England don't need to panic just yet

Stokes is stronger than Denley! Root should open. I don't imagine too many of our bowlers are worried about a Sehwag type start. I think they should hide their sloggers down the order

Well we won’t have to worry about reverse swing as it has mysteriously vanished since sandpapergate. Agree a green top is their best bet, it makes it more of a shoot out 50/50 scenario. Our batting is atrocious in those conditions, while there’s isn’t much chop either, but atleast they are accustomed to it. We have a better bowling unit, especially with Lyon.

haha far out

I predict the inclusion of Leach will be the most important move England can make. He’s a left armer with a county cricket average of 25 and has played 5 tests with 20 wickets at 24. With Smith’s struggles against left arm spin, he may just be someone that will help turn the tide in England’s favor.

If you’re playing Stokes at four, you’re basically giving up.

It was a county 2nds with 6 teenagers playing against him. Lol poor kids having Archer bowling at you.

Jofra Archer should be an adequate replacement for the 575-wicket veteran An untested rookie with very limited red ball experience will be an adequate replacement for Englands best ever bowler? According to the Guardian, until yesterday, he hadn't bowled a red ball or more than 10 overs in a day since last September.

Archer just made a century in county cricket too.

England have major problems. They had 6 non-contributors in the 1st test - Anderson, Ali, Roy, Denley, Bairstow (his keeping AND batting were woeful) and Buttler. That's a lot to carry. I believe if they dish up green tops then they simply can't have Roy in the team. He's a flat track bully and should only play on a flat wicket. He simply won't get runs on a seaming track against this Aussie attack. That dismissal against Lyon was embarrassing for him and England. I heard that his longest 1st class innings is 3.5 hours! He's a short form player. He's never batted longer than a session and a half in his life and England expect to make a test match opener out of him? Crazy stuff! Bairstow needs to be replaced by Foakes. So I would replace Anderson, Ali, Roy and Bairstow with Leach, Archer, Foakes and anybody but Roy (Vince perhaps). I think Archer is an absolute diamond in the rough. He needs to be backed. He may well hit the ground running but if he doesn't, then he just needs to be persisted with as he could be England's next great player and boy do they need one! I feel his batting will come along well as a bonus - a potential great fast bowler batting at no.8. The England selectors need to make some ruthless calls before this series gets away from them. They were well and truly flogged in that game. Remember Australia declared and they looked like they would have cruised to 600. Anderson was a great loss but they still had 5 other players who didn't get close to stepping up to the plate.

I was thinking the same thing, 're England batting. We'll see what depth they have in County now and how strong a comp it really is.

If you are right, we might see another contest, that's what Test cricket needs.

No doubt the possible inclusions of Archer and Leach will improve England's bowling attack. Particularly Leach. However when you look at England's batting line up, three of the top four do have question marks. Burns did make a century, but he has to back it up with more consistency. With Australia, in recent times away from home, they have won the first test but fade as the series rolled on. But maybe this time around, things might be different. Starc and Hazlewood were overlooked for the first test. And they could be overlooked again for the second test. Having fresh fast bowlers like Starc and Hazlewood in the second half of the series could be a masterstroke and avoid another fade out.

Thanks for tackling such a controversial topic in your first article William. I look forward to seeing what other Roar fans think of your remarks. I think England is caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of it's Test side at present. You suggest the curators need to prepare tracks more conducive to seam, but what happens if England bat's first? Do we get a repeat of the Lords Test against Ireland? The Australian attack is perfectly capable of bowling well in these conditions and the English batting has shown itself to be brittle when facing this type of bowling as well. The one issue you didn't mention is the lack of depth in English batting. Put simply, there are few Test quality players that could come into a side where guys like Denly, Bairstow and Ali are all down on form with the bat. You've also had to "create" a Test opener in Roy, again because there's no one pressing their claims. The batting is England's big problem, not it's bowling, yet this is where it has few options left. Finally, you talked at length about Australia fading in series and I think there's an element of truth, historically, which is also why I think Australia will be going flat out to win the series in 3 games. I also think there's a completely different mindset with the current team, with guys far more prepared to grind out runs and value their wickets. Throw in a world class attack and a captain who's shown great resolve and you have a pretty solid combination that's going to be hard to beat under any conditions.

Previous England TEST teams have enjoyed rough pitches with reverse swing. I feel they don't have the batting to cope with seaming pitches - Root and Stokes aside. Lords doesn't spin much, so I won't be surprised if they play all seamers. I would bat Root and Stokes at 3&4, and then hope that one of their number 7's comes off. Gilchrist was a gun, but don't chance your arm with similar shot makers at the top - A Finch. Bowlers bowl better with runs in the bank.

England just got rolled in a session by Ireland on a green top. Without Cook in the side, and with their best play struggling to convert 50s to 100s, their batting is in all sorts. They are one loss from mental disintegration IMO!