England's Summer of Cricket against Sri Lanka and India

[captainfog]

Why not bring him in and try to sort it then, rather than doing the standard and letting him go it alone.

Its similar to KP in that regard. We cant fix him, so **** him off.

He's not up to bowling for England. Maybe England should be doing more to help him, I don't know, but playing him is probably not the solution.

Also his fielding is a liability, you can't have an international cricketer who fields that badly. He costs us at least one wicket every test match he plays.

[captainfog]

Monty should be in because he's the best spinner we've got.

I don't watch county cricket but I will never accept the hopeless Moeen is the best out there

Kerrigan had a great season and was discarded after one disastrous, nerve-strewn match. He at least should be given a proper chance. He is a spinner, a proper spinner. Not this half and half BS.

He's not fit and not bowling great for Essex either. Forget Monty. He's not an option at the moment.

I think you'd better start accepting it. They had a round table discussion about this on ESPN lead by Mark Butcher who, like you, can't believe that Moeen is the best spinner we have. He is incredulous about the current spin situation. After a 10 minute chat about it with Dobell and Gnasher I think they all pretty much agreed there simply isn't anyone out there. Gnasher and Dobell both watch a lot of county cricket and Butch, like you, was saying what about this guy? His figures aren't bad etc etc and Gnash and George weren't confident about any of them being able to take the step up. They all rate Kerrigan but they all think there is a good chance the Indians would annihilate him this summer.

[Shaggy]

Well the Indians are annihilating Moeen

There is no way he's the best option, and I'd bet any money he won't be in the team (as the spin option) going into the Ashes next summer. Guaranteed. So let's start finding the answer now. Cos it sure as hell ain't Moeen.

[Zapater]

I'm not that familiar with him, but he looked very good against Sri Lanka in that final innings under pressure. He definitely has some ability with the bat. In the other games he got off to a good start and threw his wicket away. Which is neither here nor there when you consider other English batsmen have done more or less the same, some worse I suppose.

When it comes to bowling he seems useful, but not a front line spinner. He could be similar to what JP Duminy does for South Africa. The captain gets important overs out of him and he picks up valuable wickets. No one is expecting him to hold up an end for 10 overs or bowl teams out on spinning tracks. It's not really fair to him to select him as a spinner, it should either be for batting, or not at all.

In addition to the fact it's more difficult than ever for spinners to break into teams as oppositions try to end their career before it starts to prevent the risk of top class spinners developing. This has been a tactic since the late 90s which pretty much means batsmen will try to belt them out of the attack in the first few overs of each spell, making it very difficult. This also partially results in all these average one day type of spinners which we see in tests these days. Making reference to guys like Lyon and Hauritz playing ahead of Krejza for Australia.

322/6 Jedeja gone - soft dismissal.

[captainfog]

Well the Indians are annihilating Moeen

There is no way he's the best option, and I'd bet any money he won't be in the team (as the spin option) going into the Ashes next summer. Guaranteed. So let's start finding the answer now. Cos it sure as hell ain't Moeen.

Abd yet his figures for this match are almost identical to Swanns in the corresponding fixture in 2011

[Zapater]

Great fielding from Anderson, direct hit.

Listening to Strauss is making me laugh, I keep on imagining him to end off his sentence with "...and KP, that guy is an absolute cunt" haha.

[Shaggy]

Another one.

For all the negativity........8 down for about 350 is great going. 400 looks par.

[captainfog]

Great fielding from Anderson, direct hit.

Listening to Strauss is making me laugh, I keep on imagining him to end off his sentence with "...and KP, that guy is an absolute cunt" haha.

[captainfog]

Another one.

For all the negativity........8 down for about 350 is great going. 400 looks par.

Did you see the last ball of Stokes' over? Kept so low. Doesn't bode well for batting last.

[Shaggy]

Aye, Prior has been taking them at ankle height.

No doubt we'll crumble whatever the pitch does.

[Shaggy]

347-9. Great going. India have had a series of brain freezes, but still - credit Cook and the bowlers. Good stuff.

[RichC]

He's not a long term solution but I'd be tempted with Treadwell he's got to be better than Moeen.

[Buzzo]

India approaching 400 last wicket stand of +50.

[Shaggy]

409-9

[Shaggy]

We always seem to struggle with the 10th wicket. Was just wondering what the average against us is and I saw this:

BBC TMS @bbctms
Since the Edgbaston test of 2012 the average 10th wicket partnership against England is 31 #bbccricket