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bewlay

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He seems like a good guy, doesn’t he?

Thought it was great to see England playing some seriously hard-nosed cricket. They’ve got a seriously good attack to choose from, and Archer’s really added a bit of edge. He gave a couple of those Aussies a right going over, and that’s something we haven’t seen since Flintoff. Warner and Bancroft both looked utterly overmatched.

A fit Anderson and a fit Archer, and a confident Broad, and then Woakes and Stokes. You have to like that. It’d be great for Ali to find some form, because that allows you to play all of them at once.

Their biggest problems are still at the top of the order. Burns looks steady enough now, Roy is still finding his feet and Denly continues to struggle. Of course, if you can keep getting the opposition out cheaply it eases a lot of pressure on the batsmen.

If Denly plays he is as well opening IMO, then let Roy and Root come in at 3 & 4.
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Denly has been okay IMO. Was one of England’s better scorers this Test. I’d agree he’s probably better opening with Roy at 4 though. Now that Buttler and Bairstow seem to have scored a bit more, Roy and Root are the only real form worries right now.

If Smith is okay for the 3rd Test, does Labuschagne play as well now? Can’t see any of Khawaja, Head, Wade or obviously Paine being dropped. Warner and Bancroft have been awful but they’re openers.

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Denly has been okay IMO. Was one of England’s better scorers this Test. I’d agree he’s probably better opening with Roy at 4 though. Now that Buttler and Bairstow seem to have scored a bit more, Roy and Root are the only real form worries right now.

If Smith is okay for the 3rd Test, does Labuschagne play as well now? Can’t see any of Khawaja, Head, Wade or obviously Paine being dropped. Warner and Bancroft have been awful but they’re openers.
Yep, the two openers have been their worst performers. The others have had good and bad scores so far. Paine has struggled as much as anyone but they aren't going to drop the captain.
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Denly has been okay IMO. Was one of England’s better scorers this Test. I’d agree he’s probably better opening with Roy at 4 though. Now that Buttler and Bairstow seem to have scored a bit more, Roy and Root are the only real form worries right now.

If Smith is okay for the 3rd Test, does Labuschagne play as well now? Can’t see any of Khawaja, Head, Wade or obviously Paine being dropped. Warner and Bancroft have been awful but they’re openers.


If Smith was concussed yesterday, you’d have thought there’d be zero chance of him playing in the third test. Delayed concussions in other sports usually require a week to two weeks of down time.
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I thought the BBC said that the new concussion protocol meant that if it was indeed concussion he is not meant to return til a week has passed, but I'm not sure if that's wishful thinking or whatever. Also not sure if it means he can be named but maybe can't bat until later? So if Paine wins the toss and bowls, Smith would be able to come into bat on the Friday maybe?

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If Smith was concussed yesterday, you’d have thought there’d be zero chance of him playing in the third test. Delayed concussions in other sports usually require a week to two weeks of down time.


Smith was giving off the impression that he’d be back, but he’s probably not going to say otherwise. As someone mentioned earlier, it means Australia are without their real captain (Paine is not the captain) and that’ll affect them in the field as well as his batting.
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I wouldn't be all that shocked to see Curran in for Buttler for the next test. I don't think it's much of a downgrade with the bat at the moment, but he'd be a good extra dimension to the bowling attack (I'd be bowling him ahead of Stokes)

As already said, Smith missing is huge as he's been captain in all but name so far, as well as his obvious contributions with the bat.

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I wouldn't be all that shocked to see Curran in for Buttler for the next test. I don't think it's much of a downgrade with the bat at the moment, but he'd be a good extra dimension to the bowling attack (I'd be bowling him ahead of Stokes)
As already said, Smith missing is huge as he's been captain in all but name so far, as well as his obvious contributions with the bat.


I’d be fairly stunned by that, conversely. I think Curran is really pushing Broad (who has gone from test-to-test to undroppable) and Woakes (who has done nothing wrong).

Curran for Woakes might make sense if they fancy another variety in their bowling, but for me I think the team has a nice balance as is.

Smith missing out is no surprise, and possibly a game changer in the sense that he really has held that middle order together. I would have thought Bancroft and Warner will be sweating for their places, but it’s tough to drop both openers especially if you have an enforced change as well.

Interesting test match ahead.
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That’s the rain on again, 39/2 with Harris and Khawaja both out for 8.

 

Over in Colombo, SL are 85/2 at Stumps. Karunaratne (a very fine test player) currently on 49*.

 

In Antigua, the WI-India Test has just started. Interesting that India have gone with Vihari and Pant over Rohit and Saha, probably right choices though. They’ve also gone with Jadeja over Kuldeep and Ashwin. Agarwal still opens in the absence of Shaw.

 

1. Rahul

2. Agarwal

3. Pujara

4. Kohli [emoji767]

5. Rahane

6. Vihari

7. Pant (WK)

8. Jadeja

9. Ishant

10. Shami

11. Bumrah

 

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