England Academy - NZ A - Australia A - India A - And everyone else's second tiers...

[anzac]

The 'A' & Acadamy Teams

Here's one for our local correspondants.............

what are the recent squads & lineups for the various 'A' & or Acadamy teams & how have they performed. Even better if there is a link we can go to regarding results etc.....

Thumbnail player profiles would be nice so we know what kind of players we are looking at..........eg aggressive left hand opening bat, part time off spin bowler, plays domestic cricket for whoever etc.

Feel free to add your own impressions re potential candidates for future squads.

gives us not so well informed a glimpse as to the future talent around etc.......

 

[Tim]

I don't think the Academy team will be playing again this season...quite a few of those players though may feature in NZ 'A'.

The NZ 'A' series v Sri Lanka is in Febuary before South Africa are here so it does have quite a bit of importance for those who think they have a chance of making the step up to the NZ team.

At this stage, they'd probably pick a squad of 13 or 14..

maybe these names would feature:

McIntosh
Jones
Ryder
Fulton
Nicol
H.Marshall
Canning
Bevan Griggs
Bruce Martin
Mason
Sherlock
And possibly Shane Bond if he's trying to work his way back from injury.

 

[Neil Pickup]

England

Feel free to bring this up in 2006 and make me look an idiot

ACADEMY SQUAD

Kadeer Ali (Worcs)
Top order batsman, Kabir's cousin. Has promise and has scored plenty of runs at age group level... but not senior level yet.
Gut feeling: sinking without trace

Simon Francis (Somst)
Pace bowler and injury prone (like we needed another one) - ex-Hants. Not seen too much.
Journeyman County Pro

Alex Gidman (Gloucs)
Hasn't set the World alight but was absolutely fantastic in the Twenty20 final. Useful medium pace.
100+ ODIs and more than a few Tests

Simon Jones (Glam)
We know him. Can he come back from injury properly?
Heart says loads of wickets, head says retired at 28

Shaftab Khalid (Worcs)
Allegedly has a doosra. Will be hoping for Batty to clear off to England and get some CC starts. Could be special.
Fringe of England.. a few Asian tours

Michael Lumb (Yorks)
Another in the line of Yorkie batsmen who the selectors think have got that X factor.
Following Vaughan's footsteps

Sajjid Mahmood (Lancs)
Seamer. That's all I know.
Really don't know...

Graham Napier (Essex)
In the Mark Ealham mould, seamer who can stick around and grit out scores that he probably shouldn't.
ODI man

Scott Newman (Surrey)
Big double ton for the Seconds, will be opening for Surrey this year post-Ward
Will follow Ward into England.. and out again

Kevin Pietersen (Notts)
Tons of potential - but has the nationalisation Hicked him?
Several England chances... but no real success

+Matt Prior (Sussex)
Likely to be in Read's shadow until the Notts man drops the baton
ODI stand in? Will struggle to displace Read

Bilal Shafayat (Notts)
Hasn't stepped up to County level from U19s. Temperament remains a question - likely to remain an enigma
Either the New Botham, or a complete failure

James Tredwell (Kent)
Useful offspinner and utility batsman. Safe in the field
ODIs abound and an Asian tour or three

Graeme Wagg (Warks)
Allrounder yet to show real form at senior level
Road to obscurity

UNDER 19 SQUAD - Very little county experience and as such my knowledge of them is highly limited and guessworkish.

*Samit Patel (Notts)
Fluent LH bat and SLA, 2001 U15 player of the year. Key batsman.

Ravinder Bopara (Essex)
RFM and lower order bat

Tim Bresnan (Yorks)
Impressive RFM and tail end hitter

Dan Broadbent (Yorks)
LH batsman and occasional offie.

Alistair Cook (Essex)
Opening bat, performed well for U19s in summer

Steven Davies (Worcs)
Back up wicketkeeper to New.

Adam Harrison (Glam)
David's brother, promising RFM

James Hildreth (Somst)
One of the only Somerset players to show some degree of grit last summer. Could go a long way. RH middle order.

Mark Lawson (Yorks)
Leggie. Blame Jenner.

+Tom New (Leics)
Keeper-bat. Can hit the ball very hard.

Liam Plunkett (Durham)
Forms a new ball pair with Bresnan that will rival anything on offer at the WC. Lower order barnacle.

David Stiff (Yorks)
Out and out paceman

Mark Turner (Durham)
RHB, RMF. Middle name is Leif.

Luke Wright (Leics)
Played for Bourne in Lincs ECB Prem in 03. Middle order bat and RM wicket to wicket.

 

[THE MINGSTER]

I don't think the Academy team will be playing again this season...quite a few of those players though may feature in NZ 'A'.

The NZ 'A' series v Sri Lanka is in Febuary before South Africa are here so it does have quite a bit of importance for those who think they have a chance of making the step up to the NZ team.

