England tour of West Indies 2015

[Aislabie]

Following their disastrous World Cup, England tour the West Indies in the hope that a return to their favourite format can also spark a return to form ahead of one of the busiest ever years of Test cricket.

Spoiler: Fixtures

Warm-up Matches

6th - 7th April
St Kitts & Nevis v England
at Basseterre

8th - 9th April
St Kitts & Nevis v England
at Basseterre

*

Wisden Trophy

13th - 17th April
West Indies v England
at North Sound

21st - 25th April
West Indies v England
at St George's

1st - 5th May
West Indies v England
at Bridgetown

Spoiler: England Squad (16)

Gary Ballance
Ian Bell
Alastair Cook
Adam Lyth
Joe Root
Jonathan Trott

Jonny Bairstow
Jos Buttler

Adil Rashid
Ben Stokes

Chris Jordan
Liam Plunkett

James Anderson
Stuart Broad
Mark Wood

James Tredwell

Spoiler: West Indian Squad (20)

Jermaine Blackwood
Kraigg Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shai Hope
Leon Johnson
Devon Smith

Marlon Samuels

Shane Dowrich
Denesh Ramdin

Carlos Brathwaite
Jason Holder

Sheldon Cottrell
Miguel Cummins
Shannon Gabriel
Kemar Roach
Jerome Taylor

Sulieman Benn
Devendra Bishoo
Veerasammy Permaul

​

 

[bigred]

I like the fact Bopara has been honest about the WC campaign. About time somebody was. Will probably mean he won't play for England again though. 'We were playing with fear' is hardly what the coach wants everyone to hear.

As far as this series is concerned, I'm going for England to win 1-0. Think a couple of these pitches will make for awful cricket and boring draws.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

As far as this series is concerned, I'm going for England to win 1-0. Think a couple of these pitches will make for awful cricket and boring draws.

I think the West Indies will run riot, their spinners will do most of the damage i'd expect.

And you just know that Chanders is going to average 80+ against us.

 

[bigred]

Can't see that happening to be honest. Don't think their spinners are any better than Rashid, Tredwell and Ali.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

But just look at the WI domestic season, average spinners can cause havoc because of how spin friendly the pitches turn out to be and of course we all know how poor England are at playing spin.

 

[Aislabie]

Jermaine Blackwood
Kraigg Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shai Hope
Leon Johnson
Devon Smith

Marlon Samuels

Shane Dowrich
Denesh Ramdin

Carlos Brathwaite
Jason Holder

Sheldon Cottrell
Miguel Cummins
Shannon Gabriel
Kemar Roach
Jerome Taylor

Sulieman Benn
Devendra Bishoo
Veerasammy Permaul

The West Indies have announced 20-man training squad, from which the Test side is likely to be picked. Quite interesting to see a lot of new faces in there, as well as some old faces returning to the fold.

If I had to pick an XI from that, I'd be looking at:

Kraigg Brathwaite
Devon Smith
Darren Bravo
Shai Hope
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Denesh Ramdin
Jason Holder
Jerome Taylor
Kemar Roach
Sulieman Benn
Devendra Bishoo

It's a little loose on batting, but Holder showed in the World Cup that he knows which way up to hold the thing, and it's not like anyone else is going to do that much better. With Brathwaite, Bravo and Chanderpaul to go at, life won't be easy for the English bowlers. This won't be the 3-0 cakewalk the ECB so desperately needs it to be.

I would have liked to have seen Jomel Warrican catapulted into the side, though.

 

[dp458]

What do people make of the england squad, the lack of a truly proper 4 day spinner is worrying, rashid is like ali, and is effectively just his replacement as a batter who bowls spin, i think however stokes will go at 6 or 7 with rashid at 8, given the fact woakes isnt fit.

Tredders got dropped by Kent in Div 2 in red ball cricket for adam riley, who i would have prefered to have been picked, although i dont think it matters, england were never going to pick him

Cook c
Trott/Lyth
Balance
Bell
Root
Stokes
Buttler WK
Rashid
Plunkett/Jordan
Broad
Anderson

For this series i think this is how we will go. Bairstow is only there as back up keeper, whilst wood might get a game if were 2-0 up.
i suspect they will go for trott for his experience, cook needs runs though otherwise he starts to come under pressure for his place in the side from Lyth. The main reason for trott for me is the lions tour where he looked a cut above the rest.


