Englands 5th Seamer?

[sledger]

who is it ?

if james anderson, or one of harmison, hoggard or jones fell ill to injury who would be the one to step into their boots and replace them ?

surely there would be no re-call for the likes of alex tudor, james kirtly or richard johnson. martin bicknells time has come and gone, i dread to think that martin saggers or kabir ali would be turned to.

who would be the best option after the previously mentioned?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Well, Jon Lewis is the man on standby for the South Africa tour.

 

[sledger]

hmmm that is intresting, i had forgotten about him

 

[BoyBrumby]

Bit harsh on Kabir Ali! Has definite potential to be a Hoggy-style fast med seamer. Bit of ability with the bat down the order too. & He's only like 24, so fair bit younger than Messers Tudor, Kirtley, Johnson, Saggers & Lewis.

 

[sledger]

i agree that kabir ali has potential to make the grade but after his woeful performance in the tests against south africa highlighted that he is no where near ready for this level of cricket and probably wont be for some time

 

[BoyBrumby]

i agree that kabir ali has potential to make the grade but after his woeful performance in the tests against south africa highlighted that he is no where near ready for this level of cricket and probably wont be for some time

5 wickets in his only test to date @ 27.20. Hardly Massey-esque, but not woeful either! Admittedly it was at Headingley, so he did get a bit of help from the pitch.

I guess Sajid Mahmood (sp?) has been marked down as the "man most likely too". Certainly has a bit more pace than the blokes mentioned so far. Unfortunately his ODI debut really was a shocker. His overall FC figures not wonderful either, but there's more to cricket than stats!

Hopefully he'll take a loada wickets for Lancs next year to put himself in the shop window again.

 

[sledger]

true mahmood does not have figures that are reflected by his talent, he will have to work hard if he is to make the grade, and yes his ODI debut was a shocker but it was against a good side .

he has a few years to mature yet, we wil give him time

 

[Richard]

I guess Sajid Mahmood (sp?) has been marked down as the "man most likely too". Certainly has a bit more pace than the blokes mentioned so far. Unfortunately his ODI debut really was a shocker. His overall FC figures not wonderful either, but there's more to cricket than stats!

And equally there has never been a good bowler with a poor average.
Until Mahmood takes his First-Class average down, there's absolutely no way he should be remotely in question for a Test-place.

 

[Richard]

surely there would be no re-call for the likes of ... james kirtly or richard johnson.

Why the hell not?
Kirtley mightn't be the greatest bowler in The World, but nor is he the worst at all.
Johnson, meanwhile, has played 1 Test (authentic one, anyway) and has always done very well at both First-Class and Bangladesh-Zimbabwe level. How on Earth you can write-off a guy like that I cannot begin to fathom.

 

[Prince EWS]

Honestly, I'd go with Kirtley. Ive always rated him as a good backup test bowler. The perfect player to have in your squad in case of injury.

But I think the selectors would probably go with Kabir Ali.

 

[Buddhmaster]

What happened with Johnson and Kirtley. Did they have a really bad series sometime, to not be in some people's mind, England's 5th best option?

 

[Prince EWS]

What happened with Johnson and Kirtley. Did they have a really bad series sometime, to not be in some people's mind, England's 5th best option?

No, no they did not.

Johnson was continually injured, and the youth of Harmison, Jones and Anderson was preferred to Kirtley.

 

[Buddhmaster]

No, no they did not.

Johnson was continually injured, and the youth of Harmison, Jones and Anderson was preferred to Kirtley.

How old is Kirtley?

 

[Dark Hunter]

Whatever happened to Glen Chapple (I think that's his name...) wasn't he at one stage the next in line??

 

[wpdavid]

How old is Kirtley?

He'll turn 30 in January. If there was a spate of injuries next summer, I could see him coming in as a short term measure, although he's behind Lewis and, probably, Kabir Ali at present.

 

[Buddhmaster]

Jeez, he doesn't look 30.

 

[Richard]

Whatever happened to Glen Chapple (I think that's his name...) wasn't he at one stage the next in line??

Yes, but that was crazy, IMO Chapple's never suggested he's a Test-class bowler.
He's done nothing in the last 2 seasons.

 

[Richard]

No, no they did not.

Johnson was continually injured, and the youth of Harmison, Jones and Anderson was preferred to Kirtley.

Well really Kirtley's only had 1 good game and 1 reasonable one, but equally 2 bad Tests is not enough to judge someone definitively substandard.
It just hasn't worked-out for him, because the second he'd had his 2 bad games, everything suddenly clicked for England and they went from a mess of seamers to a settled, performing quartet with no injuries.