England Tour Squad for Australia

[King Pietersen]

Danny Briggs and Adil Rashid the only other 'options', but neither have done anywhere near enough to warrant England selection. We're stuck with Swann, Tredwell, Kerrigan and Monty. Tredwell's been impressive in International cricket, but only has 12 wickets at over 50 this season. Kerrigan was definitely worth a go considering his figures this season, but unless he starts to bowl a lot better in this Test, his selection will be seen as a massive disaster, and it'll take a lot for him to get back in!

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah it's basically "Monty or don't bother", IMO. Tredwell, Briggs and Batty are all pretty good limited overs bowlers but have struggled to take First Class wickets, particularly of late, and age has probably got the best of Keedy now. None of the wickets in Australia are good for spin throughout by any stretch of the imagination anyway. You'd be mad to not take a spinner in for Adelaide but that has more to do with how unforgiving it is for quicks and the dry heat than any actual turn it offers and Sydney has been vastly over-stated as a turner for years now. I'd definitely go as far to suggest that if Swann wasn't fit and Monty wasn't in the right headspace that four quicks and some Joe Root would be the best call for Perth and Brisbane and there's no way two spinners should ever be considered for any of the venues unless you're Bangladesh.

 

[CarlsbergXpress]

Tredwell's been impressive in International cricket, but only has 12 wickets at over 50 this season. Kerrigan was definitely worth a go considering his figures this season, but unless he starts to bowl a lot better in this Test, his selection will be seen as a massive disaster, and it'll take a lot for him to get back in!

Tredwell is a limited overs bowler imo. I don't see Kerrigan as being a massive disaster as you need to blood these youngsters at some point and getting a bit of tap 1st innings on a flat one is not the end of the world. Selectors obviously see something and this experience will only make him mentally stronger. Admittedly, he did bowl **** but he's got loads of time.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Danny Briggs and Adil Rashid the only other 'options', but neither have done anywhere near enough to warrant England selection. We're stuck with Swann, Tredwell, Kerrigan and Monty. Tredwell's been impressive in International cricket, but only has 12 wickets at over 50 this season. Kerrigan was definitely worth a go considering his figures this season, but unless he starts to bowl a lot better in this Test, his selection will be seen as a massive disaster, and it'll take a lot for him to get back in!

Adil Rashid is a possible simply because he has had a brilliant season with the bat, could get a Loins place at least and if he does well there then may be a call up if there are injuries. Obviously he isn't good enough to be a front line spinner but he is a much better bowler than Samit Patel and if Bresnan is out of the tour they may want an all rounder type as a squad member to replace him and Woakes doesn't look good enough.

 

[wpdavid]

Adil Rashid is a possible simply because he has had a brilliant season with the bat, could get a Loins place at least and if he does well there then may be a call up if there are injuries. Obviously he isn't good enough to be a front line spinner but he is a much better bowler than Samit Patel and if Bresnan is out of the tour they may want an all rounder type as a squad member to replace him and Woakes doesn't look good enough.

Patel wouldn't be the worst selection, actually. Whereas he was always going to be a waste of rather a lot of space against Indian batsmen, he could do a reasonable job against Aus, maybe.

 

[Prince EWS]

Adil Rashid is a possible simply because he has had a brilliant season with the bat, could get a Loins place at least and if he does well there then may be a call up if there are injuries. Obviously he isn't good enough to be a front line spinner but he is a much better bowler than Samit Patel and if Bresnan is out of the tour they may want an all rounder type as a squad member to replace him and Woakes doesn't look good enough.

Rashid at 7 + four seamers wouldn't be the worst idea in the world if Swann happened to be injured I suppose.

 

[Adders]

Tredwell is a limited overs bowler imo. I don't see Kerrigan as being a massive disaster as you need to blood these youngsters at some point and getting a bit of tap 1st innings on a flat one is not the end of the world. Selectors obviously see something and this experience will only make him mentally stronger. Admittedly, he did bowl **** but he's got loads of time.

!00+ agree with this. The lad had a nightmare yesterday, but if he's got the naggots to pull himself up it's not the end of the world. Certainly not the first spinner to cop a hiding on debut.

Anyone here actually seen him bowl before? His FC stats suggest he's no muppet.......should at least see how he goes late in the game before he gets written off.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Rashid at 7 + four seamers wouldn't be the worst idea in the world if Swann happened to be injured I suppose.

Obviously only if Monty is out of the picture. I think he will go on tour now as long as he keeps his nose clean. Punishment is missing this test, like Warner getting his ban he should be given another chance. May be the last one but they need another.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

!00+ agree with this. The lad had a nightmare yesterday, but if he's got the naggots to pull himself up it's not the end of the world. Certainly not the first spinner to cop a hiding on debut.

