Monty Panesar

[Pedro Delgado]

What league is that?

The League of Landed Gentlemen.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

What do you guys reckon about him. He is a great spinner (The best in england at the moment) but he can't really bat and his fielding leaves alot to be desired at the best of times.

We don't do "great" spinners here anymore, unfortunately.

 

[Craig]

They would if they had selected Pickup in the Test team long ago

I must say about Monty's action is that I have rarely seen a spinner have almost as a straight arm as possible.

 

[Autobahn]

No, I think it speaks volumes about the need for a side to have capable batsmen down to 11.

With the current missing bowlers we're not only missing their superior bowling, but also their much more solid batting.

Giles >>> Plunkett
Harmison >>> Mahmood
Jones >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Panesar.

The side wouldn't have lost 5 for 5 with those 3 in the 8, 10, 11 (or 9, 10, 11 as it would've been with the Hoggster NWMing) positions.

Well to be fair you can't be certain of that, for all we know murali might have blown away the tail, along with maglina yorking a few. That's the two things can mop up tails easily, sheer pace and quality spin and you can't always rely on the tail hanging around.

To be fair all of the criticisms are pointed at his fielding, people can stand a hopeless rabbit at 11, but they can't stand dropping ponting or other dangerous batsmen on a low score.

 

[DanielFullard]

Monty is a superb spinner and thanfully the selectors are overlooking his lack of skill in the other departments to give him a chance and in bowling terms he has taken it. Forget batting, fielding is the key. He HAS to imporve. Fletcher has told him so and its what could cost him his place eventually

 

[alternative]

I have seen too little of him to judge his fielding, but as for as bowling is concerned his superb.. he has that accuracy which many young spinners lack.. i think he deserves a spot in the side for quite some time.. as he is very promising..

On the batting side of things, England probably/should not care less about it... his main job is to bowl, so he should perform with that..

 

[open365]

It's quite astonishing how bad he is at fielding. A 11 year old county age group player could field a lot better than that, no joke.

I think he's so bad because as a youngster he just spent all his time bowling, not practising batting and fielding. Still, i think he will improve, and he'll be a lot more confident once he takes a good catch and starts to believe in himself, and i don't think all this media attention is helping either, we should just leave him alone and she how he is in a year.

It's still no question as to who plays when Giles is fit though, i think he is a better spiner atm aswell.

 

[Smudge]

We don't do "great" spinners here anymore, unfortunately.

Chris Schofield?

Chris Hinton, even...

 

[marc71178]

But anyway, with the English lower order/tail as it would be at full strength, they can all wield the willow well enough to cover Panesar, in my opinion.

With who at 8 exactly?

 

[Jamee999]

It's quite astonishing how bad he is at fielding. A 11 year old county age group player could field a lot better than that, no joke.

I think he's so bad because as a youngster he just spent all his time bowling, not practising batting and fielding. Still, i think he will improve, and he'll be a lot more confident once he takes a good catch and starts to believe in himself, and i don't think all this media attention is helping either, we should just leave him alone and she how he is in a year.

It's still no question as to who plays when Giles is fit though, i think he is a better spiner atm aswell.

Bold - May well be right
Italic - Wrong
Underline - It'll be quite a tough choice.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

With who at 8 exactly?

Giles obviously

 

[Jamee999]

We could play 2 spinners.

 

[open365]

Bold - May well be right
Italic - Wrong
Underline - It'll be quite a tough choice.

Err...Jamee?it's all in italics apart form the bold and underlined parts

 

[Jamee999]

Edited.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

With who at 8 exactly?

To be honest, if the #7 spot wasn't so good at brain explosions it wouldn't matter that much.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Bold - May well be right
Italic - Wrong
Underline - It'll be quite a tough choice.

No it won't. When Giles is fit he's straight back in.

 

[Jamee999]

I like Monty. He's a better spinner.

 

[Matt79]

His fielding needs to improve, his batting really shouldn't matter - stick him at number 11 - McGrath's shown what 10 years of test cricket can do for your batting technique. One day Monty will score a half-century.

 

[silentstriker]

I agree, forget about his batting. It may or may not improve with time. What needs to improve quickly is his fielding.

 

[Goughy]

We could play 2 spinners.

Or England could play their best side and play exactly zero spinners.

Giles as no.1, hurumph. If he is 1st choice then Monty must be worse than I think.