creeeeeeeekeeeeeet

[TANGODANCER]

2-1 down and not shaping too well right now. 194 for the W.I. to chase. They're 60 for 0.

[TANGODANCER]

2-2. England win by 34 runs. Decider tomorrow.

[Worthy4England]

Regicide. The King of Spain is dead. Long live the King.

[Worthy4England]

No Burns, Hameed, Malan, Buttler, Broad and Jimmy...

Add the managerial axe for Gilo, Silverwood and Thorpe, that's a lot of casualties

[BWFC_Insane]

No Burns, Hameed, Malan, Buttler, Broad and Jimmy...

Add the managerial axe for Gilo, Silverwood and Thorpe, that's a lot of casualties

I really don’t get leaving Broad and Anderson out. Surely their experience alone is something for the younger bowlers to learn from?

Even if they only played a test each…worth having them. And seemingly they wanted to go….

Leaving out what are still our best two bowlers seems a bit odd. If you want to try young lads then surely have them there for the experience.

[Worthy4England]

No Burns, Hameed, Malan, Buttler, Broad and Jimmy...

Add the managerial axe for Gilo, Silverwood and Thorpe, that's a lot of casualties

I really don’t get leaving Broad and Anderson out. Surely their experience alone is something for the younger bowlers to learn from?

Even if they only played a test each…worth having them. And seemingly they wanted to go….

Leaving out what are still our best two bowlers seems a bit odd. If you want to try young lads then surely have them there for the experience.

I suspect the principle is "We're that low, another "shock" in the West Indies won't come as a shock".....One of Broad and Anderson have been our leading wicket takers for 14? I think years....I don't think they've been "dropped forever" but it does seem strange - it's not that for a bowler, you don't get more chances than a batsman (if you get a duck you're done until next time)...so playing at least one of them would have seemed a better option to me....

Will be a lot of pressure on Lees and I guess they've gone all in on Crawley as an opener...That'll be interesting in WI.

When we get to Wk, I assume they're thinking Foakes rather than Bairstow (although I'd probably argue both better than Jos at Wicket-Keeping) - Bairstow came away from the Ashes with a respectable 48.5 average? ...but only played twice - go figure.

[jimbo]

It’s certainly an interesting squad. Anderson and Broad were top performers in Australia, and Anderson is still consistently our best bowler. Yes he’s old but he’s still the best. Dropping him would be based on his age rather than anything else. Given they’ve both not got many more series in them, they’ll be gutted to miss out.

Something else that caught my eye is the loss of experienced heads around Root. His captaincy has always been the weakest part of his game, but now he’s lost Buttler, Anderson, Broad and Burns who will have been the main part of the leadership team. If things don’t go to plan he could end up quite isolated.

[Prufrock]

Seen arguments justifying leaving them out with "we know what they can both do" as if we're constantly looking ahead to future series. Might be nice to try to win some test matches in the hear and now.

[Worthy4England]

It’s certainly an interesting squad. Anderson and Broad were top performers in Australia, and Anderson is still consistently our best bowler. Yes he’s old but he’s still the best. Dropping him would be based on his age rather than anything else. Given they’ve both not got many more series in them, they’ll be gutted to miss out.

Something else that caught my eye is the loss of experienced heads around Root. His captaincy has always been the weakest part of his game, but now he’s lost Buttler, Anderson, Broad and Burns who will have been the main part of the leadership team. If things don’t go to plan he could end up quite isolated.

That last part and Jimmy/Broady being left out. I'm sort of wondering whether there's any tie in with his belief the bowlers weren't dropping it in the right place, when he had a pop at them...

I think both Burns and Jos averaged under 20? Can't really justify keeping them in on that basis just for their reading of the game. But a point well made and whichever way you look at it, people will have to step up and fill that gap.

[nicholaldo]

I see Stuart Broad's whinging in the press about not being selected again.

[Worthy4England]

Good to know we've sorted our top order problems out at 27-3. Great 100 from Bairstow. (Whipser it) Maybe he is finding his old form again...

268-6. Better than I feared it might be, but still a great opportunity to be AO for under 300.

[TANGODANCER]

Good to know we've sorted our top order problems out at 27-3. Great 100 from Bairstow. (Whipser it) Maybe he is finding his old form again...

268-6. Better than I feared it might be, but still a great opportunity to be AO for under 300.

Still ticking past 300 with Jack Leach and his glasses yet to bat. Different Stokes for different Foakes..

[Worthy4England]

Good to know we've sorted our top order problems out at 27-3. Great 100 from Bairstow. (Whipser it) Maybe he is finding his old form again...

268-6. Better than I feared it might be, but still a great opportunity to be AO for under 300.

Still ticking past 300 with Jack Leach and his glasses yet to bat. Different Stokes for different Foakes..

Just clicked past, with Mr Leach at the wicket....

[TANGODANCER]

Worrying we still rely on saviours rather than contributary/collective batting. Not a bad outcome so far though. Great display from J.B.

[Worthy4England]

311 AO - and in amongst that was 91-8. Lost the first 4 for 48 and the last 4 for 43...Bairstow papered over the huge cracks with a 140 in the middle.

[Worthy4England]

Seems like they've determined that Woakes can't bowl! 7.67 an over. We were 3 down by this stage!

[TANGODANCER]

133-4 in reply. Could go either way as ever...

[TANGODANCER]

217-1 makes a draw pretty certain. Can't see any other result unless .....

[Worthy4England]

Good batting today from Crawley and Root. 150 in front with 9 wickets and Stokes and Bairstow in the shed, could make it at least interesting, even if it does end all square...

[Worthy4England]

No Wood, No Robinson, so Saqib Mahmood in for the second test. Great to see the "drop Broad and Anderson" plan working so slick.