The 2017/18 Men's Ashes

[PowerBug]

No thread was up, I think we should get one going!! Discuss people. And please keep it civil (Looking at you Jukes and elephants ;)).


England squad: Root, Ali, Anderson, Bairstow, Ball, Ballance, Broad, Cook, Crane, Foakes, Malan, Overton, Stokes Finn, Stoneman, Vince, Woakes.
Australia squad: TBA (After this round of shield matches I've heard)

[PowerBug]

Here's my predicted XI's from what I've seen and read so far:

Australia: Warner, SMarsh, Khawaja, Smith (c), Handscomb, Cartwright, Nevill (wk), Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood, Lyon
England: Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root (c), Malan, Bairstow (wk), Ali, Woakes, Broad, Overton, Anderson

Key Points:
- Smith has planted enough doubts for mine that Renshaw will be dropped. If Marsh scores against NSW tomorrow I really think he takes the spot
- Cartwright or Maxwell will get the number 6 but Australia like seam bowling ARs, so Hilton gets the nod here.
- Nevill gloves again, Wade has been terrible at Tassie.
- Ali better be fit, otherwise Woakes has to bat 7 and Mason Crane comes into the team.
- Malan batted at 5 ahead of Ballance today, so he has the nod for that spot at this stage.
- No idea who takes that other spot but Ball didn't impress in his 3 tests so Overton has it at this stage. A lot will depend on how they are used by Root tomorrow.


Note I don't exactly agree with these XIs if I have the best interests of the teams winning at heart (Obviously I'd have Ballance at 5 if I wanted England to pick their best team for starters :P), this is just what I think will happen.

[BB67th]

Renshaw cannot be dropped. I cannot fathom why they are even considering it.

[Bill Manspeaker]

Renshaw cannot be dropped. I cannot fathom why they are even considering it.

[PowerBug]

Renshaw cannot be dropped. I cannot fathom why they are even considering it.

Neither, it's ridiculous. I'll be so happy for England's sake if he wasn't to play.


Gary Ballance not fielding at short leg to Mason Crane, another sign that he's unlikely to play the first test :'(

[Gigantor]

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/australias-wicketkeepers-are-the-worst-in-the-world/news-story/5f74ce6ee153f67d177cee5524351647

I knew our keepers weren't going so well with the bat but jesus christ hahaha

TEST RUNS SCORED BY WICKETKEEPERS SINCE JANUARY 1, 2014
Pakistan â€" 2119 runs at 45.1, from 34 Tests
South Africa â€" 2192 runs at 42.2, from 36 Tests
England â€" 2849 runs at 40.7, from 46 Tests
New Zealand â€" 1731 runs at 39.3, from 33 Tests
Bangladesh â€" 1432 runs at 37.7, from 23 Tests
India â€" 1823 runs at 35.7, from 39 Tests
Sri Lanka â€" 2485 runs at 34, from 41 Tests
Zimbabwe â€" 583 runs at 27.8, from 11 Tests
West Indies â€" 1281 runs at 23.7, from 33 Tests
Australia â€" 1093 runs at 20.6, from 40 Tests
TEST RUNS SCORED BY AUSSIE ‘KEEPERS SINCE JANUARY 1, 2014
Nevill â€" 468 at 22.3 from 17 Tests
Haddin â€" 362 at 19 from 13 Tests
Wade â€" 263 at 20.2 from 10 Tests

[shaker]

Our glory days of Gilly rampaging with the bat are just a distant memory  :'(

[Gigantor]

Surely Bancroft is a lock
The rumour is CA told WA to play Bancroft as keeper to see how he would go.

Though they probably pick Neville and Hughes then drop Renshaw for Patterson or Maddison so we have 9 NSW players  :P
(10 if you count Ussie haha)

[Torpedo10]

Surely Bancroft is a lock
The rumour is CA told WA to play Bancroft as keeper to see how he would go.

Though they probably pick Neville and Hughes then drop Renshaw for Patterson or Maddison so we have 9 NSW players  :P
(10 if you count Ussie haha)

HandsGOAT is all us Non-NSW people need.  ;)

[Jay]

Surely Bancroft is a lock
The rumour is CA told WA to play Bancroft as keeper to see how he would go.

Though they probably pick Neville and Hughes then drop Renshaw for Patterson or Maddison so we have 9 NSW players  :P
(10 if you count Ussie haha)

HandsGOAT is all us Non-NSW people need.  ;)

Bancroft and Handscomb to share the keeping duties is my solution!

[PowerBug]

Surely Bancroft is a lock
The rumour is CA told WA to play Bancroft as keeper to see how he would go.

Wow. That really is big if true :o Reckon they’d have him lined up for 6 or 7? If 6 then they could consider a more bowling option at 7.


Jake Ball down injured. This is really not going well. (And none of these injuries are helping Gary get a game in Brisbane :’()

[Jukes]

Huge call and a very hot take coming up

This series will be won on the account of, primarily, HGA and, secondarily, toss winners.


(Also just posting for new replies)

[PowerBug]

It was originally a race between Nevill and Wade. Then Alex Carey's name got thrown into the mix. Bancroft became the 4th man to enter the fray with his huge batting efforts.

And the keeping spot has been reportedly won by Tim Paine :o

[PowerBug]

And also Cam Bancroft has all but replaced Matt Renshaw as Warner's opening partner. No word on number 6 but Shaun Marsh will apparently be in the squad, so maybe he gets it and they will overlook the AR options in Cartwright and Maxwell.

[BB67th]

Wow, Paine back in? That would be huge! And dropping Renshaw for Bancroft. Is this a reliable source PB?

Personally, I'd have Renshaw open, Bancroft at 6, Nevill at 7

Edit - Just saw it on CA website, I can't quite believe that's the squad they're going with. But I would be absolutely stoked to see Tim Paine back in the test team. For once they would actually be going with the best gloveman in the country