Special features
- Your View |
- Message Boards |
- Polls |
- Sky Cast
Selection conundrum
Humiliated at Headingley, how can England turn the series around? It's Your View...
Back to storyLatest Poll
Todays Polls
What will be the top transfer fee paid during the January window?
Following Australia's defeat to South Africa, who do you think are the world's top Test team?
Who should captain the British and Irish Lions in 2009?
Who will be the biggest spenders in the January transfer window?
Previous Poll Results
Around Sky Sports today
Facebook Fan Page
Sign up to the Sky Sports Facebook Fan page
Barclays Ticket Office
WIN Barclays Premier League match tickets every 90 minutes here!
Soccer Saturday Super 6
Predict the scores of 6 football matches and you could win £100K.
Comments
Chris Dubery says...
England cannot afford a 5 bowler attack, unless Flintoff is performing at the top of his form with the bat. Unfortunately the England top 5 just haven't got the reliability it takes at top test level, and sorry for Vaughan, but his form over the past 2 years says he should now go. The attack - certainly Simon Jones should be back, to give some variety. On English wickets, I wonder if we can afford the luxery of Pannesar - no doubt he's the best finger spinner, but fielding and batting let him down. The top sides today bat all the way down the order, and that's exactly what England must do too! Runs on the board put pressure on and win matches, 2-300 in first innings no longer cuts it.
Posted 11:38 22nd July 2008
Paul Welford says...
I have to say, I'm not all doom and gloom after the shocker that we've just had. The thing that let us down the most was yet more batting inconsistency. There were a few sparks here and there but too many rash shots and poor cricket decisions. Patience was the key on that surface, and only on the second attempt did we show any. Take note England. Leave the ball more often, play for your off stump and wait for the bad ball. You're going to get some from this South African attack. Selection wise I don't see any major changes. I mean we bowled well. We had comfortably the worst of the conditions for bowling. We batted on a green tinged wicket under cloud cover.... although I do admit we didnt make the most of our time at the crease. James Anderson, I think, has been an absolute revelation. He deserved a lot more wickets. He's pretty quickly becoming the finished article. Probably taking up Hoggard's role in the side now. Sidebottom should return as I assume he'll be fit. That'll make a hell of a difference.... especially in Nottingham. Broad stays in the side for his batting at the moment, not his bowling. I think he needs to work to improve there. Monty obviously stays in the team. And Fred is the Fred we know and love. Another good thing is that Fred spent some time in the middle in the last innings. Got a good one to get him out I think. But he showed some patience. That'll help him on his quest for form with the bat. I really would like Jones to play and bowl but I'd leave him the rest of the season to prove fitness. The keeper is a worry. He's been ok behind the stumps, but batting at 6 we need runs. Prior?? Foster?? The batting line up I would stick with. Maybe Vaughan at 5 to swap with Bell. So no whole sale changes. I think Jones and Harmy will be integrated eventually but not this series. We can still beat these guys.
Posted 11:35 22nd July 2008
Darren Guildea says...
My team: Cook, Strauss, Pietersen, Bell, Collie(C), Flintoff, Mustard, Broad, Anderson, Jones, Monty. How do these selectors be employed its a joke! Jimmy Anderson most improved player this year with ball and bat and stuart broad will be a genuine all rounder with a bit of work on his bowling.
Posted 11:33 22nd July 2008
Micheal Kimber says...
Championship cricket averages 2008: Ben Scott - 63.66 Matt Prior- 56.58 Paul Nixon- 54.66 Jamie Pipe - 43.3 Chris Read- 41.36 Nic Pothas- 38.36 John Batty- 35.5 Foster- 34.6 Steve Davies- 33.33 Geraint Jones- 29.00 Luke Sutton- 28.66 Gerard Brophy- 28.46 Phil Mustard- 24.92 Mark Wallace -23.69 Bear in mind half of these players have played their cricket in division 2. Matt prior seems the obvious pick from this but he seems to bottle it on the big stage.
