the summerās tests, injuries allowing. Jennings, letās wait and see, but getting another top 4 batsman has been a pain in the arse for ages now.
I think Jimmy is on the way out, Iād probably play him in 2/4 or 3/5 tests, save him for the best conditions for him. Too slow if thereās no help from the pitch. Plus Wood is maybe the reverse, but fragile, so play him in the games that Anderson doesnāt.
Ali definitely has to play at the moment, offers too much with bat and ball to overlook him, and heās probably enough spinner for most english grounds (maybe stick in rashid as well for oval and old trafford).
Buttler is doing enough to be picked on batting alone. Iād be very tempted to give him the gloves and have Bairstow as a pure batsman at 5.
Cook*, Hameed, Jennings, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Ali, Buttler+, Woakes/Rashid/Ball/Finn, Broad, Anderson/Wood. Gives you 2 pacemen, Ali with spin, Stokes as an all rounder, plus one more proper bowler, but also gives you 8 proper batsmen (plus Woakes if you go that way).
Jennings SACKED.
āIt is only the third time a Test side have made 400 or more in their first innings and then lost by an inningsā
Thatās impressive even for us.
India just unplayable in these conditions