Jones reinstated behind stumps

[aussie]

I guess i can flex with Jones replacinfg Read since Read batting TBH really hasn't come on has his domestic form over the past 2 years has shown. This is bg series for Jones & Read really if neither come good, they could be dropped for good and hopefully the selectors see what i've been saying all along and pick Nic Pothas despite his age since he is clearly the best available keeper in England at the moment.

On the two spinners, even though the seamers haven't been in great form i still work with them, since spinners generally/historically don't have good records at the gabba except Warne. Plus i don't see either being serious wicket-tacking bowlers in this series, so picking both looks pretty dumb to me.

 

[a massive zebra]

Fletcher was obviously looking for an excuse to drop Read and he got the scraps of a half excuse an ditched him. Read has done everything asked of him in tests since his recall. Axeing him on ODI form without even giving him a game on Australian soil is outrageous. Moreover, Jones has done nothing in the period after he was dropped to just walk back into the team again. Fletcher might as well have said, "I think Chris Read is made of jelly and I hate him and wish he'd go home."

This policy of picking an English Test team on favouritism rather than ability will lose us the Ashes.

 

[Nate]

That solely.

 

[Barney Rubble]

I remember we came to this exact conclusion way back when at Starbucks in Southampton. It's amazing how little English cricket changes.

We did, as I recall. If that's the way it turns out, then I think Pitt + Camps > Fletcher.

 

[superkingdave]

Fletcher was obviously looking for an excuse to drop Read and he got the scraps of a half excuse an ditched him. Read has done everything asked of him in tests since his recall. Axeing him on ODI form without even giving him a game on Australian soil is outrageous. Moreover, Jones has done nothing in the period after he was dropped to just walk back into the team again. Fletcher might as well have said, "I think Chris Read is made of jelly and I hate him and wish he'd go home."

This policy of picking an English Test team on favouritism rather than ability will lose us the Ashes.

agreed, as i said in the tour game thread, the only reason read got a chance was because miller and graveney outvoted fletcher. Soon as fletcher gets things under his control again, Jones comes back

 

[The Baconator]

Any optimism I had is slowly slipping away now really, can't see this working that well.

 

[shortpitched713]

You know, to a certain extent, last year's Ashes were lost by Australia due to some pretty poor selection policies. It wouldn't at all surprise me if Duncan Fletcher loses the Ashes for England by picking guys like Jones, Mahmood, and maybe Giles.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

You know, to a certain extent, last year's Ashes were lost by Australia due to some pretty poor selection policies. It wouldn't at all surprise me if Duncan Fletcher loses the Ashes for England by picking guys like Jones, Mahmood, and maybe Giles.

Team selection was hardly the difference between the teams last year IMO. Because for every woeful Hayden that remained in the Australian side, there was an Ian Bell who arguably shouldn't have been in the England side at all.

 

[tooextracool]

Team selection was hardly the difference between the teams last year IMO. Because for every woeful Hayden that remained in the Australian side, there was an Ian Bell who arguably shouldn't have been in the England side at all.

Thats absolute tripe. Please give me one reason why Bell should not have been in the Ashes side for the first test last year other than hindsight. Bell had done everything asked of him. He scored mountains of runs for his county side both for the year before and just before the Ashes. He scored for England on the A tour to SL. And he scored in the limited chances he got at the international level. Clearly the best way to show your gratitude and faith to a young player like that would be to drop him for Pietersen and completely shatter his confidence.
Keep in mind that just because someone fails at the international level, it doesnt mean that it was the wrong decision to select him.

 

[tooextracool]

Team selection was hardly the difference between the teams last year IMO.

theres no way you could say with a straight face that Macgill would have done a worse job than Gillespie and Tait ended up doing.

 

[tooextracool]

Fletcher was obviously looking for an excuse to drop Read and he got the scraps of a half excuse an ditched him. Read has done everything asked of him in tests since his recall. Axeing him on ODI form without even giving him a game on Australian soil is outrageous. Moreover, Jones has done nothing in the period after he was dropped to just walk back into the team again. Fletcher might as well have said, "I think Chris Read is made of jelly and I hate him and wish he'd go home."

This policy of picking an English Test team on favouritism rather than ability will lose us the Ashes.

Agreed. I really wonder think fletcher should have absolutely no say when it comes to selections because he clearly has no idea what hes doing. Whether or not Chris Read is upto it or not is a rather futile argument, you cannot drop someone who hasnt failed, that is the point of cricket. The worse part is he replaced him with someone who apparently was playing for the kent 2nd XI not too long ago. At least if he scored mountains of runs in domestic cricket, his selection would be understandable. Sometimes i wonder what goes through fletchers head.....he constantly picks players like Plunkett and Geraint who are failing miserably and replaces players who havent failed.