Posted 11:23 22nd July 2008
Andy Sokolow says...
its now time for the ECB to make a decision on the wicketkeeper front ..... they should stop messing about and bring back matt prior he has so far proved his worth so far this season with an average of over 70 he was hard done by when he was dropped !!! its now time for micheal vaughn to step aside and give the realms to paul collingwood who again has been hard done by yes he had a bad patch but tell me 1 crickerter that does not?..And finally.....for goodness sake England selectors there was the ideal oppurtunity for a SIMON JONES recall for that last test match a guy that can swing a cricket ball even in the the less seamer freindly conditions.........DARREN WHO ???? BRING BACK JONESY
Posted 10:57 22nd July 2008
Matt Naylor says...
Just going to throw this in, how about Napier as a wildcard? His fitness has improved greatly which has had a great impact on his bowling and batting as we've seen in the twenty20 version of the game, He gets decent movement with the ball and could arguably replace Broad.
Posted 10:51 22nd July 2008
Frank Slater says...
Vaughan isan artist at damning people with faint praise. He pretends to defend Pattinson, just as he did with Flintoff in The West Indies. One person has failed conspicuously in the last two tests - VAUGHAN. He's a politician; why is he in the team at all? Frank Slater
Posted 10:40 22nd July 2008
Ramone Bedi says...
The selectors gave the match to South Africa selecting Pattison.It is not his fault though. How can Vaughn use him he he has never seen him. It is not right that he had to interduce himself to the rest of the players.. My team would be: Cook Strauss Vaughn Peterson Flintoff Bell Broad Foster Anderson Sidebottom Panaser In that batting order Move Broad up the order Maybe swap Bell and Flintoof around
Posted 09:46 22nd July 2008
Al Preston says...
I think English cricket started to go wrong when Flintoff was picked to captain the Ashes team in Australia in place of Strauss who was upping the anti each time he walked out as captain. He seemed to loose all confidence after that and has never recovered. Since then things have gone from bad to worse. Wicket-keeping selection has been laughable. I'm sorry to say that Collingwood has always looked as if he's running at 100 miles an hour to keep up as batter and offers nothing as a bowler. All we ever hear is wait till Freddies back. After seeing him in this match at least 20% down on his best. Lets hope for better at Edgbaston. Brutal, but no hiding place. He was part of an attack who went for over 500 and his batting was poor.Bring back Harmison? What has he done to deserve selection? Won't play ODI's, mopes around if the wicket doesn't suit. Do we really need someone who has failed consistently since 2005? I wouldn't bring Steven Jones back, yet. I think Worcester should be congratulated for the way they are bringing him along after all his injury problems. I hope he makes the Indian tour as his reverse swing will be invaluable over there and hopefully he will be fit for next year. All we hear about is drop this or that bowler, what about the fireproof batting? There the real problem lies. They ain't good, but who do you pick. Thanks to all the overseas and (uck) KOLPAK players (7 S.A's in Leicesters team) we don't have many options. It won't happen but my team for the next test woud be Cook, Strauss (captain) Key,Pietersen, Bell,Foster (wk),Flintoff,Mahmood, Sidebottom, Anderson, Panasar. I would rest Broad as I think he has had too much work for his age, although we won't half miss his batting. Sorry, but Vaughan is a spent force. His failure with the bat is affecting his captaincy and he is a liability in the field. That catch should have been taken easily. Also get rid of half the backroom hanger's on.
Posted 09:37 22nd July 2008
David Gordon says...
Its good to see those people that are suggesting their sides that should be playing are not including Vaughan. This man seems to have reasonably good batting statistics,whilst having captained England.But it seems to me that most times he fails with the bat or, gets a reasonable innings when the track is flat and its at a time when everyone else is batting well. If Collingwood has been dropped, then why the hell is Vaughan still there. England is playing the second best Test team in the world....and next,against the Australians..??? We only just beat New Zealand and they had two of their best players missing. Mr Vaughan wants to keep his cuddly little group together, because if the selectors actually stepped back and really looked at the performances of some of the players...Vaughan and Strauss would not be there.
