West Indies vs England, 3 test matches

[ioppolo]

April 13-17, Antigua
April 21-25, Grenada
May 1-5, Barbados

England squad:
Alastair Cook (c), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Jordan, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Mark Wood

West Indies is TBA.

My England XI:
Cook
Bell
Root
Trott
Lyth
Stokes
Buttler
Broad
Plunkett
Tredwell
Anderson

 

[Moist Biscuit]

Surely Trott opens with Cook?

 

[ioppolo]

Has he opened in tests before?

 

[Kyptastic]

Surely Ballance bats at three given his test form from last year.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

My England XI:
Cook
Bell
Root
Trott
Lyth
Stokes
Buttler
Broad
Plunkett
Tredwell
Anderson

Surely Trott opens with Cook?

Lyth is an opener, why would he not open?

 

[ioppolo]

Because I hadn't done any research

 

[Moist Biscuit]

Lyth is an opener, why would he not open?

Because I wasn't sure he would even get a game.

 

[Hellgood]

It's either going to be Trott or Lyth who opens with Cook in this series. My money is on it being Trott.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Can you imagine Trott opening with Cook? They'd be 0/30 at lunch. Wouldn't work. Lyth seems a more attacking option, have to go him.

 

[10Dulkar]

Trott opened in one test in Bangladesh in 2010.

 

[Surkin]

Cook
Trott/Lyth
Balance
Root
Bell
Butler
Stokes
Rashid
Jordan
Broad
Anderson

 

[ioppolo]

England have two 2-day tour matches (April 6-7 & 8-9) both against St Kitts & Nevis XI

 

[Jak!x]

Trott will get atleast the first two Tests to prove himself. This is a re-entry to international competition for him, they aren't going to have him tour and not play. Happy to see that Ballance was selected, although he did have a poor WC its good they've persisted. Happy to see Stokes back, should've never been dropped in the first place. I reckon they'll go with something like this -

Cook
Trott
Ballance
Root
Bell
Stokes
Butler
Rashid/Jordan
Plunkett/Jordan
Broad
Anderson

 

[frankrizzo]

Guess it all depends on whether trott and cook get it right before the ashes, if those two were back to near their best thats a pretty tough looking top 5 right there.

 

[The_Reaper]

would lol if they dropped Ballance.

Would be complete stupidity

 

[Freo Big Fella]

Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Root
Bell
Stokes
Butler+
Rashid
Broad
Anderson
Wood/Jordan


Great to see Trott selflessly volunteering to return against a quality side like the Windies. Would be an absolute waste if he gets the openers slot ahead of Lyth. Rashid and Wood/Jordan offers more than Tredwell and Plunkett as well.

 

[Hellgood]

Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Root
Bell
Stokes
Butler+
Rashid
Broad
Anderson
Wood/Jordan


Great to see Trott selflessly volunteering to return against a quality side like the Windies. Would be an absolute waste if he gets the openers slot ahead of Lyth. Rashid and Wood/Jordan offers more than Tredwell and Plunkett as well.

Not sure on the crack at Trott. He's taken his time off, played and done well in a full season of county cricket then led the Lions squad over in South Africa. It's the logical time to make his return to international cricket.

I think Plunkett has a bit to offer at test level too. It's obviously pretty close between the three of them for the third seamer role, but think he's a very good chance to be the one they give the nod to.

 

[ioppolo]

Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Root
Bell
Stokes
Butler+
Rashid
Broad
Anderson
Wood/Jordan


Great to see Trott selflessly volunteering to return against a quality side like the Windies. Would be an absolute waste if he gets the openers slot ahead of Lyth. Rashid and Wood/Jordan offers more than Tredwell and Plunkett as well.

What does Rashid have over Tredwell? Being a left arm orthodox over off spin?

 

[Hellgood]

Rashid is a leg spinner... Pretty handy batsman too.

Not to mention Tredwell doesn't even get regular games in FC cricket for his county.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Root
Bell
Stokes
Butler+
Rashid
Broad
Anderson
Wood/Jordan


Great to see Trott selflessly volunteering to return against a quality side like the Windies. Would be an absolute waste if he gets the openers slot ahead of Lyth. Rashid and Wood/Jordan offers more than Tredwell and Plunkett as well.

They could hardly wait till the Ashes to give Trott another pop at test cricket. Even the ECB isn't that dumb.

 

[happy_eagle]

Can you imagine Trott opening with Cook? They'd be 0/30 at lunch. Wouldn't work. Lyth seems a more attacking option, have to go him.

Yeh Cook and Robson didnt work because of the same issue. Both are quality players but too negative to bat with each other. One thing that Australia did so well over the years has been developing opening partnerships where one batsman plays his shots and the other occupies the crease

Hayden/Langer
Katich/Watson
Warner/Rogers

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Yeh Cook and Robson didnt work because of the same issue. Both are quality players but too negative to bat with each other. One thing that Australia did so well over the years has been developing opening partnerships where one batsman plays his shots and the other occupies the crease

Hayden/Langer
Katich/Watson
Warner/Rogers

Over all, Hayden was probably at about 60 and Langer was about 58 sr when they opened. It's a myth that Hayden was the basher and Langer was the stick in the mud.

They played different roles, depending on the attack or game situation, but it wasn't down to Hayden always being the attacker.

 

[The_Reaper]

Cook/Robson didn't work out because Robson isn't test class.

 

[happy_eagle]

Over all, Hayden was probably at about 60 and Langer was about 58 sr when they opened. It's a myth that Hayden was the basher and Langer was the stick in the mud.

They played different roles, depending on the attack or game situation, but it wasn't down to Hayden always being the attacker.

Hayden played more aggressive shots early in the innings to get the scoreboard moving
Once Langer got his eye in, you are correct, he and Hayden went at similar rates

 

[Sweet Jesus]

Geoffrey Boycott hasn't missed too many in this piece...

The public are dispirited and disenchanted with what they have witnessed this winter. Downton, Whitaker, Moores and Cook have been comforting each other by informing us all that England are a young team while, at the same time, being negative about Kevin Pietersen. But they are leading a losing team and some, if not all, will be sacked if we do not start playing good cricket. Beating the West Indies will not be enough because it is how we play against New Zealand and Australia that will determine if they keep their jobs.