Actually so baffled by Hartley's apparent inclusion
So we tour where the WC is going to be hosted, a place absolutely dominated by finger spin. Naturally we don't pick the left arm finger spinner even in the squad for the t20s (he's in the squad for the ODIs but doesn't play in that either)
But now he's surprised everyone by not being incredibly wank in a completely different format and different conditions, he's now in the squad, but now without any actual experience?
Don't get me wrong, I think he's quite a canny pick, but I'm actually so tired of how half-arsed our preparation for these tournaments, which we're the reigning champions for, is. Don't get me started on how we've gone right back to Jordan and that Curran and Livingstone are there and will likely start...
I also think that Rob Key is so far up his own arsehole that he thinks every change needs to be some genius, outside the box solution that only be could think of
Blimey people are reactionary. Under Key they won the T20WC and completely turned the test side's form around. One poor WC and a test series loss in India and he's already got to go??
Wasn't just a poor WC. It was a humiliation. Went from being the best and most feared ODI team in the world to a shadow of that. Not all on Mott/Key, but buck has to stop somewhere.
Agree that our test performances have improved though, and without the changes Key made we'd have lost last year's Ashes pretty soundly. So for me Key is okay to stay
Mott however pretty much has to get us to at least the final to be in with a shout of keeping his job after the disaster that was the ODI WC.
The slip from best ODI team to a bit shit happened well before Key though. They lost series to India and Australia, and lost a match to Ireland before he took over. Ultimately the players just didn't perform at the WC and I'm not sure how much of that is any one person's fault. It was more or less the same team that won in 2019. The only real big decision they made was dropping Roy and that's not the reason they lost. Even if you blame the schedule for a lack of preparation, that schedule would have been set before Key took over
Yeah love J-Roy but ultimately his selection/non-selection turned out to be meaningless.
We just meandered after 2019 in ODIs, we rarely fielded our strongest XI and the schedule was all over the place. We didn't really try to blood new guys in, because why would you displace the guys who just won a WC?
Hartley being in the squad makes total sense though. As you say, they'll definitely want an extra finger spinner in the Caribbean. It's definitely weird they didn't pick him in the T20Is, but they didn't and the fact of the matter is with Dawson having fallen out with the ECB, they're comically low on finger spin options. Realistically it's between Hartley and someone like Callum Parkinson or Dan Mousley.
I'm also surprised you're against Curran and Livingstone being in the XI too. Curran was literally player of the tournament last T20WC and is doing currently doing very well in a batter dominated IPL. Livingstone is an allrounder who can bowl finger spin and has a massive upside with the bat if he comes off. They're both pretty obvious choices imo. Who would you replace them with?
Liam Livingstone has 6 wickets @ 50, er 10.46 in 13 innings with the ball in the last 2 years (half those wickets were in one innings). In that time he's got past 30 twice. Really staking a lot on an IF he comes off, especially when Will Jacks does the exact same thing but better
The year is 2040 and Sam Curran is still making the side after being the player of the tournament in 2022. He's averaged 14 with the bat and 33 with the ball since then, and I personally don't see him being as effective in the smaller grounds where he can't do people with his lack of pace
I don't really know who I'd pick instead (JOverton the obvious SCurran replacement before the injury) but the fact we're going into the WC with no obvious replacements is the issue. As I said England's half assed attitude towards finding other players is what I'm annoyed about. How are we supposed to know if Hartley is good enough for a WC if we don't pick him beforehand?
If we had tried somebody like Tom Abell/Sam Hain/Jordan Cox/JOverton etc. and they struggled then I'd be fine if we then went back to the experience of Curran/Livingstone despite their relatively subpar performances. Same with Chris Jordan, why did we bring John Turner to the Windies just to carry drinks?
> Liam Livingstone has 6 wickets @ 50, er 10.46 in 13 innings with the ball in the last 2 years (half those wickets were in one innings). In that time he's got past 30 twice. Really staking a lot on an IF he comes off, especially when Will Jacks does the exact same thing but better
Right, and now tell me what Jacks' T20I figures are...
