Gough for the sack

[tooextracool]

No, it doesn't (well, he didn't fail, he just didn't take wickets), but equally that does not influence the fact that he would almost certainly have done pretty well on those pitches at Trent Bridge and Headingley.

no you cant be anywhere near certain when someone has failed miserably in helpful conditions.

We should say that his bowling in those last 8 Tests wasn't good enough, yes - but I don't really think anyone would have predicted that after his summer 2000, winter 2000\01 and First Test against Pakistan.

then im afraid you must say the same thing about craig white....

And he'd started being hammered around the winter before that.

err what?white bowled brilliantly before the ashes tour 2001 when he was clearly unfit.

 

[SJS]

I say Gough should no longer be thought of as a death bowler - he is, however, more than capable of opening up, bowling 10 overs straight through and doing a good job.
All right, his last 2 games have been poor. Wow. Anyone can have 2 bad ODIs - even Golden Boy had 2 in the NatWest Series. No-one called for his head then - oh, no, he's Steve Harmison, even though before this summer his ODI career had been a horror-story.
James Anderson has been poor in recent ODIs and Alex Wharf's selection has by and large been shown-up as the howler it is. 7 overs for 45 against the might of Zimbabwe, for Christ's sake. Now he plays a big part in losing the final.
As for the suggestion of James Kirtley playing ODIs ahead of him, that's laughable at best. Anyone remember what happened the last time Kirtley played ODIs? Or the time before that? Or anyone notice how terrible he was for most of the National League season 2004?
You might as well set Collingwood, Vaughan and Trescothick to bowl 10 than pick Kirtley again.
Gough has been easily England's best ODI bowler for the last 10 years and some people would drop him because of 2 poor games!

Take a bow Richard .

 

[Jono]

SJS, you bumping this thread I found was genius. Absolute genius

I don't often agree with Richard, but he held his own in this thread and as I said in the official SA vs. Eng thread, he was 100% correct.

Actually maybe not 100% considering his death bowling today was much better than the other bowlers. I'd stick with him until you find other players who can do a decent job at best.

 

[SJS]

SJS, you bumping this thread I found was genius. Absolute genius

Thank you my dear

 

[tooextracool]

the big question is can he maintain it, he certainly got worse in terms of both fitness and performance towards the end of last year.