At this stage, they'd probably pick a squad of 13 or 14..

maybe these names would feature:

McIntosh
Jones
Ryder
Fulton
Nicol
H.Marshall
Canning
Bevan Griggs
Bruce Martin
Mason
Sherlock
And possibly Shane Bond if he's trying to work his way back from injury.

Marshall might be a regular starter though sooner than later....

 

[anzac]

Marshall might be a regular starter though sooner than later....

perhaps a case of changing the H to a J ????????

 

[anzac]

I don't think the Academy team will be playing again this season...quite a few of those players though may feature in NZ 'A'.

The NZ 'A' series v Sri Lanka is in Febuary before South Africa are here so it does have quite a bit of importance for those who think they have a chance of making the step up to the NZ team.

At this stage, they'd probably pick a squad of 13 or 14..

maybe these names would feature:

McIntosh
Jones
Ryder
Fulton
Nicol
H.Marshall
Canning
Bevan Griggs
Bruce Martin
Mason
Sherlock
And possibly Shane Bond if he's trying to work his way back from injury.

what did the previous squad look like - any continuity??????
and any chance of player profile as from NP?????

I'm just really curious about these 'A' team players & what their records are like. We can compare full international players stats to their domestic form, but I have no idea who are in these 'A' teams - let alone what their stats in these games have been like.

 

[THE MINGSTER]

www.cricinfo.com and click on NZ and the domestic competitions and that have stats for the players there.

 

[anzac]

www.cricinfo.com and click on NZ and the domestic competitions and that have stats for the players there.

been there done that. Only got access to current domestic comps - no archives from previous seasons. Player individual stats do not indicate 'A' team matches / tours - included in F/C games.....

can't look any further without knowing who was involved etc......


I'm just curious to compare their 'A' game stats to their domestic form, as we do with full international players re selection prospects etc........

 

[Neil Pickup]

Okay, I'm gonna rename this thread to see if we get a little more interest

 

[Langeveldt]

Some recent South African A players... Couldnt call them young though...


Martin Van Jaarsveld - Scores shedloads of runs in SA domestic cricket, could be a more succesful version of Graham Hick.. Tall RH batsman with a good technique who has just broken into the test side.. Competing with Rudolph, McKenzie, Dippennaar, Prince long term...

Ashwell Prince - Havent seen a lot of this LHB, hasnt made much of a mark at test level, played well against Australia, Not a big fan, seems to lack tempremant...

Steve Elworthy - Tried, tested and reliable northerns fast bowler, unlikely to play test cricket again because of age, should have played more...

Names to look out for...

Albie Morkel
Vaughn Van Jaarsveld
Thami Tsolekile
Mfuneko Ngam

 

[anzac]

Okay, I'm gonna rename this thread to see if we get a little more interest

yeah I thought that there would have been plenty of interest & debate re this tier supposedly being the feeder to full selections.......

 

[Richard]

Re: England

Feel free to bring this up in 2006 and make me look an idiot

ACADEMY SQUAD

Kadeer Ali (Worcs)
Top order batsman, Kabir's cousin. Has promise and has scored plenty of runs at age group level... but not senior level yet.
Gut feeling: sinking without trace

Simon Francis (Somst)
Pace bowler and injury prone (like we needed another one) - ex-Hants. Not seen too much.
Journeyman County Pro

Alex Gidman (Gloucs)
Hasn't set the World alight but was absolutely fantastic in the Twenty20 final. Useful medium pace.
100+ ODIs and more than a few Tests

Simon Jones (Glam)
We know him. Can he come back from injury properly?
Heart says loads of wickets, head says retired at 28

Shaftab Khalid (Worcs)
Allegedly has a doosra. Will be hoping for Batty to clear off to England and get some CC starts. Could be special.
Fringe of England.. a few Asian tours

Michael Lumb (Yorks)
Another in the line of Yorkie batsmen who the selectors think have got that X factor.
Following Vaughan's footsteps

Sajjid Mahmood (Lancs)
Seamer. That's all I know.
Really don't know...

Graham Napier (Essex)
In the Mark Ealham mould, seamer who can stick around and grit out scores that he probably shouldn't.
ODI man

Scott Newman (Surrey)
Big double ton for the Seconds, will be opening for Surrey this year post-Ward
Will follow Ward into England.. and out again

Kevin Pietersen (Notts)
Tons of potential - but has the nationalisation Hicked him?
Several England chances... but no real success

+Matt Prior (Sussex)
Likely to be in Read's shadow until the Notts man drops the baton
ODI stand in? Will struggle to displace Read

Bilal Shafayat (Notts)
Hasn't stepped up to County level from U19s. Temperament remains a question - likely to remain an enigma
Either the New Botham, or a complete failure

James Tredwell (Kent)
Useful offspinner and utility batsman. Safe in the field
ODIs abound and an Asian tour or three

Graeme Wagg (Warks)
Allrounder yet to show real form at senior level
Road to obscurity