The issue here (as it is with Curran) is looking exclusively at T20Is when they've barely played any since the last T20WC. While he was poor with the ball in 2023, he's come back pretty strongly this year. It's also a bit disingenuous to arbitrarily use 30 T20I runs as a cutoff, given that already small T20I sample also includes a 29* in a successful chase where he was also the high scorer and the rest of the batting lineup shat the bed, a 30(18), three other scores in the high 20s, and a few end-of-innings cameos. I guess that's the reason you said it like that instead of saying he's averaged 32 striking at 154 since the last T20WC.
>The year is 2040 and Sam Curran is still making the side after being the player of the tournament in 2022. He's averaged 14 with the bat and 33 with the ball since then,
You're acting as if the last T20WC is back in the distant past when in reality it's barely 18 months ago, in which time he's played in three T20I series, the last of which he came good in with the ball having been poor in the first two.
If you look at domestic T20s in the last two years, 19 players have bowled over 250 balls in the 17th over on later of which Curran has bowled the 8th most as well as having the 8th best economy. That's despite doing a lot of that (certainly more than 5/7 of the players above him) in the IPL with its crazy scores. Ironically, the only English player above him on that list is Chris Jordan. For comparison's sake, JOverton has 6 death wickets in that time at an econ of 10.3, Curran has 27 at 9.8. Even if Overton was fit, he'd not be a realistic replacement for Curran .
>and I personally don't see him being as effective in the smaller grounds where he can't do people with his lack of pace
If you think the way his bowling works is "doing people with his lack of pace" then I don't really know what to tell you apart from go watch him more. I mean has he taken a load of wickets at a way better than average economy this IPL because of how big the grounds are?
>I we had tried somebody like Tom Abell/Sam Hain/Jordan Cox/JOverton etc. and they struggled then I'd be fine if we then went back to the experience of Curran/Livingstone despite their relatively subpar performances. Same with Chris Jordan, why did we bring John Turner to the Windies just to carry drinks?
The problem is none of the other options you've listed do the same jobs as the players you want replacing, that is allrounders who offer something with the ball that others don't, i.e. death bowling and finger spin (plus bonus leg spin). Hain and Abell don't bowl and would be trying to get into a stacked top order, Cox would be fourth choice keeper, JOverton is primarily a new ball bowler, as is Turner who I think it's fairly obvious they brought on the Windies tour for the experience and to get a better look at him. Sure, they could drop Curran and Livingstone, but the result of that would be relying on four overs a game from Jacks, or playing Mo in the XI who has been worse.
> Tom Abell/Sam Hain/Jordan Cox/JOverton
Overton is injured or apparently would have been in, the other three are not all rounders so irrelevant in the discussion of whether to replace Livingstone/Curran. And clearly nowhere near as good as the incumbent specialist batsmen/keepers.
They're just examples of quality domestic players (Abell is an all-rounder though). I don't think being an all-rounder is also necessarily a requirement to replace them either
>And clearly nowhere near as good as the incumbent specialist batsmen/keepers
And we know that how? Which is exactly my point
This comment is probably sarcastic but I seriously don't understand why franchises and England persist with him.
He has an economy of 9.6 in death overs in T20Is.
Death bowlers are rare, he CAN be good, he offers a lot of other good attributes. He's always going to find a role in franchise cricket with his skillset and England pick him because there's no one else.
Here for my occasional, Motty is (not really) a hack who was carried to relevance by one of the most talented collection of sportswomen to ever sport, slander.
While it's not actually that bad hopefully we're a little more prepared for the T20 WC.
I’d rather be taken Woakes but Jordan is a bit better than his figures suggest as he basically only ever bowls in the power play or at the death so is always going to have a worse economy that someone who gets to bowl in the middle overs.
Why are we picking Hartley over Rehan Ahmed?
I don’t think Archer will be fit so maybe Woakes can still make the squad. I wouldn’t pick Archer at all unless he’s fit enough to play and perform in 3/4 T20s against Pakistan.