Posted 09:30 22nd July 2008
Duncan Verbuyst says...
England England England. There were 2 teams in this test match. Granted, the selectors made a shocker!! But as a squad England should of given a better performance. To drop Vaughn now would not be a good thing, the ashes is just around the corner and England needs to settle down on a squad and let them play as a SQUAD!! All credit to South Africa, they played as a team and everyone knew thier role in the team. Hoggard for Pattinson will be the only change i would make. As for the South Africans, congrats on a good performance.
Posted 09:22 22nd July 2008
Hendrik Bruwer says...
As a South African, nothing gives me more pleasure than reading these posts. Unlike the previous series, I have no doubt that SA will close this one out, unless England makes drastic changes to their changes to their side. And I'm talking about at least four changes. Here's my tip to a competitive series. 1) Drop Michael Vaughan. With his poor footwork, he'll never survive the likes of Steyn and Morkel. 2) Drop Tim Ambrose. His batting technique looks inadequate for a number six. 3) England need to choose between Broad and Flintoff. Broad's bowling lacks penetration, but he looks like a good batter. Flintoff's batting form is poor, but he's bowling well. What does England want? I'd go for Flintoff's experience. Thus I would replace Broad with Simon Jones, despite Broad's batting prowess. 4) England need someone with real pace to unsettle South Africa's batsmen. It will be a bit of a gamble, but Harmison might do the trick.
Posted 09:06 22nd July 2008
Edwin D'souza says...
My team: Boycott, Gooch, Gower, Pieterson, Randall, Botham, Stewart, Dilley, Hendrick, Willis, Panesar with Norman Cowans 12th man.
Posted 08:58 22nd July 2008
Matt Naylor says...
When your number 9 is getting a better strike rate than one of your opening batsmen you know you're in trouble. What irritates me is KP, he has the ability to be the greatest batsman in the World yet his gung-ho style when we are up against it smacks of immaturity. We didn't really have any chance of winning this Test after our woeful 1st innings however as SA did in the previous Test we could have tried to bat for the draw. Instead what we saw in KP was simply idiotic, instead of trying to steady the ship and stay at the crease for as long as possible he comes out and swings the willow in much the same fashion as a man trying to swat a fly in his living room. SA built their 1st innings by sheer grit, determination and defense, something which we seemed to lack in this Test. As Captain Vaughan should lead my example however his performances of late with the bat have been left wanting to say the least. Sidebottom will obviously come straight back in for Pattinson but as well as this change why not give Jones a go or as Prior has been performing well at County level bring him in for Ambrose?
Posted 08:54 22nd July 2008
Richard Gill says...
Inadequate, timid and ill-conceived selection has been a blight on English cricket fir time immemorial (how many tests should George Gunn have played?). The team for Edgbaston where I shall be attending with son and Father -in-law, should actually pick itself and reads, in batting order: Cook, Strauss, Bell, Pieterson, Broad, Prior, Flintoff, Sidebottom, Anderson, Panesar and Harmison. You play Broad as a batsman (which he clearly is), Flintoff as a bowler, trust Prior to hold his catches and appoint anybodt other than Pieterson as captain.
Posted 08:50 22nd July 2008
Dhiren Khandel says...
