*Official Third Test at Edgbaston

[TT Boy]

Hildreth, flat track bully. Score some runs away from home.

Joyce, doesn't know where his off-stump is, or he didn't when he faced Asif.

And as for Ramps, replacing your big game player with a big game bottler doesn't make much sense.

 

[tooextracool]

And as for Ramps, replacing your big game player with a big game bottler doesn't make much sense.

No it doesn't but we're hardly spoilt for choice here. Its either a bottler who has been averaging something like 80 odd over the last 4-5 years in CC or another bottler who has been averaging 40 odd during the same period.

 

[BoyBrumby]

And as for Ramps, replacing your big game player with a big game bottler doesn't make much sense.

TBF to Ramps his record against Oz is actually pretty decent averaging 42.40, nearly 15 higher than his overall career mark.

However, we aren't going to recall a bloke who's nearly 40 and hasn't played tests for over 6 years.

 

[social]

I've just returned from a week in the UK and am not sure what hurts more

a. The head from 5 days on the booze; or

b. The body from my first cricket match in more than a decade

Rather than bore you with my detailed view of the second test, I thought I'd relay some of the more interesting "rumours" circulating in the various hospitality tents I visited with many former test players.

1. Mitch bowled possibly the worst first day spell in a Lords test in history - hard to disagree but wont be dropped as he is seen as a fragile character who wont recover

2. Eng are a complete rabble with massive divisions between management and players- doesnt say much for Oz!

3. KP and Freddie wont play another test this series - one true, another maybe

4. KP is the most hated man in Eng cricket and should be discarded in any event

5. Clarke will never be the regular test captain as the players and officials have no time for him as a person

6. Ponting will be captain until 2011 unless they lose this series - if that is the case, he'll be unchallenged until 2013

I got this from very senior people

 

[Prince EWS]

Other names to throw into the hat:

Hildreth
Joyce
Ramprakash (not sure how he's gone this season - is he still even playing?)

Yeah, I'd really like to see Joyce given a crack if Bopara continues to fail and Bell continues to be Bell.

 

[GIMH]

Don't see the point of batting Bell at 6 just for the sake of it. If he can bat 6, presumably he can bat 5 too. Looking at his record, he has a higher average at 5. Personally, I would move Collingwood to number 4 which is the position where he scored his double century at and also batted for the entire Ashes series in last time.

Him and Pietersen swapped for the last innings of the series IIRC

I'm gonna stick my neck out and back Bell to score some runs. It seemed inevitable that we would see him at some point in this series and this is the best chance he has had to score some runs against the Aussies. If Johnson takes the new ball I reckon we should get Bell to open so he can cash in against the early dross

In seriousness, I think I'd put him at 6. Takes the pressure off him and he seems to bat well with the tail, cbf to look at stats to check that out but

 

[Prince EWS]

I'd just slot Bell straight in at four. I can see merit in batting him at five but I think Collingwood's game is pretty well-suited to that role. Equally he's had most of his success at six so I can see why people would want to bat him there, but I think Prior would get nosebleeds at four and as I said, I really wouldn't want to move Collingwood from 5.

However, I can't understand calls to bat him at three. Not only does he have a poor record there, but trying to 'protect' Bopara is going to cause a lot more porblems than it's worth when Pietersen comes back and Bopara has to go back to three again.

 

[pietersenrocks]

However, I can't understand calls to bat him at three. Not only does he have a poor record there, but trying to 'protect' Bopara is going to cause a lot more porblems than it's worth when Pietersen comes back and Bopara has to go back to three again.

Do not see it happening. Until KP returns, Bopara may not even be there. Bop hasn't done anything except for scoring runs that didn't really matter.

 

[aussie]

Strauss & Flower should go sleep under Trescothicks bridge until he agrees to join the team.

 

[GIMH]

I believe that may contravene some of the laws of our land

 

[four_or_six]

Trescothick shouldn't play. There are many reasons, but most important among them is that the ECB shouldn't put a man with a history of severe mental illness into a hugely pressured situation just for the sake of winning a cricket match.

 

[GIMH]

Meh, they're happy to let a man with a history of knee and ankle problems bowl 90mph for hours on end for the sake of winning a match

 

[four_or_six]

Meh, they're happy to let a man with a history of knee and ankle problems bowl 90mph for hours on end for the sake of winning a match

Point taken.

 

[Richard]

Richard to argue that Cook and Trescothick should be switched.

Fix'd.

Anyway, just so as everyone is clear, under no circumstances is Trescothick going to be asked to play, and under no circumstances would he accept any request to play should he receive one.

There's as much point saying you'd like him to play as there is saying you'd like Graham Gooch or Geoff Boycott to play (regardless of any of the three would be effective or not).

 

[Richard]

Other names to throw into the hat:

Hildreth
Joyce
Ramprakash (not sure how he's gone this season - is he still even playing?)

Ramprakash is averaging a mere 50-odd IIRR this season - clearly not encouraging, suggesting as it does that he'd probably average 11 or so for any Tests. Hildreth has just never looked to me to be anything other than a moderate county batsman. Joyce, though, would be the best option by far if anyone other than Shah was to play.

 

[GIMH]

You'd rather have Joyce than Bell?>

 

[Jarquis]

Ramprakash is averaging a mere 50-odd IIRR this season - clearly not encouraging, suggesting as it does that he'd probably average 11 or so for any Tests. Hildreth has just never looked to me to be anything other than a moderate county batsman. Joyce, though, would be the best option by far if anyone other than Shah was to play.

72.10 although that wasn't the point

 

[Richard]

Why are we including only 3 of Shah's 6 Tests ?

Because he only played 3 in West Indies - there were only four, not five. It's absolutely silly to count what was officially the Second and Third as anything but one game - without the abandonment of one (in which he played no part whatsoever, not taking the field at all), the other would not have been played.

And his debut and sophomore games came not as a first-choice but as an injury replacement. Ergo, he wasn't actually being given selectorial faith.

 

[Richard]

You'd rather have Joyce than Bell?>

I can't remember whether Joyce has done well this season - if he hasn't, then clearly he shouldn't be anywhere near the team.

However it's a dead-set disgrace that Joyce never got a chance in Tests and it's also fairly ridiculous how Bell seemingly cannot fall out of the picture despite others whose claims are equally as strong as his (in Shah and Joyce) getting essentially no chance whatsoever.

 

[Richard]

3 or 6 is irrelevant - he showed nothing to demand further selection, in fact he showed more than enough to remove him from the thoughts.

Actually he didn't, because no-one can ever do that in 3 Tests' worth of play. If they could, Shane Warne would've been discarded in 1991/92, along with hundreds of other players who've done nothing in their opening handful of games.

Once someone has been judged to have demanded selection at all, they deserve more than 3 Tests' grace.

Why poor running between the wickets should be discounted baffles me, but that's Dick for you.

Because it says absolutely nothing about someone's ability to bat. It demonstrates no technical weakness, it demonstrates no recurring fault in shot-selection, in fact it demonstrates nothing other than that someone needs to concentrate better when judging a run.