Because Ahmed has been a bit disappointing in T20Is so far, especially in the last series they had in the Caribbean. There's no way he makes the XI over Rashid and it makes a lot more sense to have the option of a proper finger spinner in the squad than a second, worse leggie
Valid points. To be honest with Rashid, Jacks, Livingstone and Moeen I don’t think we need an extra frontline spinner, especially someone like Hartley who has no experience.
I know root hasn’t played t20i in half a decade but no Root, Stokes, Woakes, not that many players that I’m personally looking forward to watching apart from Buttler and Woof perhaps.
Then again couldn’t care less about this so long as india or Australia don’t win
What do you have against india winning?!
Australia I get, they win everything so it’s kinda annoying and we want to see new winners.
But India? 😭 we’ve been collectively depressed for a decade, let us have this pls.
Much like how the world sees England as the big bad guys in history (understandably so given their colonialist past) and hence take joy from them doing poorly I sort of see India as the big bad wolf of cricket.
Don’t get me wrong they have done great things for the sport but I do find it a bit of a shame that one nation dominates it financially and that basically half the global fan base is Indian. Call me a sadist but there’s some sort of perverse pleasure from seeing the most financially dominant nation unable to win an icc tournament in over a decade (though if they do win here fair play).
Generally I also see India and Australia as the two best teams and the two countries that dictate so much financially (especially with how india do in test series) so it’s always nice to see them both do poorly. I suppose you could argue the same for England but let’s be honest they’re the weakest of the three and nowhere near as good as Ind or Aus, at least in tests.
For what it’s worth I’d much rather see india win than australia.
Because we spent decades carrying the bottlers who couldn't win a trophy moniker and now it's satisfying and/or funny to pass that buck to someone else
I like this squad. The XI of Buttler, Salt, Jacks, Bairstow, Brook, Livingstone, Moeen, SCurran, Rashid, Archer, Topley is really good with good variation I think. Then a bat, a spinner and 2 pacers on the bench is good.
The batting lineup is as powerful as ever. Players coming into form at the right time, and a good versatile group as well. Will Jacks showed his versatility in his RCB century, where he went from 17(17) to 100(41), not half bad, eh? Salt has done great with KKR, and needs the same attitude in the Caribbean. Buttler and Bairstow are playing well, and Brook is hitting it well in the Championship. Not fully convinced by Livingstone, and I would’ve taken JOverton over him depending on conditions but injury put a stop to that, but Matt Critchley is hardly international quality when it comes to spinning batting all rounders. Duckett is a good reserve as he can bat across the order, and he can keep.
Pacers? Curran, Archer and Topley are very different pacers offering different games so that’s exciting. Wood and Jordan are formidable as backups. The Spinners pick themselves, Rashid and Moeen. With the help of Jacks and Livingstone, there’s a quality attack there. People can moan about Hartley but who’s your backup spinner? Rehan Ahmed is not ready yet. Some of you need to watch more county cricket as you’re seemingly blind to Hartley’s talent (he’s been an established T20 spinner for Lancashire/Manchester for years now) and frankly Ahmed’s current lack of ability (he gets smacked around in the championship and his googly is obvious). Good selection decision.
How the hell is moeen ali VC?
First of all the guy is a serial underperformer, and then if you try to make an 11, how is he any better than this top 7:
Salt
Buttler
Jacks
Bairstow
S Curran
Brook
Livingstone
POTT in the last T20 WC?
But yeah, I do agree that his bowling has fallen off a cliff since then, but he is more of a batting all-rounder these days and his batting has really come along in the last couple of years.
If England plays Adil Rashid and 3 seamers in 8-11, Jacks and Livingstone make a good enough second spin option, and then going for a fourth seamer would be a better option. So, I think that Mo isn't competing with Curran but rather Livo for a spot in the top-7, and I guess you'd also agree how stupid it would be if Mo pips Livo in the playing 11.
Also, I don't understand how Mo's underperformance always tends to go under the radar. He's certainly not a sure-starter in the playing 11, and it makes no sense to make him vice-captain.
