The most important point to remember is when chosen to play Test cricket it is then how you cope with the step up from the County game to the Test arena, and unfortunately it is then when many of our batsmen get found out.
As i mentioned its only when you play the top sides like India, NZ and Australia that can you truly gauge the quality of the player either being average or top quality, and this is what is happening currently in this series and the players like Hameed are being found out, hence all the headlines of England being humilated etc etc.
However, no doubt all of this will be forgotten when we play the West Indies shortly and we are back to winning ways.:)

I can imagine. It's up there with Welsh and sheep shagging, or Scousers and petty theft. :)

Lol, I once did mention about sheep shaggers and his reply we feck then you eat them…which was funny :)

Anyway let’s digress before we upset some sheeps

oh definitely but he's had half decent scores against India home and away. MAybe this series came too soon for him.

Hopefully some good county starts and then a challenging start against New Zealand will be the chance for us to move on and allow a few players to (re!)establish themselves.

Haha. My best mate is originally from Launceston. I'll have to ask the Taswegian for the answer as I'm not sure.
Should be a good conversation with him, if i can understand him.:D

Hobart is now full of recently migrated Melbourne inner suburbs Hipster and Green types.... plus a smaller smattering of the same from inner Sydney.... So multi millions of dollars has poured into the state. The food and eating scene there is fantastic, probably the 3rd best city in Australia for eating out now. It's got the best ART scene in the whole of AUS... largely due to the MONA types that have moved there. Produce is the best in Aus... The natural surrounds are second to none around the world... let alone Aus. Definitely the best-kept secret in Aus (Although hoards have woken up in the last decade) and probably the most underrated place in the English speaking world. Historically the most interesting state as well, particularly in local architecture.

It's a completely different vibe from what it used to be.

It still figures on my retirement downsizing list, but doubtful that I would pick it over the mainland.

I love Tassie, one of the best places I have ever visited. Please don't confuse my cliched Sydney mainlander joke for a dislike of the place

I don't disagree, however players like Hameed getting chucked in against Australia away should not then be written off if they fail. A couple of years playing the other test nations, some more comfortable home conditions and stability for him in the side as well as in the wider team could create a player well worth his place next time we tour down under. Constantly chopping and changing doesn't help anyone. The poor showing down under gives an opportunity to start to build from a base again and keeping Crawley and Hameed as openers for the next few series is the right thing to do in my opinion.

This!

Unless someone is smashing the door down to be selected by sheer weight of runs, you should build some stability and keep both of these two.

I hear where you are coming from and yes playing the Aussies on home soil in an Ashes series there is no better way to fire up their bowlers, so its always going to be a big ask and that is something the Selectors should always pay attention to when selecting their squad.
As for Hameed, we must not forget he was selected for England a few years ago and clearly did not quite make the grade then, and was then recalled for this series but again has shown he lacks the technique and probably mental strength to cope at this level and has now got found out again, and you still feel he has the ability to cope with the "big teams"? i am not so sure.
I totally agree that chopping and changing does no one any favours, but that is precisely what constantly happens with the selectors, and that only happens when they struggle to find players to fill the role.
I hate saying this but the reality is the cupboard regarding talent is currently fairly bare in England, and if we are hoping to challenge the top teams i.e India, NZ and Auss, but as for the other teams we are more than capable of competing against, but is not what we are aiming for.
Changes and importantly Patience will be needed, and like it or not starting with the removal of Giles and Silverwood, then Firstly we need to relieve our One true outstanding batsman Root of the Captaincy so as he can feel that pressure taken off his shoulders, we then need to find a genuine and not a makeshift pairing of Opening Batsmen who are able to provide a solid base to build from, a Test quality Spinner, and then somehow find replacements for a pair of pace bowlers who between them have taken over 1000 Test wickets and have carried our attack for years.
Can we? that is a whole new ball game to answer.

Is absolutely right. Graham Gooch made a pair on his test debut (against the Aussies as it happens), followed by two more failures before vbeing dropped from the team. I wonder what ever became of him?

I remember a James Anderson getting tonked all over the park on his first tour of Oz. What happenned to him?

I’m not sure this is entirely correct. I’d have to check the stats but I seem to recall him doing pretty well, scoring a couple of 50’s and getting close to a ton in one innings against, I think, India. I certainly don’t think he ‘failed’ and it was his injury that saw him miss out rather than his form.

I MAY be wrong (it's happened once already this week on this thread), but I'm pretty sure Hameed broke his finger quite badly which is why he stopped making the England squad.
But he had a fantastic start away to India.

His form then dipped dramatically on the county level which is why he didn't get back into the England set up. Then as is the way, as soon as he got any form he was put straight back in and scored two 50's against India.

Uh oh. I'm agreeing with Worksop!

I knew you’d come to your senses eventually mate. Just a matter of time.

;)

Absolute nonsense

Quite : England would kill to have an opener average 43 in this series.

They’d kill to have an opening partnership of 43

Things are on the up, the most recent one was 46 (which was more than all the opening partnerships in the first 3 Tests combined!)