It has been long thought that some counties are not interested in developing test players. In some ways this matches rugby unions where some clubs focus on the championship. Some might say this is a legacy of the amateur game (in both sports).
I wonder if the white ball should be changed to say pink or yellow, the amount of missed catches because the player can’t see white against a floodlit sky (India -IPL or against a grey Sky is amazing)
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Good to see fresh faces in these white ball squads too. Thanks Moeen for everything, loved watching you. Oh and goodbye to Bairstow. He was given a 2 year contract last October but appears to be history. Not missed by me, or the press corps!
No Jordan or Root, Stokes and Wood injured. Fairly amazing that Adil Rashid is still picked, quite a career.
Trescothick is the new coach, and he has stuck with Buttler as captain.
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Some proper Cricket.
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Love that.
I once contributed just two to a stand of 98. I was the opener and the No 4 at the other end just went ballistic after we lost a couple of wickets so I left him to it.
Cricket, the best game.
Bruce
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I’m beginning to wonder why Pope is in the England side. Certainly not at 3.
He looks like he is trying to get out most of the time. His last two dismissals were plain daft. Duckett plays a similar way but at least he is quite good at it. We seem to be two down very quickly most of the time.
Can’t play like that against India/Australia.
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Quite unfathomable to me, in that he’s a classical player with not much power, and being short on stature, the short ball should be easy to leave alone…yet…and if you constantly leave the ball alone, the bowler has, eventually, to come to you.
I think he may have been sucked in to the zeitgeist that is Bazball, when his primary role is to establish a platform and hang around. As SAC said on the Beeb (I think), back to the nets and play straight, nudge and nurdle, and get your eye in, an approach which defined SAC (oh, and the late cut!).
Also notable that Root has stopped ‘chasing runs’ and his scoring and recent average has improved dramatically.
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He seems anxious at the crease. Moving around and down the wicket doesn’t help when you are just starting an innings. It is as if he feels he needs to dominate early. If he gets to 40 he can look a million dollars but getting there seems increasingly uncertain.
Needs to take a steer from Root I reckon (don’t we all) and just accumulate for a while before going funky.
This management team are unlikely to drop Pope for now at least, but must be concerning.
I feel a bit sorry for Lawrence, promoted from 17 Tests as drinks carrier to opener, which isn’t his position. Looks flaky outside off. He has scored lots of County runs, and with his game might do better at 6 but I am not sure there will be a spot there.
Bruce
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Pope looked like the next Root two or three years ago but I wonder if he’s been found out in both first class and test cricket. His average in both has dived alarmingly.
He would probably benefit from a spell out of the limelight.
There are several young hopefuls who deserve a chance in the test side although I suppose dropping him would affect the Bazball no blame culture.
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His shot selection judgement seems to be terrible.
We mustn’t overlook the captaincy element in all this too, as for some it galvanises (the likes of Alan Border), with others it paralyses. One thing I’ve noticed is that so many players nowadays want to get bat on ball early doors when, historically, so many batsmen would leave as many as possible early doors. In my book, in Test cricket batting first, there’s no shame in scoring slowly. Things will sort themselves out.
As for Lawrence, he’s another from the dominant bottom-hand brigade, alongside Westley and others. At Test level this is a horrid trait IMHO, unless you have the eye of someone like Sir Viv, and can whip a ball. Lawrence does appear to be working on this though, as when I saw him several years back, virtually everything pitched-up went through the legside.
Fair play though, Lawrence has been game enough to step up. Problem is, as we all know, county game form isn’t a reliable indicator any more, and there’s precious little quality game-play nowadays.
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Lawrence has definitely improved, and Surrey play him as an all rounder with apparently decent off spin. Pope so far appears unaware of this.
From the outside Pope doesn’t seem like a captaincy personality and it doesn’t look like it has helped his game.
Bruce
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Have you seen Lawrence bowl? If Bashir bowls with an economy of movement, Lawrence is, well, different 
…and he got an over today.
I didn’t like Vaughan’s comments around Pope’s personality and aptitude for captaincy, as everyone is different and this is a callow and inexperienced team in many areas plus, I think, we’re all keenly aware England’s #3 spot still remains problematic – in some ways there are still issues with the top-6 against stronger opposition. Smith is a fair 'keeper from what I’ve seen so far in this series, but he’s not as good a glove-man as Foakes.
Wild bowling action isn’t it!
Vaughan can’t resist being provocative. Annoys me plenty, even when he may be right.
As for Foakes v Smith I think every Test side now insists that keepers have to be top batsmen first, keepers second. Blame Gilchrist and all who followed him. Foakes unfortunately doesn’t fit the mould, and I think that ship has sailed.
Bruce
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And before Gilchrist Jeff Dujon, the two greatest teams I’ve ever seen have had batters keeping.
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He reminded me of Paul Adams.
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Ah - “the frog in a blender” 
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I’ve been following the Pakistan - Bangladesh series via cricinfo text commentary, what a fantastic result for Bangladesh.
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Hi Eoin
I saw their first test match at Lords , I must admit I take my (proverbial) hat off to those first cricketers from Bangladesh .
Knowing they were going up against England (including Pietersen etc ) and that they would most likely get steamrollered but if they were going to become a major power this is where they started .
Slowly the results have come , and they will get better still
best wishes
Ian
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This should keep him busy.
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