Jack Leach

Imagine they’ll bite the bullet and chuck in Ahmed, might not be the worst thing!
 
Absolute disaster. We've not been blessed with a spin option since Swann.

Leach has been the mainstay. To lose him now is a bit of a mare. Especially as we've hardly given anyone else a runout. Root can do 'bits' and probably under bowled. He's actually decent. Yet not a front line spinner.

I'd be on the phone to Adil Rashid. I know he doesn't like test cricket. Yet ask him to play for 6 weeks. The best option by a country mile. Although writing this not knowing if he's fit or available.
 
We need to get our begging bowl out for rashid or moeen to return to the fold, the young lad Ahmed is just too young to throw him to the wolves and the rest are gash - pretty obvious given leach is streets ahead of everyone else and he is only a minor upgrade on The King of Spain (Ashley Giles).
 
gravy173 said:
We need to get our begging bowl out for rashid or moeen to return to the fold, the young lad Ahmed is just too young to throw him to the wolves and the rest are gash - pretty obvious given leach is streets ahead of everyone else and he is only a minor upgrade on The King of Spain (Ashley Giles).
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The bloke struggles to bowl four overs two days in a row. His shoulder is gone. He cannot play the Leach role.

Edit: Sorry, that was a totally misdirected reply about the suggestion to pick Rashid
 
Feel like we would have beaten them comfortably without all the injuries, its looking like a real challenge now though.
 
grumpyoldgit said:
Ooh, that's serious. He's become an integral part of the bowling attack under Stokes.
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Can’t agree he’s going to be that much of a miss. I mean he may well have been integral to Stokes but in NZ series he looked pretty tame as his figures, apart from NZs final innings, testify. Not a big blow for me.
 
As much as id like to have Ali back, i get the impression McCullum and Stokes aren't the type to be begging players to come back.

Roots one of the best batsman in the world and he's going to be pivitol this series, so i'd rather he didn't have the distraction/added responsibility of being our only spinner.

Maybe they'll just be brave and bring Ahmed in, seems like the culture in the setup nowadays anyway.
 
I've lost track with test cricket quite a bit, can't we just make the pitches super green and just rely on our seamers more?

I've never see Ahmed play but can't we just chuck him in as a bit of a wild card, if it works bowl him more and if it doesn't just rely on the seamers and part-timers more. A bit of experience might help him and us going forward?

Ahmed seems to be able to bat a bit too from looking at his stats?
 
Cardiffdaffs said:
Can’t agree he’s going to be that much of a miss. I mean he may well have been integral to Stokes but in NZ series he looked pretty tame as his figures, apart from NZs final innings, testify. Not a big blow for me.
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I don’t think you can judge Leach based on his performances in the spin graveyard that is New Zealand. Graeme Swann knew what he was doing by never playing a test match there.

The problem is not just going to be the loss of his wicket taking threat in the 2nd innings. In the 1st innings, Leach can pretty much tie up one end, enabling Stokes to rest and rotate the seamers from the other end.

Without a reliable spinner to undertake that task, the seamers are either going to be overbowled and become ragged later in the day, or Stokes then feels the need to bowl/overbowl himself. That then risks some sort of serious injury to his knee and we possibly lose our most important player.
 
It's saying something when Jack Leach is considered a big miss. There is just a dearth of half decent spinners in England. Ahmed may develop but he will be like a lamb to slaughter for the Aussies. Moeen is probably the only half decent option, maybe Dawson from Hampshire. But Leach has played every game under Stokes, so will be difficult to replace. Moeen hasn't played the longer form for about two years, so a big ask for him.
 
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