very surprised to see morgan get a game today in front of kane williamson

bit of a weird dismissal of gayle there

ball going down legside and catches his thigh pad and deflects back in towards the stumps and bowls him

Shame to hear about James Taylor but naturally health and life comes first.

big score on for RCB here with ABDV and kohli together and well set

some of these commentators just dont make sense

henriques is out after scoring just 19 from 23 balls when chasing a required rate of 12+ per over and the commentator describes it as a "good innings"

Sad news that he will lose his cricket career but good news that they spotted it

Hope things go well for him

I don't watch much IPL but how do RCB ever lose games with a top three of Gayle, AB and Kohli (and Watto coming in at 4 for good measure)? I think most people would have those three as the three best T20 players in the world and they are all on one team?

Also I saw some of the presentation ceremony and the number of commercial tie ins they have to scroll through is beyond ridiculous. I think that's why I find the IPL so difficult to watch as it feels more like a three hour advert with occasional cricket shots thrown in. You have the ridiculous 'time out', a hundred sponsorship logos on every shirt and every aspect of the game has a different sponsor. Leaves me cold.

Bowling a much under-rated part of T-20, often won by the best bowling side.

I find it very soul-less, must admit the great T-20 World cup makes me feel even more cold towards it, franchises not my thing. Would rather Sky showed some County cricket, but I realise I'm in the huge minority.

I agree with you! I would love to see more county cricket on TV

A terrible blow for James Taylor. The very best of luck to him.

In other news, Ian Bell scores a century.

It is always tricky if they showed a Championship match this time of year manly due to rain, look at Worcestershire v Kent 3 days in no play.

with the unfortunate news about taylor that means another spot available in the middle order for the test side

without wanting to sound like i am on another ian bell witch-hunt i do hope that the selectors dont over-react to him scoring runs for warks, as throughout the last couple of years when his test form was awful he never really failed to score heavily for warks in the handful of appearances he had for them

Sad about James I've posted on here over the years, saying he deserved the chance.

It would be a mistake to Bring back Bell but they would probably see it as the easiest choice

I have to admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for Ian Bell. When he's playing well, he's glorious to watch. I'm not convinced that his international career should be entirely over just yet, but I admit that I'm probably wrong!

England have a real problem with the Test batting. Taylor is gone. Hales, Compton and Bairstow are not (IMO) really good enough to be playing at Test level, and for me, the question is whether they have enough about them to be brought up to that level. I'm not so sure they do. Moeen's future remains a mystery to me...

So who else is out there that could be playing?

There seems to be a real dearth of players who have the technique and temperament to resist quality Test bowling.

think you are being a bit harsh on bairstow and compton , neither have done enough to cement a place but both have done enough to justify at least being given a run, personally i would be playing bairstow as a batsman only and bring buttler back in as keeper

bairstow did just average 70 in the series against SA

Sad news for James Taylor

Amongst other things we will miss his superb short leg fielding. He took some excellent catches there in South Africa that helped to win the series

It is hard to work out who is likely to be in the test squad for the first test of the summer.

.Do they risk Hales, as an opener, Do they bring Compton back to open, Do they replace Taylor with Bell, or do they bring in somebody like James Vince and go with youth, also you won't need two spinners, so do they go with Mooen Ali or Adil Rashid, Also haven't you got Buttler still in the IPL at the beginning of the test series.

If it was a big series, I think Bell would be a given just for experience.

My Test team

Cook
Lyth
Compton
Root
Vince
Stokes
Barstow
Mooen Ali
Broad
Finn
Anderson

Lyth I only picked as there isn't anybody else, he is older and has experience, you need an older face, otherwise it is all youth.

If at the end of the IPL if Buttler is in form, I would play Bairstow as a Batsman and Buttler keep

I know what you mean, but I feel that the figures belie his actual ability. I agree with Shane Warne, who said that someone like Bairstow would always need a large slice of luck to get the big scores. And I think he had that slice of luck in the SA matches. When I watch him play, I just don't see his technique as being up to scratch at Test level.

Compton feels like a steadier player, but seems to struggle to score and gets bogged down too easily.

I don't think either are bad players. But I do think that (and this is not just for England, of course) the modern game has had an effect on basic technique, which is exposed at Test level.

Compton done well in the winter, when he was dropped back when, I think his face didn't fit.

Jos Butler going well for Mumbai

those 2 6s he hit through the covers were just classy shots

The women's T20 super League is looking good in the summer , some top players taking part from around the globe

BMac looks like he's in the mood today

I think it his "attitude" / personality that does not fit.
A pity but this seems to have also been an issue at County level.

Virat and AB going well in the IPL

added 79 in 8 overs so far

AB 50* off 25 so far