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*Official* England Squad discussion thread

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Looks like Ravi and Lumb benefited from playing in the IPL.

Lumb irritates me enormously as a player but he has been excellent in limited overs cricket so deserves his chance, also means that I will not have to put up with him scoring 35 every innings in the county champsionship for the first part of the season.
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Sidebottom?
Shazhad?
Lumb in suddenly?
No Napier?
No back-up keeper in a 15-man squad? (Or can Morgan keep and I didn't realise it)
No Trott?

:blowup:
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Feeling your pain, tbh, but Morgan has kept for us before (Champions Trophy?). Wasn't that dire as non-specialists go. Think Colly's had a go in extremis too.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Yardy's bowling record was good last year... so was everyone else who played for Sussex - their pitch is a joke. His strike rate with the bat last year was 87.70. The only thing going for him is his bowling is good on joke pitches. But if the pitches are a little better or international batsmen play him a hell of a lot better than county batsmen do (which is my guess) then you're left with an almost entirely useless player.

Shahzad is just an abysmal selection.

Bopara? Yea we want a flat track bully to look good in scoring at a run a ball before chipping the ball to mid-on and dropping a simple catch. Much better than that bloke who was one of the top run getters last season.
Did you watch any of the West Indies v Zimbabwe series?
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Think 2 keepers in a 15 man squad is too extreme, unless you're playing 1 as a specialist bat.
I just thought that was the whole point of having the 15th player in such a short tournament, three extra players should adequately cover the rest. But if Morgan's okay then that's not too bad I guess.
 

Scaly piscine

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
As about as bad as group of islands could be at organising cricket tournaments even the West Indies won't conjure up pitches as bad as that *every* game. They'll produce a few I've no doubt, and if you're on a decent pitch I don't see what use Yardy will be. In this era of cricket I think his darts will become less and less effective.
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Feeling your pain, tbh, but Morgan has kept for us before (Champions Trophy?). Wasn't that dire as non-specialists go. Think Colly's had a go in extremis too.
Hmm... remember Colly keeping in a test match recently. Was a bit hilarious iirc. But yeah, I guess Morgan's fine. It's more the general make-up of the squad that seems completely off, but what do I know?
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
As about as bad as group of islands could be at organising cricket tournaments even the West Indies won't conjure up pitches as bad as that *every* game. They'll produce a few I've no doubt, and if you're on a decent pitch I don't see what use Yardy will be. In this era of cricket I think his darts will become less and less effective.
What I don't get about Yardy is why has he suddenly reappeared from nowhere? Or did he play some matches for us recently and I didn't notice? It's the same with Lumb, though I guess at least he's at the IPL.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Lumb also scored 442 runs in last season's T20 Cup, at a SR of 160. Only Trott scored more runs.
 

King Pietersen

International Captain
Lumb had an awesome season last year, scored runs for the Lions (made a big score against England iirc) and is now playing in the IPL. Not exactly a shock call-up. Kieswetter + Lumb make for a pretty exciting opening partnership I think.

As for Yardy. Flower made it clear he wanted a left-armer during the Bangladesh series, and Yardy had an excellent season last year with the ball, so I'd say his selection makes sense; especially if the pitches are similar to those seen in the Zimbabwe series. It was either going to be him or Patel/Blackwell, and Yardy's done more to earn himself selection, and isn't as much of a porker.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Lumb had an awesome season last year, scored runs for the Lions (made a big score against England iirc) and is now playing in the IPL. Not exactly a shock call-up. Kieswetter + Lumb make for a pretty exciting opening partnership I think.

As for Yardy. Flower made it clear he wanted a left-armer during the Bangladesh series, and Yardy had an excellent season last year with the ball, so I'd say his selection makes sense; especially if the pitches are similar to those seen in the Zimbabwe series. It was either going to be him or Patel/Blackwell, and Yardy's done more to earn himself selection, and isn't as much of a porker.
Hmm. Unlikely to be mistaken for an anorexic anytime soon tho.
 

King Pietersen

International Captain
Haha. Indeed, he's certainly no size zero, but he appears to have made a slightly better fist of avoiding the pies than Patel or Blackwell.

Yardy's done ok with the bat in the few T20i's he's played too. Yet to record an average, and is striking at 146. Not done quite as well with the ball, taking 2 wickets in 10 overs, with an economy of 8.50, but he did seem to have improved with the ball last season. I think he could be a handy selection, gives us a Botha-VanDerMerwe-esque partnership with the ball in the middle overs. The canny (or should that be chinny?) off-spinner bowling alongside the slightly plump left-arm spinning 'all-rounder'. Be nice if they went as well as the 2 Saffa's did in the last WC!
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Lumb had an awesome season last year, scored runs for the Lions (made a big score against England iirc) and is now playing in the IPL. Not exactly a shock call-up. Kieswetter + Lumb make for a pretty exciting opening partnership I think.

As for Yardy. Flower made it clear he wanted a left-armer during the Bangladesh series, and Yardy had an excellent season last year with the ball, so I'd say his selection makes sense; especially if the pitches are similar to those seen in the Zimbabwe series. It was either going to be him or Patel/Blackwell, and Yardy's done more to earn himself selection, and isn't as much of a porker.
It's just that you'd think if we're going to pick these guys they should have at least played a bit more for England at some point. And I know you can have one or two come out of the woodwork, but this seems a bit much.

Lumb has never played for England.
Kieswetter has played 3 ODIs and no T20s.
Shazhad has played one ODI and one T20.
Tredwell has played one test and one ODI, no T20s.
Yardy played 6 ODIs and 3 T20s three years ago.

Crazy stuff. It's like Theo Walcott x100. ;)
 

superkingdave

Hall of Fame Member
Yardy will probably go ok on prank pitches, and we are likely to get a few in WI, outside the prank pitches he wont be near the side. Plenty of WTF's in the selection tho
 

Penguinissimo

U19 12th Man
Could someone please explain to me why Sidebottom is still anywhere near any international team of any description? Because I am entirely out of ideas.
 

analyst

U19 12th Man
Could someone please explain to me why Sidebottom is still anywhere near any international team of any description? Because I am entirely out of ideas.
One possible explanation is, he is better at carrying drinks than Plunkett or other possible bench warmers. Another one would be, given his recent increase in weight, perhaps they needed some hot air in an emergency, which makes one wonder why poor Samit Patel is sitting out.
 

analyst

U19 12th Man
No mystery to explain why England have selected their squad as they did, England frequently misunderstand what is required in limited over cricket. It is no great shock that their most competent cricketer in this format will be captain Collingwood and then Eion Morgan. Bopara and Lumb are good, neither however will be given the adequate support required to succeed against the very best in a one month period. Expect upsets and to never see Lumb and Yardy in England colors again if England fail.
 

Julian87

State Captain
Was Ian Blackwell close to making it? Strikes me as a bloke who'd be perfect for T20 cricket in the Wesi Indies.
 

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