England cricket team

[Skippy]

A spokesperson for the company said:

We decided that, on balance, [strike]although potentially amusing for the cricket fan, the sentiment of the advert crossed the line and had the potential to cause offence.[/strike] we like advertising but we like it more when we don't have to pay for it. We'll just get this ad posted all over the internet for free instead.

FY press release.

[TightEnd]

oh my word, ben stokes.

run your bat in!

[TightEnd]

what do you do with lyth, ballance and bell for the 3rd test?

pick them?

replace any of them?

who with?

[nirvana]

Very tough to know what to do really.

Ballance I think has to go, irrespective of his start in test cricket I can't remember anyone looking so little like they had any kind of clue

He could go and possibly move up Bell and Root and bring Taylor in.

Probably stick with Bell because I can't think of anyone obvious.

Wouldn't mind Hales or even someone like Compton coming in for Lyth either

[TightEnd]

i would keep Bell, and back him to come good

Ballance and Lyth....yuk tough one. you don't want to kneejerk but the Aussies work players out so quickly

Lyth to go, replace by Lees perhaps. Not sure Hales is seen as a test opener. Compton has batted 3 all season for Middlesex

Ballance i think will be under pressure from Bairstow

Bairstow would bat 5, although i wouldn't want to move him, Root may have to go to 3

[Tal]

We are so poor up top that we have free reign to experiment.

Ali up to open with Cook. Bring in Rashid and prepare slow, turning pitches. Leave Bell and Ballance in the side.

More interesting is what do you make of England's decision to save themselves a day's toil to give up today?

1-0 up at Lord's and needing to grind, show some fight and bat bat bat, England folded like superman on laundry day. There was no desire to leave balls that weren't on the stumps, no hard graft on display and we never looked like fending off the Aussies' Plan A.

A shameless display we would never see from the opposition. Collapses happen and pitch conditions will often help, but the lack of determination on show today will give the baggy greens complete confidence that they will win the close games from here. The fiftyfifty tackles are no more, unless Cook and his seniors can find some heart in their men for Birmingham.

[MereNovice]

We are so poor up top that we have free reign to experiment.

Ali up to open with Cook. Bring in Rashid and prepare slow, turning pitches. Leave Bell and Ballance in the side.

Tut.

[Tal]

We are so poor up top that we have free reign to experiment.

Ali up to open with Cook. Bring in Rashid and prepare slow, turning pitches. Leave Bell and Ballance in the side.

Tut.

Whoops! Thank you, Mere.

[vegaslover]

Lyle, Ballance and Bell all need dropping, but you don't want too many newbies in all at once against the Aussies. Bairstow has got to come in.

Team poor across the board though. Fielding poor with catches going down and bowling nowhere near good enough from some. Anderson needs to start producing wickets and showing he's still a top 10 bowler. Stokes once again has shown he's not a test standard bowler. Buttler needs to score more runs and do so more consistently.

Perhaps worth dropping one of the 3 batters and having an extra bowler.

[kp24]

i would keep Bell, and back him to come good

Ballance and Lyth....yuk tough one. you don't want to kneejerk but the Aussies work players out so quickly

Lyth to go, replace by Lees perhaps. Not sure Hales is seen as a test opener. Compton has batted 3 all season for Middlesex

Ballance i think will be under pressure from Bairstow

Bairstow would bat 5, although i wouldn't want to move him, Root may have to go to 3

Agree on Ian bell will come good eventually ,hales isn't an opener in the long form hate it when notts put him up to open in the championship which he struggles as he isn't an opener as batting at 3 when he was piling the runs on earlier in the season(he's a 3/4 batter in championship imo) think lyth needs a run should have played in wi after being the man in form it's a couple of years to early for lees imo,I worry about bringing bairstow in despite his brilliant form as he's another who's struggled against the short ball,if I was going to replace anyone it would be ballance

[Woodsey]

Think Bell has earned the right with his contributions over the years to to be stuck with for the series. At least we don't still have clamours for KP anymore lol.

[buzzharvey22]

Think i'd go:

Cook
Lyth
Bell
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Butler
Ali
Broad
Wood
Anderson

Think root should be higher than 4. And on current form Bairstow is the man to slot in. I do think Gary Balance can have a good international future, but his head is currently scrambled and needs to go away and clear it and work on his game. Very similar to Joe Root, his head was scrambled is Oz and had no idea what his batting style was. Went away and we all know whats happened since.

[buzzharvey22]

Think Bell has earned the right with his contributions over the years to to be stuck with for the series. At least we don't still have clamours for KP anymore lol.

I still want him back in the team, but whats the point in banging on about it when it ain't gonna happen.

[Doobs]

Surprised this hasn't appeared yet



Name the lady's partner? (please keep quiet if you have already been told)

[TightEnd]

saw it live and wasn't sure if it was him, it looked like him but not sure

went to twitter later, indeed it is

pretty girl too