I expect this to morph into this for the home series vs NZ and the ashes:

cook c
trott
ballance
bell
root
ali
buttler wk
woakes
plunkett
broad
anderson

i really dont see how kp gets back into the team unless cook gets dropped and they move root back up the order, which i wouldnt, and i rather taylor be the next cab off the rank


after this ridiculous year, i suspect anderson to play less and less

kp could easily make it back into the odiand t20i teams though, where we look very weak,

only root,taylor,buttler,woakes and potentially broad + morgan will be kept / deserve to


my odi/t20i team would be

Hales
Ali
Taylor
Root
Vince
Stokes
Buttler
woakes
willey
briggs
+seamer who i have no idea

 

[bigred]

What do people make of the england squad, the lack of a truly proper 4 day spinner is worrying, rashid is like ali, and is effectively just his replacement as a batter who bowls spin, i think however stokes will go at 6 or 7 with rashid at 8, given the fact woakes isnt fit.

Tredders got dropped by Kent in Div 2 in red ball cricket for adam riley, who i would have prefered to have been picked, although i dont think it matters, england were never going to pick him

Cook c
Trott/Lyth
Balance
Bell
Root
Stokes
Buttler WK
Rashid
Plunkett/Jordan
Broad
Anderson

For this series i think this is how we will go. Bairstow is only there as back up keeper, whilst wood might get a game if were 2-0 up.
i suspect they will go for trott for his experience, cook needs runs though otherwise he starts to come under pressure for his place in the side from Lyth. The main reason for trott for me is the lions tour where he looked a cut above the rest.


I expect this to morph into this for the home series vs NZ and the ashes:

cook c
trott
ballance
bell
root
ali
buttler wk
woakes
plunkett
broad
anderson

i really dont see how kp gets back into the team unless cook gets dropped and they move root back up the order, which i wouldnt, and i rather taylor be the next cab off the rank


after this ridiculous year, i suspect anderson to play less and less

kp could easily make it back into the odiand t20i teams though, where we look very weak,

only root,taylor,buttler,woakes and potentially broad + morgan will be kept / deserve to


my odi/t20i team would be

Hales
Ali
Taylor
Root
Vince
Stokes
Buttler
woakes
willey
briggs
+seamer who i have no idea

I agree that they'll probably go for Trott. He had a far better tour of SA than Lyth, albeit he was batting at 4 not 2.

Your ODI side is pretty close to the one I think they'll go for. Morgan will probably keep his place in the side and the captaincy, so Vince will probably have to wait.

Jordan will probably hold off Willey for that hard hitting number 9 bat, who bowls seam position. His power play bowling was quite impressive in the WC.

Pretty sure they'll finally give Parry a run in the side ahead of Briggs. Parry has been very good domestically for 2 years. There's probably no point in sticking with Tredwell, as he'll almost be 38 at the time if the next WC.

That last bowler will probably come from one of Wood, Rankin, Topley or Gurney. I can't see Anderson being around in 4 years, and Finn and Broad don't deserve their places in the side.

 

[dp458]

I agree that they'll probably go for Trott. He had a far better tour of SA than Lyth, albeit he was batting at 4 not 2.

Your ODI side is pretty close to the one I think they'll go for. Morgan will probably keep his place in the side and the captaincy, so Vince will probably have to wait.

Jordan will probably hold off Willey for that hard hitting number 9 bat, who bowls seam position. His power play bowling was quite impressive in the WC.

Pretty sure they'll finally give Parry a run in the side ahead of Briggs. Parry has been very good domestically for 2 years. There's probably no point in sticking with Tredwell, as he'll almost be 38 at the time if the next WC.

That last bowler will probably come from one of Wood, Rankin, Topley or Gurney. I can't see Anderson being around in 4 years, and Finn and Broad don't deserve their places in the side.

To be fair to Trott they did take and play 3 specialist openers though, and batting 3 cant be that different to opening he could be in 2nd ball of the match anyway

I thought about parry but he is 29 in my opinino better to blood briggs in at 23 rather than go for parry, although again i think they wont pick a spinner unless we are playing in the sub continent, and ali is the test spinner agaon unti the sub continent, i like stokes at 6 as it gives a 6th bowling optinon.
Im not a fan of JOrdan he is too erratic for my liking, and willeys batting is better, look at the WC Australia had Starc at 10 who can bat, and Haddin at 8, plus the left arm variation would be good although, jordan and woakes were the best bowlers in the WC for us.

