prithvi said:
just a gut feel, plus even i cant see where the next gower/botham is going to come from. some of the guys who've made debuts for eng in the recent past - like robert key, have been ordinary, to say the least. the eng cap is being given away far too easily IMO.
Test Debuts since 1990 (1997)
Australia: 39 (17)
Bangladesh: 34 (34)
England: 81 (39)
India: 60 (39)
New Zealand: 55 (24)
Pakistan: 65 (37)
South Africa: 57 (26)
Sri Lanka: 52 (32)
West Indies: 61 (43)
Zimbabwe: 60 (26)
You've got a point there!
The full list of the England debutants:
542 N Hussain v West Indies Kingston 1989/90
543 AJ Stewart v West Indies Kingston 1989/90
544 CC Lewis v New Zealand Birmingham 1990
545 JE Morris v India Lord's 1990
546 NF Williams v India The Oval 1990
547 PCR Tufnell v Australia Melbourne 1990/91
548 GA Hick v West Indies Leeds 1991
549 MR Ramprakash v West Indies Leeds 1991
550 SL Watkin v West Indies Leeds 1991
551 RK Illingworth v West Indies Nottingham 1991
552 H Morris v West Indies Birmingham 1991
553 DA Reeve v New Zealand Christchurch 1991/92
554 IDK Salisbury v Pakistan Lord's 1992
555 TA Munton v Pakistan Manchester 1992
556 NA Mallender v Pakistan Leeds 1992
557 JP Taylor v India Kolkata 1992/93
558 RJ Blakey v India Chennai 1992/93
559 AR Caddick v Australia Manchester 1993
560 PM Such v Australia Manchester 1993
561 MC Ilott v Australia Nottingham 1993
562 MN Lathwell v Australia Nottingham 1993
563 MJ McCague v Australia Nottingham 1993
564 GP Thorpe v Australia Nottingham 1993
565 MP Bicknell v Australia Leeds 1993
566 SJ Rhodes v New Zealand Nottingham 1994
567 C White v New Zealand Nottingham 1994
568 D Gough v New Zealand Manchester 1994
569 JP Crawley v South Africa Lord's 1994
570 JE Benjamin v South Africa The Oval 1994
571 PJ Martin v West Indies Leeds 1995
572 DG Cork v West Indies Lord's 1995
573 JER Gallian v West Indies Birmingham 1995
574 NV Knight v West Indies Manchester 1995
575 M Watkinson v West Indies Manchester 1995
576 AP Wells v West Indies The Oval 1995
577 RC Irani v India Birmingham 1996
578 AD Mullally v India Birmingham 1996
579 MM Patel v India Birmingham 1996
580 MA Ealham v India Nottingham 1996
581 SJE Brown v Pakistan Lord's 1996
582 RDB Croft v Pakistan The Oval 1996
583 CEW Silverwood v Zimbabwe Bulawayo 1996/97
584 MA Butcher v Australia Birmingham 1997
585 DW Headley v Australia Manchester 1997
586 AM Smith v Australia Leeds 1997
587 AJ Hollioake v Australia Nottingham 1997
588 BC Hollioake v Australia Nottingham 1997
589 SP James v South Africa Lord's 1998
590 AF Giles v South Africa Manchester 1998
591 A Flintoff v South Africa Nottingham 1998
592 AJ Tudor v Australia Perth 1998/99
593 WK Hegg v Australia Melbourne 1998/99
594 A Habib v New Zealand Birmingham 1999
595 CMW Read v New Zealand Birmingham 1999
596 ESH Giddins v New Zealand The Oval 1999
597 DL Maddy v New Zealand The Oval 1999
598 CJ Adams v South Africa Johannesburg 1999/00
599 GM Hamilton v South Africa Johannesburg 1999/00
600 MP Vaughan v South Africa Johannesburg 1999/00
601 CP Schofield v Zimbabwe Lord's 2000
602 MJ Hoggard v West Indies Lord's 2000
603 ME Trescothick v West Indies Manchester 2000
604 RJ Sidebottom v Pakistan Lord's 2001
605 IJ Ward v Pakistan Lord's 2001
606 U Afzaal v Australia Birmingham 2001
607 J Ormond v Australia The Oval 2001
608 RKJ Dawson v India Chandigarh 2001/02
609 JS Foster v India Chandigarh 2001/02
610 SP Jones v India Lord's 2002
611 SJ Harmison v India Nottingham 2002
612 RWT Key v India Nottingham 2002
613 JM Anderson v Zimbabwe Lord's 2003
614 A McGrath v Zimbabwe Lord's 2003
615 RL Johnson v Zimbabwe Chester-le-Street 2003
616 RJ Kirtley v South Africa Nottingham 2003
617 ET Smith v South Africa Nottingham 2003
618 Kabir Ali v South Africa Leeds 2003
619 GJ Batty v Bangladesh Dhaka 2003/04
620 R Clarke v Bangladesh Dhaka 2003/04
621 MJ Saggers v Bangladesh Chittagong 2003/04
622 PD Collingwood v Sri Lanka Galle 2003/04
A good team is a settled team, and the figures back that up.