COVID-19 won’t stop England series as Australia announce squad for UK tour

Yeah, that was a literal damp squib. England didn't too bad in their 1st innings although, as you say, there was no chance of getting the full picture due to the weather and some poor decisions from the umpires and match referee as regards to abandoning play. The third Test will certainly be a good one, provided the weather plays ball!

Id like to see Sams and Abbot get a go in the T20. I also would not be surprised to see another spinner in the starting 11, i.e. Agar.

On a separate note, it's a shame rain has interfered with so much of this Test. It would have been interesting to see how the England bats would have fared without Ben Stokes. Still, it sets up the last Test nicely.

I would have to do some more research to form more of an opinion on Stoinis. Cheers for helping out Paul :thumbup:

I don't get it. Overseas teams won't come here. But we're prepared to a country that is worse than us. Forget the cricket side of it.

There are a lot of question marks about form lines from the BBL Joshua. Many think the bowling quality isn't up there, given how few really top notch players, both local and international, didn't play in that series. Stoinis was outstanding in the BBL, but was that because he was that good or the bowling was not up to par? I think the latter and in that regard, I'm not alone.

So World Cup qualification is meaningless to you then... Good squad you've named there anyway.

Yeah, both the Windies and Pakistan have had large squads so they could play intra-squad matches as part of training. Also you're covering just in case anything goes wrong or you want to change something for any reason.

Cheers Paul for your reply. My last memory of Stonis is his century for Melbourne Stars in the BBL at the end of December so that might be why I thought he was in good form. But with the top of the order already locked in, I can see why he might miss out.

The reason for the size of the squads is coverage, Jon. If you look back to last years Ashes, Australia could draw on guys from just about anywhere, but obviously with the travel & quarantine restrictions in place at present, that's not possible. They're just trying to cover all bases.

Like that ODI side very much and think they may go with that

Jhye Richardson had shoulder reconstruction in April to fix up the injury he sustained prior to last year's WC. He says he's on track to play at domestic level come December.

Think it's a bit of a meaningless tour and they'll rotate a lot of players but if I was picking the sides I'd go with this: ODI: Warner Finch Smith Marnus Carey Marsh Maxwell Starc Cummins Hazelwood Zampa T20 Exact same team except Phillipe in for Marnus. Overall though I'd imagine they'll pick lots of different players to give them a go.

Wrong, in ODI's he's better, he will play over Stoinis as the seam all rounder as hes able to bat at 6 and get going quickly.

Stoinis can only play as an opener, and we already have Warner and Finch there. In the middle order he is a liability. I'd prefer M Marsh.

Obviously they are going to have bulk rotations. I think the Windies and Pakistan both took large squads over there as well. This series means no more than to get a look at a few players, Phillipe in particular i'm excited about.

Maybe he’s only intended for the T20s.

Stoinis was a huge liability for us in the WC last year, Joshua. He tends t take a long time (relatively) to get going, chewing up a lot of deliveries. That's fair enough at the top of the order but not so much, where he's been batting ( 6 or 7). He won't get a look in at 1, 2 or 3, so he misses out.

From memory he began with a blaze but it soon appeared he is best suited to the top order, similar to T20 cricket, where Australia have already an abundance of options.

You're mixing up ODI form and Test form, sure he's a total spud at test level but he's almost certainly in the first choice ODI XI.