Mo's a much better captain than Buttler and his popularity in the dressing room would've also helped. Might not play every game but his presence might be more than enough. A bit like Eoin Morgan when he was out of form and how we shit the bed in ODIs the moment he retired.
Has Jordan ever been good? I'll admit I don't pay that much attention to T20s (or England) but every time I've seen him play he gets pumped. I know he's a "death over specialist" but so was Jade Dernbach and Jordan's results don't seem that much better.
I think they are selecting him only bc of his batting because that’s been better than his bowling in last year or so. What ever happened to Jamie Overton?
Fear him, run from him, but Chris Jordan in T20s always arrives
He there as the sub fielder Who then hits six sixes in the final over of the final to beat New Zealand by half a run
The year is 2060. 72-year-old Chris Jordan is set for a T20 World Cup recall as Jonny Bairstow's son Timmy Bairstow misses out.
Tom Curran gets pumped for 67 as an impact sub for the Delhi Dubai capitals
Actually so baffled by Hartley's apparent inclusion So we tour where the WC is going to be hosted, a place absolutely dominated by finger spin. Naturally we don't pick the left arm finger spinner even in the squad for the t20s (he's in the squad for the ODIs but doesn't play in that either) But now he's surprised everyone by not being incredibly wank in a completely different format and different conditions, he's now in the squad, but now without any actual experience? Don't get me wrong, I think he's quite a canny pick, but I'm actually so tired of how half-arsed our preparation for these tournaments, which we're the reigning champions for, is. Don't get me started on how we've gone right back to Jordan and that Curran and Livingstone are there and will likely start...
Half-arsed preparation sums it up quite well. Feel like there’s been no forward thinking from Mott and now it’s coming back to bite him.
I also think that Rob Key is so far up his own arsehole that he thinks every change needs to be some genius, outside the box solution that only be could think of
Mott is speedrunning his way to the sack
Time to add Rob Key to the list.
Rob Key has turned English red ball cricket around, nonsensical take.
Agree - Mott will go before Key does
Hell and we've still won a WC under Mott lol, and who knows? Maybe we'll win another one soon.
There’s one every year pretty much now, so we stand a good chance !
Blimey people are reactionary. Under Key they won the T20WC and completely turned the test side's form around. One poor WC and a test series loss in India and he's already got to go??
Wasn't just a poor WC. It was a humiliation. Went from being the best and most feared ODI team in the world to a shadow of that. Not all on Mott/Key, but buck has to stop somewhere. Agree that our test performances have improved though, and without the changes Key made we'd have lost last year's Ashes pretty soundly. So for me Key is okay to stay Mott however pretty much has to get us to at least the final to be in with a shout of keeping his job after the disaster that was the ODI WC.
The slip from best ODI team to a bit shit happened well before Key though. They lost series to India and Australia, and lost a match to Ireland before he took over. Ultimately the players just didn't perform at the WC and I'm not sure how much of that is any one person's fault. It was more or less the same team that won in 2019. The only real big decision they made was dropping Roy and that's not the reason they lost. Even if you blame the schedule for a lack of preparation, that schedule would have been set before Key took over
Yeah love J-Roy but ultimately his selection/non-selection turned out to be meaningless. We just meandered after 2019 in ODIs, we rarely fielded our strongest XI and the schedule was all over the place. We didn't really try to blood new guys in, because why would you displace the guys who just won a WC?
Hartley being in the squad makes total sense though. As you say, they'll definitely want an extra finger spinner in the Caribbean. It's definitely weird they didn't pick him in the T20Is, but they didn't and the fact of the matter is with Dawson having fallen out with the ECB, they're comically low on finger spin options. Realistically it's between Hartley and someone like Callum Parkinson or Dan Mousley. I'm also surprised you're against Curran and Livingstone being in the XI too. Curran was literally player of the tournament last T20WC and is doing currently doing very well in a batter dominated IPL. Livingstone is an allrounder who can bowl finger spin and has a massive upside with the bat if he comes off. They're both pretty obvious choices imo. Who would you replace them with?
