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Crazy idea, but not the worst I have read for sure, I agree that Root isn't the best captain, would like to see Buttler given the responsibility, he seems to be Morgans clear second in command in one dayers, and seems to have a good cricketing brain.
For me the questions for the second test are;Best position for Roy, I think it is 4, so that means (another!) new opener, think Sibley is next cab off the rank
Ali's form, in the past he always seems to be in form with at least bat or ball, at the moment he has neither, so swap him for Leach, who can't bat any worse, probably won't bowl as many magic balls as Ali can, but at least has the ability to be consistent and hold an end up.
Denley: I'm not convinced he is test class, so would drop him, if they move Roy to 4 then Sibley replaces him, if not I would be tempted to bring in Curran, admittedly another all rounder, but I can't see him scoring less runs than Denley.
Could also question dropping Bairstow, either giving Buttler the gloves (doesn't really work as there is no other specialist batsman pushing for inclusion) or a straight swap for Foakes. I'm giving him another chance though.
So my teams would be one of;
Burns
Sibley
Root
Roy
Buttler
Stokes
Bairstow
Woakes
Archer
Leach
Broador;
Burns
Roy
Root
Stokes (higher as he will bowl less with Curran in, and has shown good form)
Buttler
Curran
Bairstow
Woakes
Archer
Leach
Broad
Sam_w-
I would go with your first XI there, but in reality I think they're very unlikely to make more than two changes - so Archer and Leach for Jimmy and Mo. Every chance they'll only make the one enforced change and give Mo another chance. I wasn't able to watch much but from reports he bowled reasonably well in the first innings?
owl
I know this is ridiculous, and never going to happen, but I was thinking last night that it might not be the worst idea to drop Denley for Morgan and give him the captaincy. Root has never seemed a convincing captain, various contemporaries (Swann and Trott in particular i think) were vocal that he shouldn't be captain, it wouldn't fit with his personality and he should be allowed to focus on just being the best batsman he can be. I think you can see a bit of this in the world cup when he seemed energised by the challenge of just batting as well as he could. Morgan's probably not going to score any fewer runs than Denley and I'd love to see him captaining in the ashes.
But, it's clearly madness, can't imagine EM's played much first class stuff in the last few years and the psychological impact on Root of de-captaining him is unlikely to be positive!