Will be very intersting to see what they pick for the Ireland match on may 8th, as the touring party wont be playing nor morgan or bopara in the ipl


I think itll look something like this

Hales
Roy
Vince
Taylor C
Billings WK
Lees
Ali(if fit-heard rumours he would be) or Samit Patel
Rankin
Brooks
Parry
Gurney

Judging off the lions squad from SA as well

 

[bigred]

To be fair to Trott they did take and play 3 specialist openers though, and batting 3 cant be that different to opening he could be in 2nd ball of the match anyway

I thought about parry but he is 29 in my opinino better to blood briggs in at 23 rather than go for parry, although again i think they wont pick a spinner unless we are playing in the sub continent, and ali is the test spinner agaon unti the sub continent, i like stokes at 6 as it gives a 6th bowling optinon.
Im not a fan of JOrdan he is too erratic for my liking, and willeys batting is better, look at the WC Australia had Starc at 10 who can bat, and Haddin at 8, plus the left arm variation would be good although, jordan and woakes were the best bowlers in the WC for us.

Will be very intersting to see what they pick for the Ireland match on may 8th, as the touring party wont be playing nor morgan or bopara in the ipl


I think itll look something like this

Hales
Roy
Vince
Taylor C
Billings WK
Lees
Ali(if fit-heard rumours he would be) or Samit Patel
Rankin
Brooks
Parry
Gurney

Judging off the lions squad from SA as well

Problem with that team is you have a number 11 batting at 8. Think Willey and Bresnan will get a go so that they at least bat down to 9.

Parry will be 33 at the next WC, so I think it's worth giving him first opportunity. If it hasn't worked out by the end of 2015, they can always go to Riley, Rashid or Briggs.

 

[dp458]

Problem with that team is you have a number 11 batting at 8. Think Willey and Bresnan will get a go so that they at least bat down to 9.

Parry will be 33 at the next WC, so I think it's worth giving him first opportunity. If it hasn't worked out by the end of 2015, they can always go to Riley, Rashid or Briggs.

Willey was in my main odi team, just forgot about him for this, him at 8 for one of the seamers, and thats all the batting you should be using.

Fair point about parry, plus spinners dont develop until later anyway, rashid would have to go for alis spot, would have to use the better bowler if there down at 9-11

 

[bigred]

Willey was in my main odi team, just forgot about him for this, him at 8 for one of the seamers, and thats all the batting you should be using.

Fair point about parry, plus spinners dont develop until later anyway, rashid would have to go for alis spot, would have to use the better bowler if there down at 9-11

I'd like the starting eleven for the next few months to be

1. Ali (has to score runs to keep his place)
2. Hales (give him a long run in the team)
3. Taylor (possible captain if Morgan doesn't find form this summer)
4. Root (class)
5. Stokes (could be extreme talent. Think it could be his breakthrough season as a batter)
6. Morgan (deserves the chance to captain this new, exciting team)
7. Buttler (first name on the team sheet)
8. Woakes (pretty disappointing WC, but I think with a good bowling coach, he could be decent)
9. Jordan (like his Yorkers and slower balls)
10. Wood (we need a quick bowler in the team. He seems to be the best right now)
11. Parry (always impressive and economical for Lancashire)

Billings, Bairstow, Roy, Ballance, Vince, Lees, Wright, Briggs, Rashid, Rankin, Finn, Topley, Willey and Roland-Jones would all be in and around the squad.

Does anyone know why Roland-Jones hadn't been given a chance? He's got a brilliant first class and list A record, he's tall and gets steep bounce.

 

[Aislabie]

Does anyone know why Roland-Jones hadn't been given a chance? He's got a brilliant first class and list A record, he's tall and gets steep bounce.

He's a bit 80 mph. Not that that's ever stopped England.

 

[blockerdave]

He's a bit 80 mph. Not that that's ever stopped England.

Saker would have had that down to 73mph in the blink of an eye...

 

[bigred]

He's a bit 80 mph. Not that that's ever stopped England.

Thought that might be it. What kind of paces does Lewis Gregory throw down? I've seen him twice and he looked really impressive, but there was no speed gun at the ground, so I had no way of telling. He certainly didn't look express. He has similarly good stats to Roland-Jones though.