for me 5 or 6 is enough anything more then that could be harming the team chances and also dropping the player might actually improve the player since he has time to fix any issue or problem.
playing them more just makes the player lose confidence.

also it should be noted pakistan made changes and it worked out.
don't understand why any team will play a batsman that is struggling since a new batsman might actually do better and help the team win games.
you barely see any tactical changes with england anymore will be the same 11 most of the time might be the reason why they still haven't found an opener, number 5, 6 and even one of their shoe in batsman stokes isn't that great with the bat.

a lot of the batsman have still been playing far too long with a clear technical issue sometimes a newer batsman can score runs while the current one can not.
no one in pakistan expected Sami Aslam to score runs in england yet he score 2 fifties.
they did even really rate him in the nets if they though Hafeez was better especially since the guy did look average in bangladesh.

Broad has been terrible on reviews in the past, but that one was fair enough, not much batting to come and it just shaved leg stump, unlucky to be given out originally IMHO.

Well done Moeen! Was a bit worried about his spot before the last test.

We are talking about if they need to play a second spinner, IE Rashid. If he comes in then Mo plays more as a batsman than as main spinner. Effectively you are swapping a successful number 8 with a failing number 4 or 5.

if you are playing in conditions where you need 2 spinners then you dont need 4 seamers

TBH Ali not a successful number 8 averages 24 in that position.
the only place he averages higher than 35 is number 7 where the figure is 107.

Really having a middle order of Ali, Stokes,Bairstow, Woakes, Rashid is very weak and be close to a tail if the ball is moving.

that is pretty much a team of bit and pieces cricketers that do a bit with the bat and the ball.
oppositions would be quite happy to bowl to that team then 6 specialist batsman.

Anyway good hundred from Moeen Ali.

at least someone agrees with me

Nobody mentioned Stokes though Bhav. That would change the dynamic completely. If Stokes is in then you change it even more. Assuming he was in for Fimm. You'd have Woakes at 8, Rashid at 9 so not middle order at all.

not sure why the obsession to play 6 or 7 bowlers are coming from and that Ali, Stokes, Woakes, Rashid etc will be solid test batsman.

Might be wrong apologies but wouldn't this be the team.

Cook
Hales
Root
Ballance
Bairstow
Stokes
Ali
Woakes
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

that the team I am getting although heard quite few saying drop hales, make root open and pick another bowler and the same thing as that but hales plays and ballance is dropped.

pretty long tail even if 4 of them can bat.
especially with one opener usually failing and ballance being a poor starter with his technique.
batting line up with loads of collapses.

Nonsense, that team scores runs, JB is not a bits-and-pieces cricketer and Moeen averages close to 40 down the order, stop twisting stats with what he does at 6 and 8, oh and just casually mentions what he averages at 7 was over an 100.

In fact it's not a weak tail, it's an incredibly strong tail imho.

Not really been concentrating on the cricket so quite lucky that I just tuned in to see the end of Bairstow and Woakes coming to the wicket.......so I reckon I saw the best of the England innings !

Great stuff from Moeen........regular scenario though of the top order failing to score enough runs and the middle order saving the day

I thought of a 'what if' or a 'ask the Umpire' towards the end as Mooen was sheltering Jimmy.......what if Mooen hit one into the outfield and wanted 3 runs to keep the strike next over.......but the bowler was letting the ball run to the boundary to get a four and keep Moeen off strike. Could they run 5 and would that supercede a 4 if they'd run the 5 before the ball reached the boundary ?

.........and apart from the obvious ungentlemanly conduct could the fielder pick the ball up and chuck it over the boundary to make sure it was a 4 and not a single, a 3 or a 5 ?

if anyone think moeen Ali is a solid batsman god knows what their been watching averages less than 25 away from home.
if he in the top 6, bowlers will be very happy bowling at england.

by the way not calling JB an bit and pieces cricketer actually like him but he is likely to bat at 6 or 7 and Ali/Stokes or both will be ahead of him and was talking about the batting order not the player in it.

All these stats are skewed by his terrible time as opener in the UAE though, he's not an opener. Just stop saying you'll think people will be happy as a reason, I doubt Sri Lanka and Pakistan have delighted in bowling to him this Summer.

sorry but having 2 of Ali/Stokes in the top 6 makes a weak tail, it is a strong tail if they bat at 7 or 8 or lower not if they bat above it.

talks about england doing this in india.

Cook
Hales
Root
Ballance
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Woakes
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

that is a pretty long tail.

What and you think he will score runs in india then.
what skewed his SA or WI stats then or the india home series, NZ series at home.

anyway might be wrong but think Ali got dropped a lot this summer and the way he play Ali will give chances to the bowler.

It's just not, Woakes and Rashid have fine first-class records, they are genuinely decent bats.

I'd play Borthwick at 3 anyway and drop Ballance. Quite frankly I also wouldn't mind Bell-Drummond, I don't much care about inexperience, when you have the solid triumvirate of cook, root and JB.

Why won't he score runs in India, he's a brilliant player of spin, defensively and attackingly.

He's been dropped once in the last three innings, try again, you seem pretty vested in this, so I'm sure you will.

But they haven't batted at Test cricket yet, so their is no guarantee Rashid can score runs in Test and only woakes showed he can bat at test but even then no guarantee he can score away from home.

Stokes got a good first class record yet he barely manages to average 30 in test same with Ali so what make you think lesser batsman will manage ok in Test cricket.

Anyway this all seems a bit pointless and we've missed a wicket in this thrilling series, who cares about India for now.

England in a decent position all of a sudden.

good day for england.

England 1/3 on with the bookies.

Easy money, given England haven't lost a home test batting first since 2012.

Are England heading back to number 1 if they win this? Assuming India draw the third test against W.Indies?

According to the ICC predictor I've got they are....

can only speak for myself but i really couldn't give a toss about the ICC rankings

without a balanced schedule and teams having to play each other home and away within the period they lack substance