The Cricket Team.

[Somerset Fulham]

He probably gave his Mrs a right hook, Bog.

[Plodder]

No, I agree with that entirely.  It is a horrendously weak middle order, but thats the point I was trying to make.

Forget Root in this conversation although there have been questionable decisions made as captain. He is clearly world class.

Stokes (ok, he gets a pass as he's been away for a long time), Bairstow and Buttler all have the tools to be top end middle order batsmen but they quite clearly aren't. I guess what I am trying to say is that to me at least, the sum of the parts is less than the individuals that make it and that means something is going very badly wrong somewhere.

I miss Ian Bell!

Ramprakash makes some perceptive points about Buttler in Test cricket in this article. In summary, Buttler has a lot of experience of situations in ODI and knows what to do when he needs to score at a run a ball or better, and can apply this experience in Tests when it is clear he has to go on the attack (e.g. against Pakistan in 2020) or just defend (e.g. in the second innings at Adelaide on this tour). In Tests where there is no obvious path, he is less experienced, less confident and struggles to play each ball on its merit.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/12/100-innings-facts-jos-buttler-not-test-batsman-england-ashes

Bell is a good example of someone attuned to the much wider range of scenarios thrown up by Test cricket.

[Somerset Fulham]

Thanks for that, an interesting read.

Its almost suggesting that he lacks a kind of intelligence as well as confidence to make the jump.

[Tonywa]

It would have helped if they had had some warm up games and be better prepared. May not have affected the outcome but at least they would have been ready.

The lack of warm-up games and the ludicrous structure of the county championship in today's game mean that many of the team had played no serious first class cricket since early September before leaving for the Ashes series.

[St Eve]

I don't want to get political but perhaps we can stop wasting time in parliament talking about parties and instead address the more serious matter of our test team and whether the money spent on the flight to Australia could be better spent.

Excellent point

[The Rational Fan]

No, I agree with that entirely.  It is a horrendously weak middle order, but thats the point I was trying to make.

Forget Root in this conversation although there have been questionable decisions made as captain. He is clearly world class.

Stokes (ok, he gets a pass as he's been away for a long time), Bairstow and Buttler all have the tools to be top end middle order batsmen but they quite clearly aren't. I guess what I am trying to say is that to me at least, the sum of the parts is less than the individuals that make it and that means something is going very badly wrong somewhere.

I miss Ian Bell!

Ramprakash makes some perceptive points about Buttler in Test cricket in this article. In summary, Buttler has a lot of experience of situations in ODI and knows what to do when he needs to score at a run a ball or better, and can apply this experience in Tests when it is clear he has to go on the attack (e.g. against Pakistan in 2020) or just defend (e.g. in the second innings at Adelaide on this tour). In Tests where there is no obvious path, he is less experienced, less confident and struggles to play each ball on its merit.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/12/100-innings-facts-jos-buttler-not-test-batsman-england-ashes

Bell is a good example of someone attuned to the much wider range of scenarios thrown up by Test cricket.

County Cricket use to play 28 games per season, and now they play 14 games per season, so naturally it takes twice as many seasons for a player to develop the same experience. Hence, if a player starts County Cricket at 18 years old he use to be reaching 100 games of experience by 24 years old, but now that is unlikely to happen until they are 30 years old. Jos Butler is 31 years old and played 122 first class games in his life and around half of those have been test matches. Results are talent, preparation and luck, but England's talent and preparation are so poor that "luck hasnt even got a chance".

[Somerset Fulham]

Totally amazed that 'yoyo' hasn't been rammed into that post.

[The Rational Fan]

Totally amazed that 'yoyo' hasn't been rammed into that post.

Even now we need the best YOYO players available, as I see little point in bringing in players (unless on a one-year loan) that will refuse to play for us in the Championship. We need to build a squad, even in the Premier League, that will fight for promotion if we end up in the Championship again and we don't need "EPL-only players" until we establish ourselves.