 

[Johnners]

Both seem pretty useless. Pick either.

Pick 'Em both, nothing like having a back-up keeper in the actual XI

 

[tooextracool]

On the two spinners, even though the seamers haven't been in great form i still work with them, since spinners generally/historically don't have good records at the gabba except Warne. Plus i don't see either being serious wicket-tacking bowlers in this series, so picking both looks pretty dumb to me.

If Harmison, Hoggard, Mahmood and Anderson continue to go at 5 runs an over for the rest of these warmups there really would be no other choice. Someone really needs to stem the flow of runs, and against Australia if you keep things tight, you are more likely to take wickets than if you bowl rubbish.
For those who have watched Anderson bowl with his new action, has he been getting his outswingers to go like he used to? His action certainly doesnt seem like it will be conducive for outswing as its less side on than it used to be.

 

[tooextracool]

I think Fletcher thinks Read isn't up to the big occaison...I saw him drop catches in the (televised) match which Notts won the 2005 CC in...what gets me though: if he didn't rate Read why pick him in the summer or for this tour? I don't know if anyone remembers James Foster who we took on the last Ashes tour...IMO a better batsman than Read and a better 'keeper now than when Fletcher picked him in the first place! Why he didn't play v Pakistan or go on this tour I have no idea....

for the same reason why he picked plunkett on the tour. Plunkett isnt going to get a single warm up game, may i question what is the point of having him here then? He hasnt bowled in any sort of cricket for some 5 months now, so even if by some miracle he does play at some point this series hes actually going to be completely out of sorts(and hes garbage as it is). Wouldnt it have been a much smarter move to send him to the Academy and have him get match fit, replacing him with someone else whos had a good domestic season with the ball?
Plunkett IMO beats out Theo Walcott as being the stupidest selection by anybody in an England shirt.

 

[tooextracool]

& is the Gabba renowned as a spinners' track? I didn't think it was.

Hard to say that its been a seamers paradise in the last 5 years either. Been absolute road throughout.
Dont be too surprised though if the Australian selectors decide to go for Bracken, on the basis of "he knows the conditions better than anyone else".

 

[social]

If Harmison, Hoggard, Mahmood and Anderson continue to go at 5 runs an over for the rest of these warmups there really would be no other choice. Someone really needs to stem the flow of runs, and against Australia if you keep things tight, you are more likely to take wickets than if you bowl rubbish.
For those who have watched Anderson bowl with his new action, has he been getting his outswingers to go like he used to? His action certainly doesnt seem like it will be conducive for outswing as its less side on than it used to be.

He bowls some outswingers but the main problem has been an inability to land 2 consecutive balls in the same place

It's a shame - the guy's got talent.

 

[social]

Hard to say that its been a seamers paradise in the last 5 years either. Been absolute road throughout.
Dont be too surprised though if the Australian selectors decide to go for Bracken, on the basis of "he knows the conditions better than anyone else".

Dont think it will happen - Johnson adds more (pace, bounce, etc) and took 4 wickets in Perth yesterday

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Thats absolute tripe. Please give me one reason why Bell should not have been in the Ashes side for the first test last year other than hindsight.

The point being that both Bell and Hayden looked hopeless throughout most of the Ashes and yet were persisted with.

And of course "should not have been in the team at all" was a comment based on hindsight. Because using hindsight, Hayden should still have been selected as he entered the series as an experienced player. In hindsight, Bell shouldn't have been.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

theres no way you could say with a straight face that Macgill would have done a worse job than Gillespie and Tait ended up doing.

MacGill could have done as bad a job.

 

[social]

Agreed. I really wonder think fletcher should have absolutely no say when it comes to selections because he clearly has no idea what hes doing. Whether or not Chris Read is upto it or not is a rather futile argument, you cannot drop someone who hasnt failed, that is the point of cricket. The worse part is he replaced him with someone who apparently was playing for the kent 2nd XI not too long ago. At least if he scored mountains of runs in domestic cricket, his selection would be understandable. Sometimes i wonder what goes through fletchers head.....he constantly picks players like Plunkett and Geraint who are failing miserably and replaces players who havent failed.

I really dont get the reliance Eng place on Fletcher - he's a coach for god's sake. Why bother with a selection panel if Fletcher makes the decisions anyway?

As for Jones and Read, I could have understood it if the selectors had used the warm-up games to compare the form of the 2 but it's obvious that that isnt the case.

Jones has played the first 2 games and hasnt done particularly well yet Fletcher comes out and endorses him for the first test