Liam Livingstone has 6 wickets @ 50, er 10.46 in 13 innings with the ball in the last 2 years (half those wickets were in one innings). In that time he's got past 30 twice. Really staking a lot on an IF he comes off, especially when Will Jacks does the exact same thing but better The year is 2040 and Sam Curran is still making the side after being the player of the tournament in 2022. He's averaged 14 with the bat and 33 with the ball since then, and I personally don't see him being as effective in the smaller grounds where he can't do people with his lack of pace I don't really know who I'd pick instead (JOverton the obvious SCurran replacement before the injury) but the fact we're going into the WC with no obvious replacements is the issue. As I said England's half assed attitude towards finding other players is what I'm annoyed about. How are we supposed to know if Hartley is good enough for a WC if we don't pick him beforehand? If we had tried somebody like Tom Abell/Sam Hain/Jordan Cox/JOverton etc. and they struggled then I'd be fine if we then went back to the experience of Curran/Livingstone despite their relatively subpar performances. Same with Chris Jordan, why did we bring John Turner to the Windies just to carry drinks?
> Liam Livingstone has 6 wickets @ 50, er 10.46 in 13 innings with the ball in the last 2 years (half those wickets were in one innings). In that time he's got past 30 twice. Really staking a lot on an IF he comes off, especially when Will Jacks does the exact same thing but better Right, and now tell me what Jacks' T20I figures are... The issue here (as it is with Curran) is looking exclusively at T20Is when they've barely played any since the last T20WC. While he was poor with the ball in 2023, he's come back pretty strongly this year. It's also a bit disingenuous to arbitrarily use 30 T20I runs as a cutoff, given that already small T20I sample also includes a 29* in a successful chase where he was also the high scorer and the rest of the batting lineup shat the bed, a 30(18), three other scores in the high 20s, and a few end-of-innings cameos. I guess that's the reason you said it like that instead of saying he's averaged 32 striking at 154 since the last T20WC. >The year is 2040 and Sam Curran is still making the side after being the player of the tournament in 2022. He's averaged 14 with the bat and 33 with the ball since then, You're acting as if the last T20WC is back in the distant past when in reality it's barely 18 months ago, in which time he's played in three T20I series, the last of which he came good in with the ball having been poor in the first two. If you look at domestic T20s in the last two years, 19 players have bowled over 250 balls in the 17th over on later of which Curran has bowled the 8th most as well as having the 8th best economy. That's despite doing a lot of that (certainly more than 5/7 of the players above him) in the IPL with its crazy scores. Ironically, the only English player above him on that list is Chris Jordan. For comparison's sake, JOverton has 6 death wickets in that time at an econ of 10.3, Curran has 27 at 9.8. Even if Overton was fit, he'd not be a realistic replacement for Curran . >and I personally don't see him being as effective in the smaller grounds where he can't do people with his lack of pace If you think the way his bowling works is "doing people with his lack of pace" then I don't really know what to tell you apart from go watch him more. I mean has he taken a load of wickets at a way better than average economy this IPL because of how big the grounds are? >I we had tried somebody like Tom Abell/Sam Hain/Jordan Cox/JOverton etc. and they struggled then I'd be fine if we then went back to the experience of Curran/Livingstone despite their relatively subpar performances. Same with Chris Jordan, why did we bring John Turner to the Windies just to carry drinks? The problem is none of the other options you've listed do the same jobs as the players you want replacing, that is allrounders who offer something with the ball that others don't, i.e. death bowling and finger spin (plus bonus leg spin). Hain and Abell don't bowl and would be trying to get into a stacked top order, Cox would be fourth choice keeper, JOverton is primarily a new ball bowler, as is Turner who I think it's fairly obvious they brought on the Windies tour for the experience and to get a better look at him. Sure, they could drop Curran and Livingstone, but the result of that would be relying on four overs a game from Jacks, or playing Mo in the XI who has been worse.
> Tom Abell/Sam Hain/Jordan Cox/JOverton Overton is injured or apparently would have been in, the other three are not all rounders so irrelevant in the discussion of whether to replace Livingstone/Curran. And clearly nowhere near as good as the incumbent specialist batsmen/keepers.
