quote:
Originally posted by Gary_86:
As could be expected, the time England fielded 5 Yorkshire players then it resulted in Australia getting the biggest thrashing of their lives. Am I right in saying we had Sutcliffe, Leyland, Verity and Bowes for the tests where we dished out another thrashing under Jardine. And then there's the fact that out of the 4 English captains to win down under since the war two were Hutton and Illingworth. In that case why not go in with this team for the SCG?:
Vaughan
Cook
Bell
Pietersen
Rashid
Flintoff
White
Read
Gough
Hoggard
McGrath
Not sure if that makes 5 or 6 Yorkies, one of them is a dirty foreigner (MV) who plays for Yorkshire while Gough is a Yorkshireman but has gone away in search of Essex girls.
This team can't do any worse than one that involves picking Giles and Jones!
Don't think Rashid is currently available:
Rashid On The MendWho's the foreigner? Craig White?
Yes those four distinguished Tykes were part of the Bodyline tour but none of them all played together in the same match. Bowes played in only one Test in the second game at the MCG instead of Verity when England opted for an all-pace attack and were promptly beaten by 111 runs, thanks mainly to a 10wm haul by O'Reilly.
It used to be said that a strong Yorkshire meant a strong England, and a similar analogy used to apply with Barbados and the Windies and NSW and Oz but with the development of central contracts the link between the next layer of the game and the Test side seems to be becoming more tenuous.
When players were picked on the nbasis of their form in the championship a good championship side could expect to have two or three players in the Test side and two or three more on the fringes of selection. It was remarkable when Glamorgan and Gloucestershire were champions and runners-up respectively in the 1969 CC yet failed to provide a single player to the England side. Now sides like Sussex and Nottinghamshire (in 2005) can win the championship and be unaffected by Test calls and it does not give rise to a mention.
The most promising players of 2006, Cook and Panesar, plus Broad, who should have been a member of the present England side, are at least affiliated to teams which are anchored firmy in Div II of the CC. The splitting of the CC into two divisions which was designed to raise standards seems to have left selection policy unaffected yet if MacLaren were to select players from the lower divisions below the Premiership it would raise eyebrows, to say the least.
Something must be done to restore the meaning and importance of English first-class cricket immediately below Test level if the feed of new players into the Test side. A start could be made by getting Test players participating in the CC on a regular basis, not only for their own sakes but to make the performances of the rest more meaningful and indicative of their quality.
Lastly, before we go away until next year, and while I've still got time. 4 Notts players played in the Bicentenary Test: Broad, obinson, French & Hemmings and there were an unusual Essex quartet in the Headingley Test of 1993: Gooch, Hussain, Such & Ilott. Needless to say England lost by an innings & 148!
Happy New Year to all Forummers. See you in 2007, I hope!