Anyone here actually seen him bowl before? His FC stats suggest he's no muppet.......should at least see how he goes late in the game before he gets written off.

He is playing in Div 2 on the best turning pitch in the country, like we joke about the runs scored at Taunton we should take wickets for spinners at OT with a pinch of salt. Much like in the late 90's when Northants was a spinners paradise and Jason Brown got a test tour call up, he wasn't good enough, neither is Kerrigan in my opinion.

 

[wpdavid]

!00+ agree with this. The lad had a nightmare yesterday, but if he's got the naggots to pull himself up it's not the end of the world. Certainly not the first spinner to cop a hiding on debut.

Anyone here actually seen him bowl before? His FC stats suggest he's no muppet.......should at least see how he goes late in the game before he gets written off.

My concern at this stage is what looks like a lack of mental toughness for what I think will be a very tough gig indeed. It wasn't just that he copped a hiding, but his game seemed to disintegrate in a situation where there wasn't actually any pressure at all, relatively speaking. He won't be finding any helpful tracks in Australia, where they'll be queuing up to take him to the cleaners now, which won't help if we need our spinner to tie up an end for half a session or two.

 

[theegyptian]

No Rashid's bowling is on a par with Samit imo. Samit much more reliable but Rashid takes more wickets.

His batting is also way too loose to bat at 6 for England or possibly even 7. He's just hit a random hot streak if you ask me that he'll never be able to recreate.

Can't believe either is a serious option for Australia.

It'll be Swann + Panesar/Tredwell after yesterdays debacle for Kerrigan. No-one else even close if you ask me.

 

[wpdavid]

Rashid at 7 + four seamers wouldn't be the worst idea in the world if Swann happened to be injured I suppose.

With Prior at 6? I'll take a rain check on that one.

 

[Prince EWS]

!00+ agree with this. The lad had a nightmare yesterday, but if he's got the naggots to pull himself up it's not the end of the world. Certainly not the first spinner to cop a hiding on debut.

Anyone here actually seen him bowl before? His FC stats suggest he's no muppet.......should at least see how he goes late in the game before he gets written off.

I've seen him bowl on Sky a few times and, as I said in the match thread, the fact that he looked like a step-and-fetch it club cricketer and didn't get many revs on the ball was of absolutely no surprise to me. What was a surprise to me was how many poor balls he bowled though; he's obviously far more accurate than that usually. Long-term I think the fact that he bowls so slowly without putting much on the ball will cost him; not so the bowling-all-over-the-place problem he had yesterday. I certainly don't think it's fair to judge him purely on what he did yesterday as it's obviously not fully what he's capable of but he certainly didn't remove any of the scepticism I held before his debut.

 

[Howe_zat]

Ravi will sort him out, if anyone knows how to be a success for England it's him

I see you're getting the hang of CW mate - just need to drop the smiley, otherwise people might think you're being insincere

 

[Maximas]

Not sure that Kerrigan usually bowls with so few revs, just looked like there was nothing in his action yesterday, could potentially get up towards 2000 (perfectly reasonable) if he bowled with some energy.

 

[Prince EWS]

With Prior at 6? I'll take a rain check on that one.

Prior having a bad summer doesn't suddenly change the fact that he's one of England's six best batsmen, no matter how pessimistically you want to look at your cricket side. I'd certainly rather have him at six than Bairstow or Taylor at this point; the downside to him moving there is the opportunity cost of him batting seven rather than the fact that he's not good enough to do it. But there's never going to be a truly desirable balance with Swann injured and Panesar out of the picture, is there?

 

[CarlsbergXpress]

I see you're getting the hang of CW mate - just need to drop the smiley, otherwise people might think you're being insincere

Duly noted.

 

[Prince EWS]

Not sure that Kerrigan usually bowls with so few revs, just looked like there was nothing in his action yesterday, could potentially get up towards 2000 (perfectly reasonable) if he bowled with some energy.

Yeah but he's bowled like that every time I've seen him. By "like that" I of course mean with no momentum through his action and not actually half trackers and full bungers, but you get what I mean.

 

[Maximas]

Yeah but he's bowled like that every time I've seen him. By "like that" I of course mean with no momentum through his action and not actually half trackers and full bungers, but you get what I mean.

well at least there is scope for improvement then!

 

[CarlsbergXpress]

He won't be finding any helpful tracks in Australia, where they'll be queuing up to take him to the cleaners now, which won't help if we need our spinner to tie up an end for half a session or two.

He'll be there with the Lions though will he not? Can't imagine the tracks will be helpful either, so we'll see how he goes at probably his level atm.