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Selection conundrum
Humiliated at Headingley, how can England turn the series around? It's Your View...
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Comments
Chris Grathwohl says...
My selection for the 3rd Test (taking into consideration that some things will not change) Cook, Mustard, Bell, K.P, Vaughan, Collie, Flintoff, Jones, Harmisson, Anderson, Paesnar. Depending on conditions for the spinner.
Posted 03:54 22nd July 2008
Darran Nicholas says...
I could talk all day on this matter. We have plenty of choice on the bowling front, but the batting is in dire straights. For starters, I would have Simon Jones in the side every day of the week. I have paid close attention to his form, and there is no good reason to omit him any longer. He is in fine form, and he has something that few other bowlers in the world have, pace, conventional swing and above all, a great control over and ability to generate reverse swing. This must terrify many batsmen, as it is so hard to practice against. The batting however, is where I have an issue. I'm not entirely convinced by Shah nor Bopara. They both show form, and have shown that they can make big scores, but I'm concerned that when they have been presented with chances, they haven't grabbed it with both hands. Before the season began I would have suggested Carberry or Key, but in the glare of the selectors attentions both have failed time and again. The sad truth is that many of the best batsmen in county cricket have been South African imports/kolpak players (irony?). However, I do feel that Bopara should be the next in line. He is averaging around 67 this season. The tricky thing is that I don't see how Vaughan is still in the team, yet I cant pick another captain. It seems to me that England ARE a bunch of talented cricketers, not necessarily world beaters, but certainly they have ability, but how can one truly follow a leader who is in such desperate need of form himself? It can't be easy for this side, who may have followed the '05 ashes and the 2 years previous, but have never truly experienced Vaughan's 'great' captaincy to really believe in him. Vaughan showed form before, as did many of the big personalities, such as Hoggy, Freddie and Harmy, but now they aren't firing I'm not seeing the same Vaughan. How can a team perform to their true potential without a great leader?
Posted 01:49 22nd July 2008
Craig Allen says...
i am basically reitterating what everyone else has said. Darren Pattinson... untill a week ago i've never heard of the man. Tim Ambrose looks like he needs a few more games at county level... i think james andersson is too inconsistant, stuart broad's inability to take wickets and the relience on monty and flintoff is far too great. Simon Jones is back to full fitness and is destroying batting line-ups, the decision to drop collingwood was shocking, and have we all forgotten about matthew hoggard. a year ago he was oour best bowler by far. my team for the next test would be: strauss, cook, vaughan, pietersen, bell, collingwood, mustard, flintoff, hoggard, jones, panesar. However, the form of captain michael vaughan is worrying to say the least. if he fails to score runs again in the next test match, he should be replaced with ryan sidebottom. a 5 sprong bowling attack may be needed against a quality south african lineup. Collingwood to be made captain of both forms of the game please! Peter moores... sorry but losses agains india and sri lanka were humiliating! I am starting to wonder if our old coach duncan fletcher was as bad as mr moores?
Posted 00:49 22nd July 2008
Shaun Rugge says...
The blame cannot be put on the selection of Pattinson, Like football cricket is a team game. That said, when you have fit again Simon Jones and Steve Harmison, you do have to wonder what was the thinking. Here's a question, as in football, if you're not performing to your best (Vaughan), you get dropped, why does this not happen regularly in cricket. Is there still an 'Old boys' network there? HMMM makes one think. There must be more than one captain out there. I can't remember who said it, but it was said in the past that there are 11 captains in a cricket team so do we need a new test captain? Discuss!!
Posted 00:41 22nd July 2008
Chris Britton says...
I am writing as a seriously worried England supporter. This series is beginning to look remarkably similar to the last series between these two sides back in 04/05 only this time South Africa are looking like the young, exciting, vibrant looking outfit whilst England are looking like a side which is confused, bedraggled, lacking in confidence and suffering from some shocking selections. With a year to go to the Ashes series this really is worrying for all England fans. Contrast this to 4 years ago when the team was settled and building up to something big hitting opposition teams with pace and aggression in all disciplines. For the rest of this series im afraid the 'must win' situation that England are now in means consistency of selection must now go out the window. I think Cook has showed he can hang around and score ugly 50s but when has that ever been enough to win test matches? Ambrose looks like a man who is batting with a tooth pick at the moment and whoever decided he should be promoted up the order should be asking themselves serious questions. Broad has done well with the bat and adds depth to the batting but is picked to take wickets and his average of nearly 50 isnt good ebough particularly now when we desperately need 20 wickets in the next two tests. And obviously Pattinson needs to go. What a shocking selection. Many club bowlers look far more dangerous and I think thats where he needs to return. For these 4 players we need Sidebottom straight back in, Prior or Foster to be rewarded for their strong county form, a recall for Simon Jones who has not been dropped yet still hasnt been recalled since returning to match fitness and consistently taking 5-fors. To replace Cook I think the selectors, Moores, Vaughan and whoever else it takes need to beg Trescothick to come out of retirement even he still doesn't want to tour. Im sure most supporters would be delighted if that happened!
