Quote Originally Posted by Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult View Post
Agree about Wood. Test ave of 16 isn't too bad. But if we're dropping Jimmy to plan for the Ashes, Woakes at home averages 33 with bat and 22 with ball at home but 22 and 52 away.

Jofra's FC average of 23 is under 8 in tests.

Atkinson has a FC ave of 20 with 3 50s in 27 innings, but cf Jofra. Ganpati willing I'm wrong but I doubt he'll average 20 in Aus.

So having Wood at 8 averaging 16 and then 9-10-Jack scoring sod all isn't ideal.

Now Stokes is back, we really could do with another all-rounder. If only we could find an Imran Khan.....

Like we all have wk-batsmen, you really want a spinner who can bat at 8. Makes such a difference.
We are in a similar cycle ere to the football. Ahead of every Ashes tour we talk about developing a new bowling attack and then gradually, over the year inbetween, the fast bowlers get injured or lose form and we rock up in Australia with four right arm seam/ swing bowlers coming in at 84 mph. Every time

Scoring runs over there is meaningless. We simply cannot take 20 wickets on those pitches.