How far away are we from being a team to give the Aussies a stern test in the Ashes next year?

AytonMews said:
Biggest issues -

1. Pope and Crawley. The Aussies will be all over those two. They seem to lack the confidence and innate self belief of the rest of the top order. I think Bethal will come in for one of them at some point, who has that in spades.

2. Mark wood and Jofra Archer fitness. I think they’ll both need to play at least 3 of the 5 tests to give us a chance.



Positives -

1. I think in Duckett, Bethal, Root, Brook, Stokes and Smith we now have the makings of a seriously strong and entertaining top 6/7

2. Picking 2 from Carse, Atkinson and Woakes to come in at 8 and 9 alongside Wood / Archer and the spinner give you really long batting lineup. Too many times our tail gets blown away for about 20 runs by starc and Cummins
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Woakes should be nowhere near an Ashes in Oz. His record is dreadful and he's getting on now.

Potts has to go as Woakes replacement.

If we can have Wood playing in 3 tests we'll have done well I think with his injury record and age.

What happened to Pennington? He's injured isn't he but how badly? He was thought to be next cab of the rank wasn't he?

In terms of batting they will keep Pope in the team, as like Crawley he seems undroppable. To get the best of him Root should go 3, brook 4, stokes 5, Pope 6. He looks so much better down there. Whether they do that who knows
 
Atkinson at 8, Carse at 9, spinner at 11 with Potts as back up for 2 seamers seem nailed on for Australia.
With that in mind it is highly unlikely that any of our fastest bowlers at 10, could maintain fitness through a full Ashes series, so how about a different approach.
Would it be possible/sensible to give the fastest bowlers 1 early test each to concentrate on and get fit for.
Wood at 10 for Perth 1st test
Archer at 10 for Brisbane 2nd test
Then use Potts at 10 for Adelaide 3rd test
After that consider best option from Wood, Archer, Potts for Melbourne 4th test and possibly different option for Sydney 5th test with whoever is in form and more importantly fit.
That way none are asked to play more than twice in the series and with plenty of recovery in between tests.
 
Obvious to state, but a lot will depend on our batting, particularly the top 3. If they all get out early (which is possible), puts massive pressure on Root and Brook. They won't be able to save us all the time. I think the bowlers will do okay. Just the batting, I'm not sure of against a good Aussie attack.
 
Chemicalworker said:
Probably TNT
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RotherhamBoro said:
Woakes should be nowhere near an Ashes in Oz. His record is dreadful and he's getting on now.

Potts has to go as Woakes replacement.

If we can have Wood playing in 3 tests we'll have done well I think with his injury record and age.

What happened to Pennington? He's injured isn't he but how badly? He was thought to be next cab of the rank wasn't he?

In terms of batting they will keep Pope in the team, as like Crawley he seems undroppable. To get the best of him Root should go 3, brook 4, stokes 5, Pope 6. He looks so much better down there. Whether they do that who knows
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No way will Root be batting anywhere but at 4, as is his prerogative as our best player. More likely that Stokes and Pope swap positions, but that won't happen either. I think its a shoot out between Bethell and Pope for 3rd spot, with Pope rightly or wrongly winning.
 
davidmills said:
Atkinson at 8, Carse at 9, spinner at 11 with Potts as back up for 2 seamers seem nailed on for Australia.
With that in mind it is highly unlikely that any of our fastest bowlers at 10, could maintain fitness through a full Ashes series, so how about a different approach.
Would it be possible/sensible to give the fastest bowlers 1 early test each to concentrate on and get fit for.
Wood at 10 for Perth 1st test
Archer at 10 for Brisbane 2nd test
Then use Potts at 10 for Adelaide 3rd test
After that consider best option from Wood, Archer, Potts for Melbourne 4th test and possibly different option for Sydney 5th test with whoever is in form and more importantly fit.
That way none are asked to play more than twice in the series and with plenty of recovery in between tests.
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That's assuming that Carse and Atkinson are going to play 5 tests each, which won't happen. I don't think Potts is punchy enough to be successful in Australia but very happy to be proven wrong.

