I’d take that opening the bowling or batting 
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Sibley and Burns motoring along.
Crawley must be under some serious pressure now. Outside of that huge 200 he got last year it’s been a pretty bleak return in terms of runs.
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I have to admit I like the New Zealand team. They have a lot of good players and they approach the game in exactly the right way. Would be perfectly happy if they beat England and vice versa.
It would be great if England could manage to have an innings without the usual middle order collapse, but it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion.
Nothing much wrong with the bowling to be honest, 400 should have been the minimum on that batting first and they would have been set with that, anyhow 17-2 already and sadly one is the man in form in Burns.
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Wasn’t a great shot by Burns, easily could have left that. Twice in the match he’s had a needless nibble. Good ball to Sibley but his technique has got him out there. Neither of them can seem to find any sort of real consistency, a decent score often followed by numerous low returns and repeat. The same problem they have with Pope.
England’s batting line up is a real concern ahead of the India series and the Ashes. Will be so reliant on Root, Stokes and anything they can get from the likes of Woakes and Curran who probably won’t even play in Australia.
What an awful review that was. Absolutely plumb dead, should be the last of Crawley we see for a while in the test match arena.
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It’s a shame about Crawley. He promised so much. Still young, but plenty of work to do. England’s batting is very fragile at the moment and unless Pope and Lawrence come good, this will be a short match.
I think he might just be another player who is better suited to the shorter format. He has a really good record for Kent in the T20 blast, but averages the same in FC cricket at just over 31. Not sure if at the age of 21 that those numbers should really propel you into the test team.
I get that sometimes a player might not have great numbers but you can get a gut feel about them or spot a technique that might succeed on the international stage, like Vaughan or Trescothick in years gone by, but I’m just not sure what they saw that convinced them to select him ahead of more seasoned pros who have consistently churned out runs in the CC with averages over 40.
Eh, bit unlucky there. Looked high to me. But again a promising start for Pope not converted into a big score.
I really don’t mind NZ winning, but England have been pathetic. Very worrying with Ashes coming up.
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Yup, the bowlers gave a chance and yet they aren’t far off an innings defeat.
Bye bye Bracey
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It’s frustrating that we haven’t been able to put out our first choice team. Buttler and Stokes would have significantly strengthened that middle order. Still think Moeen should be a consistent pick as well, providing he’s comfortable from a psychological point of view.
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Just swing for the fences now, put us all out of our misery.
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I think I’d want Malan given another shot as well. Something like this…
Burns
Crawley
Stokes
Root
Malan
Buttler
Ali
Woakes
Wood/Archer
Broad
Anderson
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Yep setting up nicely for the kiwis as far as the WTC is concerned.
India will lack match practice after being in quarantine etc and will find the situation tougher to adapt.
It’s hard to believe that Malan isn’t a better bet than the current middle order batsmen.
Not convinced that Ali will ever make it back. A real shame, but it’s been painful to watch him disintegrate lately. How we could do with a top class spinner who can also bat a bit.
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I would consider taking Malan over for the Ashes given how he performed there last time. He was another in a long line of players that didn’t do that well over here though. 15 test matches with an average under 28 is as poor a record as all of the current crop, not sure his game has changed that much since then either.
He’s a lot more experienced, and has faced the Aussie bowlers in various conditions. Clutching at straws maybe, but this is a crisis.
Saw an analysis that Nasser & Co did at skysports that showed that quite a lot of English batsmen and county level were getting LBW mainly because they were standing on off stump in their stance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehWkuHa2Jkw
maybe it helps to see why there haven’t been suitable batsmen coming into the england side.