My take on this lot:
Wagg: excuse for a batsman, excuse for a bowler. Hopefully will never get close to the England set-up.
Tredwell: useless fingerspinner, excuse for a batsman. Hopefully will never play for England; Batty and Dawson is bad enough.
Shafayat: seems to have bags of potential, still yet to show it at county level. Wasn't Botham an all-rounder, not a batsman who bowled a little bit?
Matthew Prior: slogger who benefits from the size of the Hove ground almost as much as Blackwell benefits from the size of the excuse for a ground at Taunton. Decent enough wicketkeeper, not a patch on Geirant Jones as a batsman. Jones will hopefully be number-one Test 'keeper before long. Read can keep the ODI spot as long as his averages keep rising.
Pietersen: still seems a bit too much of a biffer, hopefully he can learn some discretion before he starts playing for England. Interestingly, though, has had success in not just First-Class but one-day-cricket too. Unlike the indescriminate sloggers like Blackwell. This suggests something to me. I have genuine hopes for this fellow, and hopefully the wait will spruce-up his hunger.
Newman: actually looked OK in 2002. Will definately start with Butcher or Batty next season barring mishap. I think he could be another Ward - but if he gets an England chance, please don't let it be a complete waste of yet another opener in the middle-order.
Napier: if he's ever gritted-out an innings I'll eat my computer. One of the worst sloggers I've ever seen. And to compare him to Mark Ealham is an insult to the game of cricket, let alone Ealhie himself. Ealhie isn't someone who bowls 3 bad deliveries an over, more like 1 every 3 overs. Napier is the former.
Mahmood: seems a better prospect than some. Still not county standard yet, though, and with Martin, Chapple, Flintoff, Anderson, Hogg, Schofield and Hooper at his county he's got some dislodging to do.
Lumb: immensely overrated. Not in my best Yorkshire XI.
Khalid: almost identical to Saqlain, uncanny, even looks quite like him. Definately bowls the doosra; accuracy, unlike the other proprietors of it (Saqlain and Harbhajan), leaves something to be desired. No good having an off-break or a doosra if you can't pitch them. Sort that out, get him to move somewhere that helps spin a bit more, and then we'll be getting somewhere - we might have another spinner who can go to the subcontinent and help us win series'.
Jones: never rated him, if he comes back and gets hammered it'll be "he was never the same after his injury". My bet is he'll be exposed as not especially good and everyone will blame the fall at The 'Gabba.
Gidman: first of all, what the **** does Twenty20 have to do with anything? It's not something that's going to aid the development of cricketers - it's just there to hopefully make a bit of cash. Anyway, Gidman as far as I'm concerned is a useless, wayward bowler and a batsman with no particular ability in either game form. Had a reasonable season in List-A cricket last year, and got twin 50s when the pressure was really on him in the CC.
Francis - not even close to county standard. What anyone sees in him I haven't the faintest.
Kadeer - read Shafayat, but fortunately no-one seems to think he can bowl too.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Gidman - Twenty20 - Temperament

 

[Neil Pickup]

Napier - obviously got him mixed up with someone. Can't think who. 57 at number 10 in an 88-run 9th wicket stand against Notts in the Essex 19/9 -> 79ao game suggests some temperament.

Likely to be an ODI player at best.

 

[Richard]

England have recently sunk low in ODIs, but surely... surely... not that low...?
On the other hand... Jeremy Snape...

 

[Richard]

Napier - obviously got him mixed up with someone. Can't think who. 57 at number 10 in an 88-run 9th wicket stand against Notts in the Essex 19/9 -> 79ao game suggests some temperament.

Wasn't it Notts who were 19 for 9? I could have sworn Brant took 6 then had his figures totally ruined by, if I remember rightly, Nadeem Malik and someone. Dakin was much better if I remember rightly, but he mightn't have even played.
Maybe I'm getting 2 games mixed-up, as you do seem to have some of the stuff pretty certain and exact?

 

[marc71178]

* finds it amusing that after complaining about overseas players in County Cricket, the same person then basically writes off all the current "probables" *

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

been there done that. Only got access to current domestic comps - no archives from previous seasons. Player individual stats do not indicate 'A' team matches / tours - included in F/C games.....

Try changing the 2003/04 in the address bar to 2002/03, 2001/02 etc. etc.

 

[anzac]

Try changing the 2003/04 in the address bar to 2002/03, 2001/02 etc. etc.

yup that worked ......:duh:

still doesn't give any indication re 'A' team games apart from domestic comp..........

 

[Neil Pickup]

Wasn't it Notts who were 19 for 9? I could have sworn Brant took 6 then had his figures totally ruined by, if I remember rightly, Nadeem Malik and someone. Dakin was much better if I remember rightly, but he mightn't have even played.
Maybe I'm getting 2 games mixed-up, as you do seem to have some of the stuff pretty certain and exact?

It's late.. :duh: Oops (again)