quote:

Originally posted by Neil D:
I think it'll be:

Trescothick
Strauss*
Cook
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Jones+
Plunkett
Harmison
Mahmood or Lewis
Panesar

Not sure about you, Neil but I much prefer England when Hoggard's playing as he can take a few wickets

I think they won't care about the 5th bowler as much - like you say. Probably Ian Bell. The reason I don't think they mind is they reckon Monty'll be able to give them 20-30 cheap overs in a day. He could even hold his end all day if Pakistan have the ascendancy...

quote:

Originally posted by JKLever:
None, but neither did Vaughan

JKL have Messers Davies, Broad or Footitt done anything so far to warrant your sig or are you at least hoping they do or even considering changing the 3 to watch for the latter half of 2006.?

Is Hoggard injured?

Doh! How could I have forgotten a lege like Hoggy!!

All this JAMODI rubbish has addled my brain..... Replace Mahmood will Hoggy.

Again - doh!

And Mang makes a good point - Monty can bowl virtually all day from one end if they need to rest the quicks. His economy rate is only some like 2.4 an over in Tests.

quote:

Originally posted by Mister Robby:

quote:

Originally posted by merlin:
Down Under.

Sod Australia, England have to start winning matches now, and they face the best-managed team in the world next week.

We won't be saying that in 5 months time Robby!

I agree, we DO have to start winning matches right now in order to stop the rot, but ultimately, the prize lies 7 months hense (IMO).

quote:

Originally posted by I just want peace:
JKL have Messers Davies, Broad or Footitt done anything so far to warrant your sig or are you at least hoping they do or even considering changing the 3 to watch for the latter half of 2006.?

Footitt has still not really been given a chance - I expect it's because of Charlie Shreck's return from injury.

Davies has impressed with the gloves, got a big ton in FC stuff - pretty disappointing in the shorter stuff.

Broad has been very impressive, he's already going to play for England 'A' and could even be an International before the end of the year.

quote:

His economy rate is only some like 2.4 an over in Tests.

How many Tests has Monty played?

Could do well in Oz, but it would be folly to use him negatively...

quote:

Originally posted by Sheikh Rattlenroll:

quote:

His economy rate is only some like 2.4 an over in Tests.

How many Tests has Monty played?

Could do well in Oz, but it would be folly to use him negatively...

He's only played 6 Tests, but they've all been against India and Sri Lanka - good players of spin.

He is a wicket-taker, but he's also economical becuase he's so accurate. Bowls very few 4-balls.

quote:

Originally posted by merlin:
I agree, we DO have to start winning matches right now in order to stop the rot, but ultimately, the prize lies 7 months hense (IMO).

Would you be prepared to lose to everyone except Australia?

Actully come to think it it, that would be really funny!

quote:

Originally posted by Neil D:
He's only played 6 Tests, but they've all been against India and Sri Lanka - good players of spin.

He is a wicket-taker, but he's also economical becuase he's so accurate. Bowls very few 4-balls.

Aye, to my mind he barely bowls over the wicket at all. In his First Test he had a 10-over spell over the wicket out of 40 overs. It's pretty rare apart from the odd 3-5 over burst.

quote:

He is a wicket-taker, but he's also economical becuase he's so accurate. Bowls very few 4-balls.

Frankly I think he's the major threat to us regaining the Ashes...Hayden will attack him for sure, which will probably mean the FTB will make stuff all runs all summer.

quote:

Originally posted by Sheikh Rattlenroll:
Frankly I think he's the major threat to us regaining the Ashes...Hayden will attack him for sure, which will probably mean the FTB will make stuff all runs all summer.

Aye, it would be a huge mistake for the Aussies to think "here's a young spinner, we'll just belt him over the top". He's a clever bowler, and he backs himself.

And for a finger spinner, he justs some decent turn too.

quote:

Originally posted by Neil D:
And for a finger spinner, he justs some decent turn too.

Did you see him in the T20 the other day? I still think at times he's a little meek, but then he always comes back. 25 off the first two overs he bowled, 9 off the next two with the wickets of Hick and Vincent both bowled. One deceived by pace, the other by the turn...

quote:

Originally posted by Sheikh Rattlenroll:

quote:

He is a wicket-taker, but he's also economical becuase he's so accurate. Bowls very few 4-balls.

Frankly I think he's the major threat to us regaining the Ashes...Hayden will attack him for sure, which will probably mean the FTB will make stuff all runs all summer.

Yeah, like he made no runs going after Harbhajan, Kumble and Murali... hopeless against spin, Matt.

Any pitch where Panesar is a problem for us, Warne and MacDill will massacre the English. It seems like he's a good spin bowler, but we have better ones.

Whether the conditions suit England's new ball attack is a bigger issue. If we get a typically swing-friendly Brisbane and a green seamer in Melbourne we could be screwed.

quote:

Originally posted by I just want peace:
JKL have Messers Davies, Broad or Footitt done anything so far to warrant your sig or are you at least hoping they do or even considering changing the 3 to watch for the latter half of 2006.?

What Ngam said.

These were players to watch to breakthrough into county cricket. I wasn't touting them for internationals.

Davies and Broad have established themselves as regulars at the age of 20.

Footitt is lagging behind.

quote:

Originally posted by Mister Robby:

Would you be prepared to lose to everyone except Australia?

Actully come to think it it, that would be really funny!

No - but so far we seem to be doing a good job on trying to !!

Seriously - I believe that Fletcher is still "experimenting" ahead of the Ashes - as that is seemingly his goal.

Pakistan on our home turf will be a hard task - but is certainly more achievable than Oz in their back yard.

One hopes that the team have learnt from their sloppiness against the Lankans at Lord's and start binding together now so as to resemble the unit they were exactly one year ago.
Tough, tight and committed to winning.
Vaughan will be a hard act to follow as skipper - but Strauss is the man to do it, providing he is given the backing he needs.

quote:

Originally posted by Leo:

quote:

Originally posted by Sheikh Rattlenroll:
Frankly I think he's the major threat to us regaining the Ashes.

Any pitch where Panesar is a problem for us, Warne and MacDill will massacre the English. It seems like he's a good spin bowler, but we have better ones.

I'm inclined to agree. I think he'll make a good stock bowler in Australia, bowling a ton of overs and making a few key strikes.

The other good thing about Monty bowling a lot is that he won't be fielding so much!

quote:

Originally posted by Mister Robby:

I'm inclined to agree....The other good thing about Monty bowling a lot is that he won't be fielding so much!

Rob, there's a possible 5 left-handers in Aus' top 7, do you not think that could be a help, first or second innings*?

*dependant of the match situation.

Not sure I'm reading you Danny - as I understand it SLAs such as Monty are more effective against righty batters. Could he tuck the southpaw Aussies up and stop them scoring?

Footmarks.

Ah! The reason why the Welsh Hamster was in the side with the blond Aussie left-armer seamer whose name I can't even recall, he was that innocuous.

I am not at all sure who should get the captaincy; pros and cons to Freddie and Strauss. I don't think Strauss can be judged yet. Even without such a hopeless ODI side; limited overs cricket is a completely different game from the Test form. Even Freddie was saying in the Indian ODI series that it was all moving too fast for him.

So it is a near irrelevent experience on which to judge Strauss and when you add in the excreble performances of the bowlers Strauss never stood a chance.

Let's see how he gets on in the first Test against Pakistan

quote:

another allrounder like Rikki Clarke

There's a scary thought. And not in a good way.