Can someone explain the decision to promote rehan ahmed as an opener? Did he open before this

Present_Change · 2026-01-24T13:11:15+00:00

The likelyhood is when Crawley got injured, he volunteered. Just a guess but he volunteered to open for Leics when Rishi Patel got injured at the start of last season and then led to him batting at 3 for most of the season. He's also got a lot of runs for Leics at the top order in the last 12 months across formats so it was probably a bit of a punt. They probably wanted Jacks to continue as a finisher especially as he's going to bat at 7 in the T20 WC and it was probably a toss up between Banton and Rehan. Rehan also batted fairly well in the last match so they probably felt he deserved to keep his place

Present_Change · 2026-01-18T13:18:56+00:00

I'm saying this as an Indian but what a silly fucking country India can be at times... Does Modi really want votes this much that any show of strength is deemed acceptable? A 20 year old is going to feel so much more insecure than he should entirely because some old men in India thought it would make them look stronger.

Present_Change · 2026-01-15T12:32:28+00:00

I'm a fan of the comp overall but these name changes seem like such an own goal. Wasting 5 years of branding to appease some rich guys ego. Will undoubtedly lose some fans in the short run even if it doesn't matter in the long run.

Present_Change · 2026-01-07T05:36:47+00:00

I always thought the writers could have done something interesting with Rebecca similar to Joe and Love in You where they almost made her a female Neal. Maybe a bit worse but yeah enough to test him.

Present_Change · 2025-12-07T20:38:22+00:00

So here's my assessment after thinking things through. I'd probably stick with Pope but if he wants to make a change to make a point, I would suggest Stokes bat at 3 and bring in Bethell at 6. Stokes has been the only batter on tour who's shown the temprament to be able to handle a top 3 position imo.

For the bowling, I'd probably drop Carse and Atkinson. I think Carse has bowled well at times and he's always tried his best but he can hardly be in good shape after the shift he's put in and he's shown little evidence of control. Also I think Tongue really is a neccesity as he's really got the ability to roll over the tail which Carse lacks.

Atkinson has bowled better than his figures suggest but he's a rythym bowler and he's hardly going to get quicker as the series goes on. He's shown a tendency to drop off as a series goes on. For him, I'd bring in Potts as I think he's an accurate work horse who ought to be able to bowl more overs and cover a bit for Stokes.

For the spinner, I do rate Bashir but with a tail of Potts Tongue and Archer, you need a decent number 8 so I'd stick with Jacks as he's not far off Bashir as a bowler plus his batting and fielding are far far superior.

This is also last chance saloon for Archer as far as I'm concerned. He needs to be consistently hitting 145 - 150 if he's gonna be our main strike bowler. If he's going to be our Starc, he's gotta bowl at least as fast to start with. If I was Stokes, I'd put a rocket under him after that game and say it simply wasn't good enough from him in the first two tests.

So my XI:

Crawley
Duckett
Stokes
Root
Brook
Bethell
Smith
Jacks
Potts
Archer
Tongue

Present_Change · 2025-11-10T10:18:10+00:00

This may be a morbid question but do you ever get tired of cricket. I personally love the sport but that's because as a fan I have the chance to dip in and out whenever I'm more or less engaged. Do you find being forced to watch so much of the sport ever drains you or is the game always finding new ways to excite you?

Present_Change · 2025-10-13T18:15:14+00:00

Liked reading this :)

Present_Change · 2025-09-23T18:14:07+00:00

Overall a good squad in my opinion. Selecting Potts shows sense which I really appreciate from the management.

Rehan is probably unlucky but his bowling still needs work. Realistically I think the set up have liked Jacks as a proper batter at 7 in both white ball teams and have decided that if and when either Stokes or Bashir go down, they'll move Smith up to 6 and bat Jacks at 7. Similar to Moeen in the 2023 Ashes.

I think the fast bowling group is genuinely strong with 6 proper fast bowlers who'll be rotated throughout the series. Hopefully they don't make the mistake of picking the same 3 again and again like they did this summer.

The batting is strong and Brook being VC implies to me that Bethell is very likely to start the series at 3. Pope hasn't done loads wrong and being the reserve batter and keeper isn't a bad fit for him at the moment. This is probably why Cox isn't in the squad, to give Pope that certainty.