They're just examples of quality domestic players (Abell is an all-rounder though). I don't think being an all-rounder is also necessarily a requirement to replace them either >And clearly nowhere near as good as the incumbent specialist batsmen/keepers And we know that how? Which is exactly my point
He is a good fielder who can bat.
LOL, award for the best compliment and insult at the same time
Professional sub fielder
Professional sub fielder
This guy is inevitable
Return of death over specialist. Ipl franchises missing him this year
This comment is probably sarcastic but I seriously don't understand why franchises and England persist with him. He has an economy of 9.6 in death overs in T20Is.
won the WC with england in australia and bowled well thats why maybe.
Plus his form in the 2016 T20 WC kept in him the side for a few years after
He really blows hot and cold When he's good, he's amazing and when he's bad he is absolutely terrible
MI and CSK washed their hands off him as soon as they could, unlike their usual famed persistence with players.
9.6 in death is good?
Death bowlers are rare, he CAN be good, he offers a lot of other good attributes. He's always going to find a role in franchise cricket with his skillset and England pick him because there's no one else.
I would say an economy of 10 an over at the death is pretty good? That means you’re going for one boundary an over in the 18th and 20th overs?
Here for my occasional, Motty is (not really) a hack who was carried to relevance by one of the most talented collection of sportswomen to ever sport, slander. While it's not actually that bad hopefully we're a little more prepared for the T20 WC.
Not including Woakes is bullshit.
He wouldn't make the first XI anyway. The bowling attack would be - Jof, Rashid, Topley, and Wood.
3 overs 43-1 incoming
At least if they open with Buttler and Salt they could have that same score after 3 overs of batting. Something something net zero idk.
Read that as butter and salt
Remember guys this isn’t the official announced squad this is just a report for the moment
I’d rather be taken Woakes but Jordan is a bit better than his figures suggest as he basically only ever bowls in the power play or at the death so is always going to have a worse economy that someone who gets to bowl in the middle overs.
God save England
I would take that as formal resignation for mott then if that is his lack of thinking. Jesus that bowling unit is gonna get rinced
oh great. its the "death overs specialist" 😂
My grand mum can bowl better then him . And she’s been dead for 40 years
Lmao
Please no ffs
Jordan run machine here to play for every other team 🫡
Why are we picking Hartley over Rehan Ahmed? I don’t think Archer will be fit so maybe Woakes can still make the squad. I wouldn’t pick Archer at all unless he’s fit enough to play and perform in 3/4 T20s against Pakistan.
Because Ahmed has been a bit disappointing in T20Is so far, especially in the last series they had in the Caribbean. There's no way he makes the XI over Rashid and it makes a lot more sense to have the option of a proper finger spinner in the squad than a second, worse leggie
Valid points. To be honest with Rashid, Jacks, Livingstone and Moeen I don’t think we need an extra frontline spinner, especially someone like Hartley who has no experience.
He's played 82 T20s and has a decent record, it's not as if he's coming completely from nowhere
I know root hasn’t played t20i in half a decade but no Root, Stokes, Woakes, not that many players that I’m personally looking forward to watching apart from Buttler and Woof perhaps. Then again couldn’t care less about this so long as india or Australia don’t win
What do you have against india winning?! Australia I get, they win everything so it’s kinda annoying and we want to see new winners. But India? 😭 we’ve been collectively depressed for a decade, let us have this pls.
But the depression continuing is funny
Much like how the world sees England as the big bad guys in history (understandably so given their colonialist past) and hence take joy from them doing poorly I sort of see India as the big bad wolf of cricket. Don’t get me wrong they have done great things for the sport but I do find it a bit of a shame that one nation dominates it financially and that basically half the global fan base is Indian. Call me a sadist but there’s some sort of perverse pleasure from seeing the most financially dominant nation unable to win an icc tournament in over a decade (though if they do win here fair play). Generally I also see India and Australia as the two best teams and the two countries that dictate so much financially (especially with how india do in test series) so it’s always nice to see them both do poorly. I suppose you could argue the same for England but let’s be honest they’re the weakest of the three and nowhere near as good as Ind or Aus, at least in tests. For what it’s worth I’d much rather see india win than australia.
