Combined XI

[GIMH]

After 3 Tests:

Strauss
Cook
Dravid
Pietersen
Bell
Morgan
Prior+
Bresnan
Broad
Praveen
Anderson

Who'd have thought Trott would be the man to miss out for England.

Strauss, Morgan and Praveen the only people whose places in the final series XI aren't inked in, saving some sort of miracle

 

[Howe_zat]

Now I'd myself have Laxman ahead of KP, but can totally understand why someone else would have their positions swapped in a combined XI.

See, KP is a bit of a form and confidence player. The way he batted yesterday (quality of the attack, regardless) indicated that his game is getting close to where it belongs - right at the top. I am not sure if you actually saw the knock, but all of us who did seem to be unanimous in our beliefs that the man's getting back. I reiterate it's NOT about the 90-odd he scored, but the way in which he approached the game.

You can make it out with the way he takes that big stride forward and has an audacious way of charging even the quicker bowlers. Players that thrive on confidence are very dangerous when on song.

The choice doesn't have to be nationalistic. Not all choices need to be made on immediate performance/ stats either. Both KP and Laxman are high quality test batsmen and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone thinks that KP promises to deliver more in this series.

As a general comment, gentlemen, IMHO it would be better if such discussions are kept objective. When comparing excellent players with not too much to separate them (as both men being discussed are), sometimes a personal gut feel can help one in making a decision. I don't see anything particularly wrong with that. Neither should anyone take it too personally.

Just a couple of games in summer against Sri Lanka and you think he's struggling? Sometimes, coming after a long break, a player may need some time to get into the groove.

And I didn't see that knock in Ashes, so I wouldn't comment. I saw KP yesterday after about 1.5 yrs or so and he looked like the old one. Laxman is not a touch player; he always seems to bat with effortless grace even if he scores 20.

But with touch and confidence players, this thing (visual appearance) can mean a lot. If people here feel that KP would have a better series, I certainly wouldn't call it an outrageous claim.

I mean, it's not as if someone is selecting Steven Smith ahead of Laxman.

A lot. His knocks in Mohali, Colombo and Durban were match-winning epics; I watched them all.

In case you missed it, I actually have Laxman in my combined team. Would take him over most of his team-mates as well, tbh. But that's just my take.

Re-reading this thread in the wake of Z's avatar bet coming up again. Outswinger really did gives us some quality among a shower of tripe.

 

[Howe_zat]

Overall:

Strauss
Cook
Dravid
KP
Bell
Tendulkar
Prior
Bresnan
Broad
Swann/Praveen
Anderson

Tendulkar edging out Morgan is the only real change, having ended with more runs against a better attack. Swann/Praveen is hard to call, as it only really seemed fair to leave out a spinner when none were doing anything. Now Swann's bowled a matchwinning effort that makes him clearly the best spinner, but likely hasn't played as well as PK overall.

 

[GIMH]

Tendulkar score more runs than Morgan but he got a couple more chances to do so. No disputing the quality of the bowling but I don't think he deserves a place in this side. Granted, Morgan probably doesn't either but I'm giving him that spot on the basis of his one cnetury.

Agree wholeheartedly with the rest though

 

[Howe_zat]

To be fair, Tendulkar averaged more than Morgan too. I think you could make a case for Morgan, especially if you include fielding, but I think the difference in bowling has been vast and so Tendulkar deserves some credit.

 

[TT Boy]

Mishra instead of Tendulkar.

 

[GIMH]

 

[Neil Pickup]

Prior 6, Bres 7, Broad 8, Praveen 9, Swann 10.

 

[Uppercut]

To be fair, Tendulkar averaged more than Morgan too. I think you could make a case for Morgan, especially if you include fielding, but I think the difference in bowling has been vast and so Tendulkar deserves some credit.

Tbf Sachin had a load of dropped chances and lbw let-offs during the series.

 

[Spikey]

i dunno know it doesn't seem real fair to keep sachin out of it because of fielding and umpiring incompetence and then pick morgan who benefited from bowling incompetence

 

[wpdavid]

Tbf Sachin had a load of dropped chances and lbw let-offs during the series.