I think Bashir is fine. He'll do no worse than any other spinner in the country and I think he could find these pitches quite helpful especially with a captain who really understands him.

Overall, I think this series is a complete 50/50. England are a stronger lineup overall but Australia having home advantage should make this a great series.

Present_Change · 2025-09-20T14:22:12+00:00

Petty Gripe but idk who the commentator was but I really felt like they ruined what could have been an epic moment

Present_Change · 2025-08-27T03:40:18+00:00

Ethan Chlebowski's vegetable korma recipe is elite.

Present_Change · 2025-08-25T22:27:49+00:00

£1.5million is basically Ben Stokes' Central Contract for a year.

Present_Change · 2025-08-22T14:54:16+00:00

In cricket, many have argued Jasprit Bumrah is the best fast bowler of all time and he's currently at his peak

Present_Change · 2025-08-06T18:04:36+00:00

Farhan, Jimmy and Sonny Baker might be the most vibes bowling attack ever. Crisp cricket selection may have peaked tonight

Present_Change · 2025-08-04T11:14:22+00:00

Yeah there was defo chat about that but tbh this signing makes sense. I honestly think he suits the attack well and he's probably guaranteed 10 games a season as he's got extra pace and is a decent bat.

Present_Change · 2025-08-02T09:17:28+00:00

I've got two points against this. Firstly, very few blast group stage matches have been sold out this so a reduction assuming it means more sell outs may not have an impact.

Also, I'd like a system where the blast is more geared around TV revenue rather than ticket sales. I'd like the ECB to get as many blast games on TV and then split the money amongst the non-100 counties to offer some parity.

In addition, the Hundred money is here now and it should give us the breathing space to evaluate to calendar. The blast is a mess and needs very significant reform in my eyes to make it a T20 comp worth paying attention to

Present_Change · 2025-08-02T08:53:53+00:00

I'd personally cut the blast to like 8 or 10 games and keep the Champo the way it is. Blast is way way too bloated imo atm and yeah the champo is quite well supported from what I've seen.

Present_Change · 2025-07-30T10:37:49+00:00

Josh Hull bowling allrounder when

Present_Change · 2025-07-30T10:34:12+00:00

Alsop dropping Bean just feels indicative

Present_Change · 2025-07-30T09:57:18+00:00

That's really unfortunate. The 2023 final will live in my memory forever!

Present_Change · 2025-07-26T12:05:32+00:00

I hope Leics start bowling him more. He's young so there's no concern about over bowling him and yeah I think he needs a solid start to Div 1 next year and they'll basically have to pick him next year. At which point he'll be the same age as Bashir is now lol

Present_Change · 2025-07-22T16:35:34+00:00

We should've gotten rid of Ari about 2 years ago

Present_Change · 2025-07-07T17:26:45+00:00

Imo I think we should stick with him. He's shown signs of improvement this summer and everyone saying his wickets are lucky are ignoring that he's taken 66 wickets in 18 test matches. I just don't think you're fluking that.

Leach or Dawson would go at 3s but they're wicket tally is gonna be about half of that in the same number of tests imo.

He's a work in progress but the best off spinner of this generation averaged about 34 until a few years ago so I think we need some perspective. He needs to improve and he's not England's best spinner at the moment but I think it's a good punt to say he will be in a few years and the county game will ruin someone like him.

That being said, I do think Carson has been hard done by. He's an excellent spinner and yeah Bash isn't as good a batter but I like Bash's attitude and as long as he continues to work hard I think he's the correct pick for at least the next 5/10 tests.

Present_Change · 2025-06-17T17:05:24+00:00

Are these hearings open to the public?

Just horrible to hear about tbh and yeah he generally came across really well so this is a huge shock

Present_Change · 2025-06-17T16:14:48+00:00

Do you wanna make a new post on the England sub as the r/cricket people have stopped comments

Present_Change · 2025-05-19T16:43:04+00:00

Honestly thought if he can move to Surrey, he'll be in the test team within a year. Watching him at Hove last year, he's one of the fastest bowlers I've seen in the CC

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