- Kane Richardson is the best of a bad bunch which is the main reason for his inclusion. While he is not first-team quality, he does offer a useful role as a death bowler. Him over AJ Tye any day.
- I hope that Morgan does not reintroduce Root straightaway into the playing XI just on his reputation as a replacement for Malan. The latter has worked so hard to retain his place and has been extremely good that dropping him would be criminal. However Root has started bowling a lot more now and they could just sneak him in if Ali's form goes further astray and they need a finger spinner in the XI.
- It is hard to not feel bad for Stoinis. He is a great bloke and for some reason gets hyped up due to how good he can 'potentially' be by people like Warne and gets played in a role he is completely unsuited for. In the end when he predictably fails, he gets criticized heavily. Why would you bat him at five after already admitting that he is a top order player? And no, the solution is not to push Smith and Maxi lower down the order for a Wade or Stoinis to bat in the top three.
- In addition, when you have five front-line bowlers already with a weak number seven, you need to shore up your batting a lot more with an extra batsman or an all-rounder who is actually good in the middle order. It is criminal that Jono Wells has not got a chance till now after the killer season he had at five with the Strikers especially if Sams can get in after just one good season.
- England's death bowling does not get enough credit. Jordan might be one of the five best death bowlers in the world currently, he has some insane control over his yorkers and cutters. So difficult to hit off him. Archer is another world class option and Curran is not bad either although he does sometimes tend to leak runs like the average bowler. It feels like something that England actually need is a world class opening bowler to complement Archer and/or Wood. Willey should have been in the squad for that at least, he can also score quickly if needed adding to his value alongside the obvious left arm angle.
Despite the season that he had, Sams looks like a less prominent version of James Faulkner, if that word fits the context. He struggled heavily with the bat in the BBL even though he picked up 25 wickets. Don't think he warrants the place in the Aussie XI just yet unless he improves his batting. Would be hard to push Richardson out but if Sams gets his form together, Australia can shore up their lower order depth which it lacks with Agar at 7. Agar is more of a bowling allrounder and looks more like a #8.
I definitely agree that Jono Wells does not get as much hype as Sams. He played some excellent cameos for the Strikers in the BBL, if anything he is the perfect candidate to bat at 5 rather than Stoinis. He can add quick runs and rotates the strike quite well. I like Carey, think he's a good leadership option while he did score well in WC19, he has been out of form of late and Wade should be pushing him for a spot at #6.
Stoinis on the other hand has been mismanaged by Langer and his management. You can't force a player to play outside his comfort zone and expect him to perform while he already performs well at the top of the order. He doesn't look like the guy who'll smash it from ball one, rather takes his time and opts to score more runs while going at a decent SR.
As for the England side, I struggle to understand why Willey is not in the XI. He's an ideal powerplay bowler, and I believe he deserves the chance to bat at #6/7. He seemed in very good nick during the Ireland season with the bat, plus he's played some good knocks in the T20 blast at the top of the order. Don't think its a good idea to play Banton at 4 or somewhere in the middle order, it does no good to compliment his potential.
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