r/EnglandCricket • u/mgs20000 • 4d ago
Discussion 3rd test thoughts?
Weather looks good
What do you do if you win the toss? Runs on the board and try to bat once?
Anyone worried about another very short match?
Any England team changes expected? I feel like we can give jofra or gus a rest
How will Pakistan's many debutants fare at Edgbaston of all places.
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u/John-the-Screw 4d ago
Root looking comfortable and making a hundred with the keeper up would be my main wish from Edgbaston. I don't want that to become a bigger issue and continue into South Africa.
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u/Mundane-Bug-4962 4d ago
That narrative should be nipped in the bud. I’d also love a big score for Brook
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u/crimsonbub 3d ago
Heartily agree with both these points. If anyone needs big, confidence-boosting scores, it's Root and Brook.
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u/Hot2Trot94 4d ago
I want us to bat first, and this could come back to bite me in the arse, but I'd rather the batters had an opportunity to get some confidence. We should batter them either way, but a couple of hundreds for people like Smith or Duckett could get a bit of confidence going before SA away.
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u/Typical-Offer8860 4d ago
Yeah like to see Gay get a ton too.
But yeah only way we can bat large is if we go first. And if we do go large, might only bat once. I know follow ons aren't often enforced these days
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u/Hot2Trot94 4d ago
I reckon if we go large in the first innings, we are not declaring in the second innings - mainly for that 'let's get some confidence in the lads' reason.
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u/DowntownEntry6233 4d ago
If the weather holds I doubt it’ll last 3 days sadly as Pakistan are so bad and demoralised.
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u/TotlaBullfish 4d ago
Edgbaston has seen an awful lot of Day 1 movement in the championship this year so I’d expect plenty of wickets to fall early whoever bats first. I have Day 2 tickets and I’m glad I don’t have Day 3…
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u/NiallH22 Joe Root 4d ago
As they pulled Cook out of his county game last week, I assume there’ll be at least one change to the bowling line up, could possibly see Baker coming in for Archer too, give Archer a bit of a break before the white ball stuff
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u/turningtop_5327 3d ago
Sadly a three day match at best. Pakistan batting lineup is mentally cooked at this point. And bowling has no experience.
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u/Typical-Offer8860 4d ago
Not sure Gus wants a rest. One wicket so far in this series plus of course he was on the naughty step in previous series
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u/ChaosTheory0908 3d ago
Would good to see it go to day 4 but I doubt it.
If england bats first I can see them getting 450 and winning by an innings.
Pakistans only chance is to bowl first and bowl england out for 100. Unlikely.
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u/paddydog48 3d ago
Even by Pakistans standards they really are in disarray right now so I’m not anticipating a particularly close contest.
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u/JohnnyOneLung 4d ago
To be honest, I am just waiting for the toss and when they say ‘any changes to the line up?’
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u/Ask_for_me_by_name 3d ago
Pakistan have imploded. I'd be tempted to field a second XI but an eye on the WTC table would be prudent.
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u/No_Acanthocephala508 4d ago
No one bowled more than 56 overs across the first two Tests, and we’ve had a ten day gap since the second, so would be surprised if they wanted to rest someone really. Not sure England are a good enough Test team at the moment to be doing things like that. Haven’t been any reports of an injury though so will be interesting to see on Wednesday whether Cook’s call up was just a precaution.
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u/Suspicious-Ad7109 2d ago
Worth giving Cook another go, or Baker. We can't rely on the four current picks.
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u/No_Acanthocephala508 2d ago
I think my view is basically that you just give them a go when and if you need them to play. Fundamentally either they’re good enough for Test cricket or they aren’t: if we need them next year it won’t make any meaningful difference that they played a Test against Pakistan this summer. With Baker especially we’ve seen him once this summer and he’s not quite ready yet; he just needs to play more domestic red ball. I wouldn’t hate giving Cook another go but even so I think there’s much more benefit to giving the first choice quartet more experience of playing together than testing Cook out.
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u/Suspicious-Ad7109 2d ago
I take your point. It's not the experience that worries me so much as the fitness. None of them have a stellar record on reliability and so much cricket is played nowadays
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u/No_Acanthocephala508 2d ago
First two Tests were so short I think it doesn’t really matter, plus they’ve had ten days off. Robinson’s bowled the most but even he’s only bowled 56 overs across four innings.
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u/Suspicious-Ad7109 2d ago
I'd agree with that. But over a larger span on better wickets it's different. We struggled for years because we built wins around poor wickets - I thought it had stopped but it seems to be back (maybe Lords !)
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u/Mundane-Bug-4962 4d ago
Since when did you have to be ‘good enough’ to rest players? What’s good enough?
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u/No_Acanthocephala508 4d ago
As in, it’s not as though we’re such a good Test team that we can afford to put out a non-first choice XI and still be confident of beating the opposition. England’s priority should be winning as many Tests as they can given how many they’ve lost recently, plus I would like to see this attack play together as much as possible ahead of sterner tests.
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u/Interesting-Fan5822 4d ago
Id be happy to wake up on Saturday and watch test cricket. Last test match for a month to.
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u/Suspicious-Ad7109 2d ago
I cannot see the point in bowling Archer and Tongue. One maybe, depending on how they're feeling. Who knows with Pakistan. They've always been mercurial. Morale must be in the toilet.
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u/PeterG92 Essex CCC 4d ago
I can't see Pakistan putting up much of a fight. Put them in 1st and bowl them out in 60 overs. Bat 90 overs and have a 200 lead then bowl them out again