The creekit

[Bobbycollins]

So are you saying test players should play more county cricket?
Is that they don’t down to the players, counties, ECB or ICC?

(I think they should too btw)

The main problem with cricket is that I'm getting old. I don't enjoy T20, I don't enjoy shivering on a cold evening at Headingley watching a day/night thrash and I don't enjoy Yorkshire cricket being terrible.

As regards Test cricket, I think there are too many matches, partly due to the international championship that no one knows or cares about. At one time players used to go abroad to play on pitches and in conditions that differed from home, however the current fashion is for players to join a T20 circus in whichever country they can find a contract and merely heave a white ball into the stands.

I agree with the idea of reducing the number of County Championship sides, especially as half are probably in financial trouble but as the public generally have a low attention span and the County Championship is given so little attention from either TV or the ECB, I'm not sure about a solution.

[Tommy]

Absolutely bonkers not picking Sam Curran until now. I suspect he’d have changed the result of one of these matches at least. Would love to know the reasoning behind it considering how good he was for England last year.

[rss1969]

Absolutely bonkers not picking Sam Curran until now. I suspect he’d have changed the result of one of these matches at least. Would love to know the reasoning behind it considering how good he was for England last year.

Was strange to not pick him in the world cup games either.

He has a very good habit of making things happen and swings the ball.

[dirty leeds]

Nice to see Smith get a proper round of applause today.

[eric olthwaite]

Nice to see Smith get a proper round of applause today.

Serfisticated, yer Sarf Lahndan, innit.

[dirty leeds]

Nice to see Smith get a proper round of applause today.

Serfisticated, yer Sarf Lahndan, innit.

[Eddies Boots]

Absolutely bonkers not picking Sam Curran until now. I suspect he’d have changed the result of one of these matches at least. Would love to know the reasoning behind it considering how good he was for England last year.

Was strange to not pick him in the world cup games either.

He has a very good habit of making things happen and swings the ball.

It was his brother Tom in the WC squad and never played.
But we won, so all good.

[eric olthwaite]

Big, big short session coming up. Six down inside an hour?

[metalsmurf]

The Aussies have a better bowling unit, the difference in the batting has been Smith. I'm sure I will be corrected......

[rss1969]

Absolutely bonkers not picking Sam Curran until now. I suspect he’d have changed the result of one of these matches at least. Would love to know the reasoning behind it considering how good he was for England last year.

Was strange to not pick him in the world cup games either.

He has a very good habit of making things happen and swings the ball.

It was his brother Tom in the WC squad and never played.
But we won, so all good.

I stand corrected!

Sam has done well in tests over the last 12-18 months though if memory serves me well and it is strange that Overton got in ahead of him.

We need a bit of a rebuild with younger players coming in throughout the team.

[rss1969]

The Aussies have a better bowling unit, the difference in the batting has been Smith. I'm sure I will be corrected......

Aussie batting other than Smith has been shocking. Labuschagne was a massive bonus ball that they got lucky with but he has not posted a big score still.

The rest of them must have the worst collective batting average of any winning ashes team in history................and yeah we will both be corrected..........

[kennyb41]

England team going forward.

Burns
Bairstow
Root
Leach
Stokes
Buttler
Foakes
Curran
Woakes
Archer
Broad.

[Bobbycollins]

I'm not sure about Foakes, who is only averaging something like high 20s in the County Championship and Bairstow thrives on being totally involved, i.e. needs to keep the gloves. However Bairstow needs to improve his technique against the new ball before being considered as an opener. Leach at 4 would be silly, assuming the openers have done their job, as 4,5 and 6 should be taking the game away from the opposition by batting long whilst amassing high scores. As regards Woakes, I think he should stick to ODIs. Have you forgotten about Mark Wood? (admitedly he is the cricket equivalent of Andy Carroll).

[kennyb41]

Not silly re Leach, responsibility seems to bring the best out of him and i really feel he has potential to throw a big innings in, options Vince and Denly don't exactly set the world on fire. Cue Denly century today.

[Tommy]

Lots of folk on social media outraged about the Cons retaining the Ashes but I reckon it’ll finish 2-2 and if even one toss had gone the other way England would have won it, regardless of Smith’s brilliance. Likewise if we’d used Curran before this match. I don’t think it needs the total overhaul that some are making out. This looked like a bit of a WC hangover in a transitional year and nowt more.

[eric olthwaite]

50 opening partnership before the collapse? Madness.

[Devi]

50 opening partnership before the collapse? Madness.

Until this morning, the highest opening partnership of the summer was the Irish pair in the one off test...

[Bobbycollins]

Lots of folk on social media outraged about the Cons retaining the Ashes but I reckon it’ll finish 2-2 and if even one toss had gone the other way England would have won it, regardless of Smith’s brilliance. Likewise if we’d used Curran before this match. I don’t think it needs the total overhaul that some are making out. This looked like a bit of a WC hangover in a transitional year and nowt more.

I can't see a total overhaul, mainly due to the lack of suitable batsmen. County Champioship division 1 batting averages are dominated by batsmen who have played a handful of games, however of those with 10 or more games, Gary Ballance would be third in the averages, Alastair Cook 5th and Adam Lyth 6th - none of those 3 will be picked for England.

[eric olthwaite]

Devi’s there today, right?

Don’t fuck it up chap.

[eric olthwaite]

Positive development