England shot themselves in the foot and practically gave the game away before the match had even started!!!! I mean who the hell is Pattinson!!! I have never heard of him....in fact I can't even spell his damn name I have copy and paste the name from somebody else's comment! The selectors were most definitely hell bent on making England lose this game for sure.......I mean who say's no the famous trio who won the ashes for England!!!!!!!! Simon Jones is bowling just beautifully and consistently getting wickets by the dozen (exaggerated yes but compared with Pattinson?) so there's no logical reason to not call him up, because even if they don't want him getting injured they can't say that otherwise why else did they call flintoff up? Fools if I ever knew any.....Hoggard is another man that deserves his name on that team sheet....He was dropped after just one bad game I mean How harsh is that considering its only occurred to bloody selectors to get rid of collingwood now (after about some 10 tests of crap form!) and he too is bowling well and this is his home ground and I think out of all the call ups he would know this ground best! don't u? Personally I would not have called up Harmy because I would be worried about him peeing himself and bowling crap all game and then say to the media "Oh I will do better, just give me a chance"....having said that it was against the SA team in 03 where Harmy showed us the real Harmy and made his name in that series.....Tremlett? well I feel for the dude being on standby all this time and Pattinson getting straightaway. Why they didn't replace Broad is unknown to me. The poor lad looked absolutely shattered in this test. Michael Holding (One of the great West Indian Fast Bowlers) had this to say "3 days in nowhere near long enough for a fast bowler to rest". Moving on the performance...Most of the batsmen didn't do their job (Strauss, Vaughan, Bell, Pieterson etc)
Posted 08:41 22nd July 2008
Rob Trantor says...
Time to make some changes, it cant get any worse than the 2nd test! My team: Cook Strauss Bell Pietersen Collingwood (C) Prior / Read / Foster (WK) Flintoff Sidebottom JONES, JONES Bring back JONES!!!! Anderson (most improved test player this year) Monty Thinking about creating a bring back Simon Jones website, banners, Party political Broadcast, just anything to bring attention to him. Obviously his Phenominal strike reate this season isnt doing it! Who on earth was Pattinson??? I am so angry with the ECB!!
Posted 07:46 22nd July 2008
Steve Donald says...
England XI .Strauss(cap),Cook,Bopara,Bell,Pietersen,Foster,Broad,Flintoff,Anderson,Harmison.Panesar. Vaughan has been a good captain but cant seem to do it with the bat and cant see him being any better in 2009. Keep broad and move him up the order. Bopara/Bell/Pietersen order to depend on KPs ego. This is test match cricket over 5 days has he forgot this. Concerned that"consistancy in selection" will result in no major changes till we have lost this series. Make some tough choices not just for now but the future.
Posted 07:27 22nd July 2008
Cameron D says...
As an Australian who watches every English game on cable from Down under I am worried that come next year the Ashes may be a fizzle, if the experienced English players are not playing at the International Level. Why are English selectors not employing the services of Jones/Hoggard/Harmison and blooding a new player (Pattinson at 28 years) 12 months out. The National selectors have made a huge blunder and helped destabilise a team that just reintroduced Flintoff, whose mere presence is enough to raise the espirit de corps of fellow players. If Jones or Harmison was added to that squad it would certainly look a lot stronger.. Ambrose should be given the rest of the series to prove himself, but both Sidebottom and Anderson need to be rested in favour of Harmison and Jones for the 3rd test. We don't need to risk injury to anderson who is starting to blossom. Vaughan is fine but should be dropped down the order below Peterson (3) and Bell (4), where he should remain for the rest of his career. He could find a real niche here for when the new ball has lost it's momentum and the bowlng tires. Vaughan is the perfect link between the batsmen and alrounders and if needed hold up an end and bat with the tail. If I picked my side for the 3rd Test providing these players were fit, this would be the batting order: Strauss Cook Peterson Bell Vaughan Flintoff Ambrose Broad Sidebottom (Harmison/Hoggard) Anderson (Jones) Panesar Playing for England should be regarded as an honour and priviledge, not a requirement.
Posted 05:53 22nd July 2008
Jonny Thomas says...
I think this whole 'consitancy with selection' has not helped and this massive defeat has waited to happen. The selection of Pattinson wasn't thought through at all and has really backfired. I would have gone for Hoggard especially with the match being at his home ground. We need more pace so to give Jones a recall would also have looked a good choice with his return to form. An ideal chance to put either bowler back in with out having to drop a player. Both would have done well in my opinion. Ambrose must go now? Mustard or Foster or Prior must come in as well as mv being dropped. What about Rob Key? Faces pace really well. Deserves another chance if not shah is in form in odi's?
Posted 04:32 22nd July 2008
Add Comment*
All fields are required