The Pope point is quite key. His average in his innings when he didn't get a hundred this year is 15, so that's three innings averaging 150, 20 innings averaging 15. Compared to Root whose average without his tons is nearly 31, Brook nearly 25, Duckett over 31, Crawley doesn't have a hundred this year and averages 35. Unfortunately it's simply not good enough for your number 3 to average 15 in 90% of his innings.
Yep - England are being greedy playing Smith as keeper. Unless he really works at his keeping and improves, he is a potential weakness in the role. Carey really stepped up as keeper when picked in Tests and has improved substantially. Smith in Australia as keeper could be like Buttler last time. His dropped catches set a miserable tone in the field from very early on. He is potentially a match winning batsman and could cost England the Series with dropped catches. Have England already forgotten the impact that Bairstow's keeping had at Edgbaston and Lords in 2023 in the Ashes?
Stokes has to sort himself out. No excuse at this stage of his career to have his batting so weak and inconsistent. His playing career in tests is Headingly 2019. That is all he will be remembered for. Yet he has the basic game to average over 40. And Pope has to go.
@@dgrimshaw8right now he hasn’t played cricket for most of the season. Since Headingley 2019, are you serious? He has transformed the England test side from 1 win in 17 tests…..to beating India in England, beating South Africa, Beating New Zealand, drawing the Ashes. His contribution? Did you watch the Ashes? I don’t study stats but he batted well against most if not all those sides. All whilst injured, it changed how he batted, you could see he was in pain. He is changing again now. Fantastic innings against Australia, several times. Living off Headingley??? The coming series in Australia we have no chance of winning, no chance at all, without him. With him we can win. Go watch badminton
In his favour, he won't be playing on turning wickets like these again for a few years. That being said, the wickets in 6 of the 8 tests in the sub-continent this year were very fair. The other 2 were what should have been expected.
I would move Smith up to 3, he looks like he has the temperament, judgment and skill to play that position which desperately needs to be filled IMO. Then Stick pope at 6 and give him the gloves and move Stokes down to 7.
Pope is not good enough to keep other than in emergencies. Smith would perform better at 3 than Pope, could drop Pope and bring Robinson in to keep and bat 7.
@@marksheldon7842 I agree with you about pope personally wouldn't play him but he must have some Video footage of Stokes and McCullum 🙂 as they just don't seem to want to drop him no matter what and Bairstow isn't the answer either.
Why not just pick the best keeper, Folkes, who can bat by the way. England want the best of both worlds. However, as Bairstow proved in the 2023 Ashes, a keeper who is not up to elite Test match standard is a potential match loser. Smith was out-kept by Rizwan in the Pakistan series and this hurt England.
Particularly enjoyed David Gower advertising washing detergent.
Cleans like a dream
The Pope point is quite key. His average in his innings when he didn't get a hundred this year is 15, so that's three innings averaging 150, 20 innings averaging 15. Compared to Root whose average without his tons is nearly 31, Brook nearly 25, Duckett over 31, Crawley doesn't have a hundred this year and averages 35.
Unfortunately it's simply not good enough for your number 3 to average 15 in 90% of his innings.
@@joshforde698 I bet your a load of fun on a night out Josh
stokes is averaging 25 this year with bat and 36 with bowl
Stokes is a below average cricketer, hugely hyped for no reason.
@@sanketdave3086
Sure mate
So they can carry Crawley til the Ashes but not Bairstow? Two centuries in Australia.
Drop Pope, bring back Foakes and play Smith as a batsman
Yep - England are being greedy playing Smith as keeper.
Unless he really works at his keeping and improves, he is a potential weakness in the role. Carey really stepped up as keeper when picked in Tests and has improved substantially. Smith in Australia as keeper could be like Buttler last time. His dropped catches set a miserable tone in the field from very early on. He is potentially a match winning batsman and could cost England the Series with dropped catches.
Have England already forgotten the impact that Bairstow's keeping had at Edgbaston and Lords in 2023 in the Ashes?
Definitely
Pop's never deserve bring Johny Bristow back In test format as batsman
Bairstow will always let you down against decent opponents, he isn’t good enough
Yep - one golden summer. Otherwise he mostly got runs when the series was lost or in a losing cause.
Shan has to score a century in this match, ideally tomorrow, otherwise his captaincy and his position in the team will be rightly under scrutiny./
It was all smiles again after the last game
@@dgrimshaw8 all part of the game.
Stokes has to sort himself out. No excuse at this stage of his career to have his batting so weak and inconsistent. His playing career in tests is Headingly 2019. That is all he will be remembered for. Yet he has the basic game to average over 40. And Pope has to go.
Stokes can’t just live off that Headingley innings. Good captain but is he ever going to contribute with the bat?
No one should even bother to think about your comments
@@royhammond2232 so you think he’s contributing consistently with the bat do you?
@@dgrimshaw8right now he hasn’t played cricket for most of the season. Since Headingley 2019, are you serious? He has transformed the England test side from 1 win in 17 tests…..to beating India in England, beating South Africa, Beating New Zealand, drawing the Ashes. His contribution? Did you watch the Ashes? I don’t study stats but he batted well against most if not all those sides. All whilst injured, it changed how he batted, you could see he was in pain. He is changing again now. Fantastic innings against Australia, several times. Living off Headingley???
The coming series in Australia we have no chance of winning, no chance at all, without him. With him we can win. Go watch badminton
@@royhammond2232 you probably rate Pope as well do you?
In his favour, he won't be playing on turning wickets like these again for a few years. That being said, the wickets in 6 of the 8 tests in the sub-continent this year were very fair. The other 2 were what should have been expected.
I would move Smith up to 3, he looks like he has the temperament, judgment and skill to play that position which desperately needs to be filled IMO. Then Stick pope at 6 and give him the gloves and move Stokes down to 7.
Pope is not good enough to keep other than in emergencies. Smith would perform better at 3 than Pope, could drop Pope and bring Robinson in to keep and bat 7.
@@marksheldon7842 I agree with you about pope personally wouldn't play him but he must have some Video footage of Stokes and McCullum 🙂 as they just don't seem to want to drop him no matter what and Bairstow isn't the answer either.
Why not just pick the best keeper, Folkes, who can bat by the way. England want the best of both worlds. However, as Bairstow proved in the 2023 Ashes, a keeper who is not up to elite Test match standard is a potential match loser. Smith was out-kept by Rizwan in the Pakistan series and this hurt England.