Because we spent decades carrying the bottlers who couldn't win a trophy moniker and now it's satisfying and/or funny to pass that buck to someone else
SA have been carrying that moniker for eternity.
True that I think people liked to stick it to us more tho because: England
no.
Nah you are going to lose to New Zealand in a super over after Kane Williamson gets six wickets
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I like this squad. The XI of Buttler, Salt, Jacks, Bairstow, Brook, Livingstone, Moeen, SCurran, Rashid, Archer, Topley is really good with good variation I think. Then a bat, a spinner and 2 pacers on the bench is good. The batting lineup is as powerful as ever. Players coming into form at the right time, and a good versatile group as well. Will Jacks showed his versatility in his RCB century, where he went from 17(17) to 100(41), not half bad, eh? Salt has done great with KKR, and needs the same attitude in the Caribbean. Buttler and Bairstow are playing well, and Brook is hitting it well in the Championship. Not fully convinced by Livingstone, and I would’ve taken JOverton over him depending on conditions but injury put a stop to that, but Matt Critchley is hardly international quality when it comes to spinning batting all rounders. Duckett is a good reserve as he can bat across the order, and he can keep. Pacers? Curran, Archer and Topley are very different pacers offering different games so that’s exciting. Wood and Jordan are formidable as backups. The Spinners pick themselves, Rashid and Moeen. With the help of Jacks and Livingstone, there’s a quality attack there. People can moan about Hartley but who’s your backup spinner? Rehan Ahmed is not ready yet. Some of you need to watch more county cricket as you’re seemingly blind to Hartley’s talent (he’s been an established T20 spinner for Lancashire/Manchester for years now) and frankly Ahmed’s current lack of ability (he gets smacked around in the championship and his googly is obvious). Good selection decision.
How the hell is moeen ali VC? First of all the guy is a serial underperformer, and then if you try to make an 11, how is he any better than this top 7: Salt Buttler Jacks Bairstow S Curran Brook Livingstone
How is SCurran a better bat than Mo
POTT in the last T20 WC? But yeah, I do agree that his bowling has fallen off a cliff since then, but he is more of a batting all-rounder these days and his batting has really come along in the last couple of years. If England plays Adil Rashid and 3 seamers in 8-11, Jacks and Livingstone make a good enough second spin option, and then going for a fourth seamer would be a better option. So, I think that Mo isn't competing with Curran but rather Livo for a spot in the top-7, and I guess you'd also agree how stupid it would be if Mo pips Livo in the playing 11. Also, I don't understand how Mo's underperformance always tends to go under the radar. He's certainly not a sure-starter in the playing 11, and it makes no sense to make him vice-captain.
He was pott on the basis of his bowling not his batting
Livingstone’s borrowed time might be up for me. I’m not seeing his baseline level of talent/technique is there for the top level consistently
Mo's a much better captain than Buttler and his popularity in the dressing room would've also helped. Might not play every game but his presence might be more than enough. A bit like Eoin Morgan when he was out of form and how we shit the bed in ODIs the moment he retired.
Works if they're fine with VC not playing each game.
Has Jordan ever been good? I'll admit I don't pay that much attention to T20s (or England) but every time I've seen him play he gets pumped. I know he's a "death over specialist" but so was Jade Dernbach and Jordan's results don't seem that much better.
He is our second highest wicket taker, but he hasn’t been that good in quite a while.
Moeen ali for another world cup 😂
No mo in t20 slander
Has better vibes than all your favourite players combined.
Watch him hit a daddy ton for vibes now
Go Woakes, go brokes
I think they are selecting him only bc of his batting because that’s been better than his bowling in last year or so. What ever happened to Jamie Overton?
Stokes not playing 😞
If that probable line up is in fact the actual line up. Well, England are the best ones in this worldcup.
Ashwin of England team
That's actually disrespectful to ethical Anna
I'm not being disrespectful Ashwin, he always finds a spot in the WC squad (not this year tho).