Posted 22:07 21st July 2008
Rory Hall says...
In reply to Barry Armstrong: Please don't bother giving your opinion if you have nothing constrctive to say. It's obvious you don't know anything about cricket, otherwise you might have given your view on the problems with the selection. Pattinson should never have been in the team - who had ever heard of him? There's been alot of calls for Vaughan's head an Pietersen being too much of an ego for the team; but I don't know. Personally I think Vaughn is a good captain and leader, he is having a dip in form, but he comes good when it matters. Pietersen is an absolute must for this team; the only player who shows real flare and passion; who goes into the middle and tries to attack - at least he's trying to amake a name for English cricket. Bell and Collingwood I could take or leave; Broad is a great young cricketer and should be kept in for sure and Panasar is by far the best young spinner in the country. I may be taking a long shot but I reckon James Hildreth of Sommerset should be given a chance. Let the youngsters have a go - if Broad and Panasar can do it then why not!
Posted 22:07 21st July 2008
K U says...
England batting order is completely out of order..... Strauss - not scoring Vaughan - can't score Tim Ambrose - doesn't know how to score Advice for this lot......learn from stuart broard And advice for Broad.....forget bowling. Good luck england
Posted 22:07 21st July 2008
Philip Hoare says...
Keep Cook and Strauss. Drop Vaughan. Find a new number three and four who will get their heads down and graft. One will need to be a captain, There must be someone somewhere who can make runs AND bowling changes....Leave Bell at five. Drop the gung-ho Pietersen down to six. He cannot read a match situation to save his life, more concerned with his own ego. Prior at seven, Broad at eight, Flintoft at nine. Anderson at ten and then Pannesar or Sidebottom depending upon conditions. England's batsmen should be thoroughly ashamed of their efforts against the moving ball in this game. Broad, who looks a class act, and modest with it, continues to show them up. And who are all the hangers- on on the balcony?..on this performance they should leave the coaching to National Express.
Posted 22:01 21st July 2008
Gavin Lomberg says...
All this debate about England's bowling attack,the reality is this England side just aren't good enough to beat SA.Man for man SA have a far superior team.Other than KP and Freddie Flintoff,no other England player would make the SA team on what I've seen to date.
Posted 22:00 21st July 2008
Ken Lee says...
personally peter moores has to go, he has not impressed from day one. we scraped through twice against a weak new zealand side and suprise suprise when we come across a decent team who have found their feet we get humiliated. the time for vaughan to go was a long time ago he is to negative and has been a liability in a fragile batting line up for a long time. cannot believe we are even discussing ambrose he simply is not good enough at either form of the game but continues to play and i am sorry but i am not buying into the stuart broad love fest either promote him to number three or drop him he is not there to make runs or look pretty he is there to intimidate batsmen and take wickets.
Posted 22:00 21st July 2008
Jp Knight says...
what a feeble performance! strauss pattinson ambrose out collingwood davies harmison to come in. vaughan to open innings. my team is cook vaughan pieterson bell collingwood flintoff davies broad/jones harmison anderson panesar
Posted 21:57 21st July 2008
Simon Littlejohns says...
Once again England flatter to deceive, after 3 good days at Lords its back to batsmen not scoring runs and batsmen relying on broad and anderson to show them the way. Michael Vaughan would be under serious pressure for his place if he wasn't the captain and seems to have forgotten where his off stump is, and the balance of the side just did not look right with Ambrose at 6. The 1st inning performance of the batsmen was abysmal lasting 53 overs on a good batting wicket isn't acceptable, most of whom were giving catching practice to the slips. Now is the time to pick the best 5/6 batsmen in the country and the best 4/5 bowlers and the best wicket keeper/batsman. If this means no Vaughan, Broad(harsh but needs to start looking like he can take wickets), Strauss, Ambrose then so be it. Jones/Sidebottom and Harmison are musts for the next test and what has Phil Mustard ever done wrong for England? would add much needed runs to the middle order. Good to see Flintoff back , but too much reliance on himself and Anderson to carry the bowling.
