I reckon any outcome which cruelly takes a prize away from NZ is pretty good.
Having to deal with their offshoot of our brand, it makes me so happy to remind them that they never actually win anything (of importance).
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Yeah this is actually the perfect storm. The Poms didn’t actually win the thing and NZ still haven’t got any silverware.
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Brought to you by the same guy who barracked for Hawthorn over Sydney!
England winning is never a good thing
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Yeah but they didn’t really win.
It does have the most hollowest of hollow victories about it.
Forget the 6 runs vs 5 runs issue, as there will be mistakes made. But the fact it was decided on most boundaries makes it a nonsense.
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yep. They conceded more wickets (bowled out in fact) in a game where both teams scored the exact same number of runs. They didn’t outscore their opponents and they no wickets left to do so at the end of their innings. It’s actually so backwards it’s not funny. But it is funny. Oh so funny.
Oh, in that case I bet they’ll temper their celebrations and not hand out 15 knighthoods…
I think Bancroft will get the gig but TBH I think all of Burns, Harris and Bancroft will be walking wickets in English conditions
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Agreed. Burns and Harris are walking wickets in any conditions.
So, only batsmen left not out at the end of the innings can bat in the super over? Oh, and you can’t bowl the super over if you’ve already finished your 10 over limit!
It would be hilarious watching numbers 10 and 11 trying to slog some medium-pace trundler for the World Cup trophy!
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That would be awesome and does make sense. Given cricket is meant to be about making the most runs with only having 10 wickets to lose, I am big fan of having only undismissed batsmen bat in the super over.
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Any of those guys will do tbh, not much separating them, so it may come down to their non-batting qualities.
England is in a more tenuous position needing to find two opening batsmen, potentially a number 3, and needing to settle their middle-order as well. Their middle order is also looking a bit thin, with Root being supported by Stokes, Buttler and Bairstow who may be their keeper at 5, 6, and 7. Moeen seems to be their preferred spinner at 8 and we know how he handles himself when faced off against Cummins and Starc.
Given a few of their first choice and fringe bowlers are handy with the bat they may select an allrounder like Sam Curran to bat at 7 and moving their keeper to six and batting Root at 3, Buttler at 4 and Stokes at 5 which makes their batting lineup look shallow.
Poms have focussed on the the World Cup so they may be caught unprepared for this home Ashes. Whereas, I feel like we have focussed more on the Ashes than on the World Cup.
I can see them playing Roy in the first test, which could go one of two ways. Hopefully if he does play we knock him over quickly.
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Yeah, they have been playing another South African, Jennings, who averages mid-30s in 1st Class. Considering they’ll likely only have Ali as their spinner I’d give the gloves to Buttler and play Bairstow as a batsman proper, Bairstow would then be their best fielder.
Roy, Burns, Root, Bairstow, Buttler+, Stokes, Curran, Ali, Woakes, Archer, Anderson pending fitness. And Broad warming the pine and fetching the drinks.
Would give them a long tail and plenty of bowling options which might offset their sketchy looking batting lineup. A lot of pressure rests on Root’s shoulders so he’ll need the others to take turns in chipping in with the occasional good innings.
I’m ■■■■■■■ praying they pick Roy.
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Foakes out of contention?
As am I. Would love to see Starc did him up.
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How many keepers can a team play?
Can’t see them playing Curran. That line up has too many bowling options and not enough batting.
They don’t have a lot of decent top-order options; Burns, Denly, Roy, and Jennings are all pretty crap and their middle-order options aren’t too dissimilar.
At least if they can bring in some bowling allrounders who may only contribute 20-30 runs late in an innings but they’ll add more with the ball than any other mediocre batsmen they bring in - who likely won’t contribute much more runs anyway.
It’d give them a complete bowling attack with 1x left-arm swing bowler (Curran), 2x right arm swing bowlers (Anderson/Woakes), 1x right arm fast swing/enforcer (Archer), 1x right arm medium/fast allrounder (Stokes) and 2x right arm parttime off spinners (Ali, Root).
If they are gonna win the series they are gonna need to bowl us out cheaply because I can’t see them making huge scores unless a few of their batsmen play out of their skins. Playing the extra bowler would also allow Stokes to focus his energies on his batting which has proven to be a thorn-in-side before.