A lot can happen in a year and they're likely keeping their eyes on the likes of Stone, Hull and Tongue to see if they can find some form. If all are miraculously fit, an arsenal of Carse, Atkinson, Wood, Archer and another 90mph+ bowler is unprecedented for us.
 
35to39 said:
No way will Root be batting anywhere but at 4, as is his prerogative as our best player. More likely that Stokes and Pope swap positions, but that won't happen either. I think its a shoot out between Bethell and Pope for 3rd spot, with Pope rightly or wrongly winning.
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Oh I don't think root will bat at 3 either. I just think that if you're going to get any meaningful runs out of Pope you cant play him at 3. But they won't drop him and if root stays at 4 then they will have to put him at 3.

Stokes should stay at 6, especially if he's bowling.
 
Think it will be too soon for him but James Rew will be getting a call up at some point soon (and probably his younger brother too several years down the line.
 
Having seen England absolutely demolish a NZ side that were previously in great nick, away from home, at the moment I want the ashes to start tomorrow.

The problem with the ashes is all the pressure and noise that surrounds it, and the mind games etc. If you take that away and just stick our best team in there then we stand a good chance I would say. But in Australia, then Australia are always going to be favourites.
 
RotherhamBoro said:
Woakes should be nowhere near an Ashes in Oz. His record is dreadful and he's getting on now.

Potts has to go as Woakes replacement.

If we can have Wood playing in 3 tests we'll have done well I think with his injury record and age.

What happened to Pennington? He's injured isn't he but how badly? He was thought to be next cab of the rank wasn't he?

In terms of batting they will keep Pope in the team, as like Crawley he seems undroppable. To get the best of him Root should go 3, brook 4, stokes 5, Pope 6. He looks so much better down there. Whether they do that who knows
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People have said it about Root for years, and they said it about KP for years before that. Root won't bat at 3.

Might be worth trying Brook there, but you run the risk of upsetting his progress if he has a mare. That said, he is arguably too good to be coming in at 5.
 
Not a massive fan myself but I think they’re more or less happy with Pope at 3.

The whole ethos of Bazball is basically go for it, hope a couple your batters can get in and go big, and don’t worry about the others.

Pope does exactly that; 4 or 5 big match-altering scores in the last year or so, if he can pull one off in the Ashes he can basically win you a test.
 
As per my previous post, Pope shouldn't be in at 3. His temperament does lend itself to the compusre needed there, particularly given that Crawley and Duckett will play at everything. There is clearly a huge amount of talent in Pope but he's been around an age now and I would have thought he'd have worked out how to play a situation rather than his naturally aggressive game all the time. If the team management are content with the prospect of been three down for a very few runs, who are we to argue otherwise? Mind, if you have Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Atkinson and Carse in at 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 maybe the top three are just a bonus if they get runs? For what it's worth I think Crawley and Duckett will do well in Oz.
 
atypical_boro said:
But for a team who isn't used to those fast paced wickets?
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The faster paced wickets of Australia are much closer to what we play in England than the sub-continent is.
I think Crawley and Duckett could potentially knock up some big scores quickly. Crawley will enjoy getting forward on the front foot on those quicker wickets.

I really like our chances in the Ashes personally.
Root at 4 and Brook at 5 is the best middle order in the world.
The top order will look better in Australia than they have done in the sub-continent.
 
B_G said:
The faster paced wickets of Australia are much closer to what we play in England than the sub-continent is.
I think Crawley and Duckett could potentially knock up some big scores quickly. Crawley will enjoy getting forward on the front foot on those quicker wickets.

I really like our chances in the Ashes personally.
Root at 4 and Brook at 5 is the best middle order in the world.
The top order will look better in Australia than they have done in the sub-continent.
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Hope so!
 
RotherhamBoro said:
Oh I don't think root will bat at 3 either. I just think that if you're going to get any meaningful runs out of Pope you cant play him at 3. But they won't drop him and if root stays at 4 then they will have to put him at 3.

Stokes should stay at 6, especially if he's bowling.
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Stokes is batting at 7 now isn't he?
 
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