Posted 21:40 21st July 2008
Maz Arif says...
i wrote this in Nassers Hussians comments section after the first test. i think this test further supports my point. i think a big factor in this current test series and the Ashes will be the captains. One thing for sure G. Smith and R. Pointing lead by example and are innovative in finding their wickets break through when required but what about M. Vaughan? In the first test everyone has said that England lacked a bowler like A. Flintoff but a good captains needs to be able to find and create wickets with the resources he has. Every thing Vaughan did in the first test was predictable. As a captain you have to try something new to find that break through wicket. My second criticism is one of the key players for South Africa and Austrlria are the captians, G. Smith and R.Pointing. How important is M.Vaughan? I have more faith in KP, A, Cook, A. Strauss, I.Bell than Vaughan. Vaughan is the weakest link!!!!
Posted 21:32 21st July 2008
Liam Dickson says...
England's problem is the lack of venom in the pace attack that won the ashes back in 2005. Apart from Anderson there is nobody really putting the South Africans under pressure. Flintoff has just come back so hopefully he will find his form soon. Sidebottom started well but has faded out this summer. Bring back Simon Jones and Harmison.
Posted 21:25 21st July 2008
Steven Smith says...
Can someone please tell me what is going on with our cricket team, sub standard selectors, sub standard players and most importantly a sub standard coach. Peter Moores is dragging us back down to the dark days of the 90s, yet no one seems to be questioning his position, it seems series wins against a poor west indian team and a poorer new zealand team gives you a job for life. we lost our first home series in 7 years against india last summer and we are now heading for our second in succesive summers, this not including the porr showing out in sri lanka. Can anyone tell me that this pattinson deserves a place in the england team in front of hoggard, jones and i will go as far to say harmison and tremmlett. Also is he going to play a wicketkeeper who he did not have under him at sussex, maybe he could pick one that can actually keep, ambrose is showing himself to be way out of his depth the same as prior. can someone from the ecb get a grip of this situation fast, or we will be in for another decade of misery
Posted 21:06 21st July 2008
Dilip N says...
South Africa didn't win and England lost it???If you guys still think England is a good side then its time for introspections.This was expected.England cannot match SA no matter whatever is changed.The English selectors and the public are still running the dream of the 2005 Ashes (lucky) win.They players are so inconsistent and to expect good results is not on.Barring KP,Flintoff and Panesar there is absolutely no quality in the squad.The pace attack looks pedestrian and the batting is pathetic to say the least.
Posted 21:05 21st July 2008
Anand Nr says...
Of the England attack only anderson and flintoff looked like creating trouble to the south africans. broad is more of a batsman allrounder. England should bring back harmison or jones. if sidebottom is not fit, then tremlett should be given the chance. vaughan should get some runs now as i think the patience of english crowd is been tested by him. as for the wicket keeper issue is concerned as i see there is no outstanding keeper waiting to take the place of ambrose. selectors should have faith in ambrose and hope he will come good. already they have tried far too many keepers. my team would be strauss,cook,vaughan,pietersen,bell,collingwood,flintoff,ambrose,harmison,simon jones,panesar.
Posted 20:31 21st July 2008
Barry Armstrong says...
So we lost acricket match,get over it!
Posted 20:20 21st July 2008
Kully says...
Freddie Flintoff- i'd always have him in my england side, pattinson - the selectors must of been drunk when they picked him. Broad - batted well but wasnt fully fit. Hoggard should of been picked for pattinson, it was his home turf, over 200 test match wickets, swing bowler and most of all, the last time he played South africa he got over 20 wickets in the series. He's always been a quality bowler, shouldn't of been dropped in the first place. Feel sorry for collingwood, he deserves to be given another shot at it, when he's on form, he's a magnificent all rounder. Seems an age since england bowled out SA in the first innings at Lords, the team look tired. Edgbaston is a good hunting ground for England so hopefully they'll pick the right team (eg. not pattinson) and get back on track.
Posted 19:58 21st July 2008
Adam Ray says...
Strauss, Cook, Vaughan, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Flintoff, Ambrose (Just saved yourself...), Anderson, Jones, Panesar.
Posted 19:49 21st July 2008
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