Yes, but I don't remember them making a huge difference to his totals as he was usually out soon afterwards iirc. Morgan, otoh, benefited from a couple of drops early on during his century. Morgan also made many of his runs against part-timers: a luxury which was rarely afforded to SRT.

 

[Uppercut]

It's true that it didn't make much difference to his totals but you still need to factor in that his 250~ runs should really have been for about 13 dismissals rather than 8. Although Morgan's century was absurdly lucky so I'd probably still have Sachin.

 

[Cevno]

Morgan got a few drops and one LBW in his favor too IIRC and majority of his innings came at a time when he had a oppurtunity to make free runs with England in a commanding position, India demoralised and part time bowlers bowling with quick runs coming. Even Bresnan made full use of such situations.
Morgan failed on every occasions when he came to bat at vital situations.

 

[zaremba]

Frankly Morgan's hundred was pretty ho-hum. Scored in relatively untesting circumstances, against a popgun attack, dropped twice, and didn't go on to make it a big one. So I don't think it counts for a great deal more than 91 made in adversity - although of course Sachin did have the luck of the devil in that innings.

I'd love him to prove himself a true Test player but the jury is very much out on him. And the same goes for Morgan... [/gets coat]

 

[wpdavid]

It depends on what we're trying to do here. If we want to pick what looks like the strongest team from the available players, then obviously SRT plays. As does Trott. However, if we want to reflect the events of the last five weeks, then Prior probably bats at 6 followed by Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Kumar and Andserson.

I suppose the top 5 would have Cook, Dravid, Bell, KP as definites. Beyond that, no-one else has a strong case.

 

[zaremba]

Given the nature of England's performance, based on teamwork, preparation etc, there's a case for simply picking the entire England team. However I do recognise that this isn't really conducive to a discussion of this sort.

For me:

Strauss (c)
Cook
Dravid
Bell
KP
Prior (w)
Bresnan
Broad
Swann
Kumar
Anderson

There's a case for Sachin over Strauss, but Strauss's captaincy and leadership gives him the edge.

I've gone for 5 bowlers to reflect the performances in the series and to allow a balanced attack. The one drawback to that is that I prefer Prior to have the freedom of batting at 7. But let's face it, there's still plenty of batting here, both in the top 5 and at 7-10.

Edit: what wpdavid said.

 

[centurymaker]

how times have changed.

2-3 years ago, no one used to give a toss if a ball was clipping/hitting off/leg stump and batsman was rightly given not out. plus who knows how accurate technology is.
the ones they show clipping might actually be missing the stumps. who knows

an umpire shouldn't take chances when there's enough doubt because a batsman only has 1 chance! back in teh days LBW almost didn't exist. you were only given when the ball was hitting middle.

giving a batsman out incorrectly is far worse than not giving him out. unless a clear LBW decision goes in the batsman's favour, i don't usually complain unlike so many other people out here.

 

[centurymaker]

tendulkar doesn't make it even though all the reprieves barely made a difference to his tally (ended up with 270 odd runs)

i'd bat prior at 6.

 

[centurymaker]

It's true that it didn't make much difference to his totals but you still need to factor in that his 250~ runs should really have been for about 13 dismissals rather than 8. Although Morgan's century was absurdly lucky so I'd probably still have Sachin.

i have noticed that in that last few months, when tendulkar's given a chance, he's followed it up with a few more chances instead of picking himself up and making the opposition pay the price.


egs-
against pakistan in the semifinal
a couple of times in the IPL
at lords in the 2nd innings
yesterday after reaching 70s

 

[GIMH]

how times have changed.

2-3 years ago, no one used to give a toss if a ball was clipping/hitting off/leg stump and batsman was rightly given not out. plus who knows how accurate technology is.
the ones they show clipping might actually be missing the stumps. who knows

an umpire shouldn't take chances when there's enough doubt because a batsman only has 1 chance! back in teh days LBW almost didn't exist. you were only given when the ball was hitting middle.

giving a batsman out incorrectly is far worse than not giving him out. unless a clear LBW decision goes in the batsman's favour, i don't usually complain unlike so many other people out here.

The ones where hawkeye shows it clipping could also be smashing the middle of the stump, by the same logic.