Cricket

Garbage… utter garbage

I think they just want to get to the beach

85/8!

Lucky to make 100…

Defending 103 will need some shrewd bowling and good fielding.

no chance of that, then.

have they turned up for the wrong tournament by mistake?

"we thought it was the lawn bowls holiday camp trophy"

Right. Off we go again.

Jason Roy has seemingly spotted a Test opener vacancy.

Much more enjoyable

Fine display of death bowling.

Only we could do that. Topley great though

https://twitter.com/barneyronay/status/1485934429801484290

Fucksake

great knock by Knight

Good stuff Mo

Women's Ashes had a cracking finish apparently. 10th wicket stand in 4th over needing under 20 runs to win...

Pollard's full on.

Bowling at the end of an innings is England’s biggest weakness. Until they can sort that out, they’ll not be competing at the top table.

Mens or women's?

I was talking men's, after last night. But it might apply to the women's limited overs also.

Can’t really say they’re not competing at the top when they’re top ranked in the world. They need to sort out the death bowling, sure, but bear in mind they only had half their first team in the Caribbean.

Exactly as KL says above - how can you possibly consider us not competing at the top table and whilst missing Archer, Wood and Stokes our death bowling options are being explored rather than being shown to be inadequate.

Also, just how punchable is Tom Curran?

I'd consider us on the slide, rather than still at the top - and it doesn't take much to drop back in this format. Archer is an unknown after his injury. But yes, Wood and Stokes should be there. Depth is lacking - and there was an interesting stat also (maybe in the coverage, or elsewhere) that England give away more runs per over in the last 5 than any other side. Surely that can't be conducive to being a top side?

The rankings are a always bit iffy, as we have seen in the past. And I don't see this England side challenging for honours in the next big tournament. Of course, it could just be down to form and selection complications caused by recent tours. But my gut feeling is that we are in for a torrid time for a while. Very happy if I am wrong.

I mean, that's one way of looking at it. You could also say we've got the best captain, the most destructive batters, 2 world class spin bowlers in the format and an allrounder who's currently more than serviceable with his spin. Our stock of quicks is the one area of uncertainty, but hard to really make a call with 3 first choice options missing. Currans have been very successful in the IPL so add them into the 'missing' pile. We have also just played a team with one of the most formidable mid/lower orders in world cricket whilst missing 7 guaranteed starters if fit/available. It's not looking all that gloomy from where I'm sat...