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Anthony McGrath??????

JAB

Cricket Spectator
Can someone please explain to me why exactly McGrath is the england squad announced this morning. For those of you who don't know much about him, he is 27, has an overall first class batting average of 30 (only 29 so far this season, so not exactly in great form, and last season was just about his best ever year with the not exactly earth shattering CC ave of 32), and McGrath is at best an occasional bowler.

This seems a slightly odd selection to me, and i just do not understand any real logic behind it at all. surely it would have been better to go for a younger (and in my opinion better) batsman like shafayat, or maybe more of a genuine allrounder like clarke.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Based on county stats alone, neither of our current openers would be there.

McGrath is an interesting pick, and will obviously only play if Freddie is ruled out.

As for Clarke, when he can bowl at a level above under 15's then he should get a chance.
 

Eclipse

International Debutant
What about Troughton?? How can they overlook him and go for someone with a FC avrage that you would almost call to poor for a top order FC batsman.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
i don't think Torughton's done quite enough yet,and they needed someone with the option to bowl seam.
 

Eclipse

International Debutant
Well maybe not but surley he has done more than McGrath?

I just cant see him being a long term palyer for england.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
The only certainties in life are death, taxes and an overwhelming lack of common sense amongst ECB selectors. For goodness sake, if you have to pluck someone out of the obscurity of Yorkshire, I'd have been happier to see Ryan Sidebottom get another go.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Give the lad a chance - as I've said, on averages our middle order would still include R*****ash
 

Eclipse

International Debutant
I understand that and am willing to give him a chance I have nothing against him & as you said avrages quite often amount to nothing.

It just does not seem like comensense thats all especialy when you actualy appear to have some talented young players for the first time in 10 years.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Well, he was considered a great prospect a few years back, so I can see the logic behind it partially.
 

Rich2001

International Captain
Everyone bar marc seems to be missing the point here, McGrath was picked as a all-rounder to cover Freddy, which makes it pointless you all saying why didn't batsman in Troughton etc get picked.

Clarke is an all-rounder but the selectors have done the usal your a OD player and that's it, anyway I can only think of 1 good score so far this season...

And finally some seem to forgot that this decision isn't a great shock... afterall Mcgrath was picked in the orignal World Cup 30 so he has been on the selectors minds.
 

JAB

Cricket Spectator
well, i've had all day to think about mcgraths selection, and i still really can not see how to justify it. ive seen him play quite a few times over the years, and whilst hes always been talked about as someone with ability (right back to when he had a great opening partnership in the U19s with banger), ive never seen him as being anything more than an average county player.

I probably made too much of the stats earlier, and it is true to say that when trescothick was selected a few years back his stats were even worse than mcgraths. but at least he had played some great innings and shown real form and potential just before he was called up, whereas mcgrath has just continued his usual mediocrity.

his bowling cant have been a major factor in his call up surely, though there has been talk of him sharing the fifth seamers role with mark butcher. slow medium pace is not going to get many wickets in test cricket, not even against zim.

the only thing i can think of which may have helped mcgrath is the fact that he is yorkshire captain. i hope that this does not herald a return to the bad old days of big club bias, if indeed those days ever went away.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
5 or 6 years ago there were 2 up and coming young batsmen from Yorkshire who could bowl in the England set-up.

One bowled a bit of off spin and one bowled more of a medium pace.

The medium pacer was considered far and away a better and more talented batsman.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
JAB said:
Can someone please explain to me why exactly McGrath is the england squad announced this morning. For those of you who don't know much about him, he is 27, has an overall first class batting average of 30 (only 29 so far this season, so not exactly in great form, and last season was just about his best ever year with the not exactly earth shattering CC ave of 32), and McGrath is at best an occasional bowler.

This seems a slightly odd selection to me, and i just do not understand any real logic behind it at all. surely it would have been better to go for a younger (and in my opinion better) batsman like shafayat, or maybe more of a genuine allrounder like clarke.
Clarke a genuine bowler? When will people realise he isn't an all-rounder, he's a batsman who bowls. And from what I've seen he's a pretty good young batsman.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
I think most people are really missing the point here. McGrath was picked as an all-rounder when he is nowhere near a good enough bowler to be considered for such a role. Whatever you say Marc, about his selection being an interisting one and him being a good batsman, you cannot argue his bowling is good enough , or that he will be a long term England support all-rounder? Get a young all-rounder in and give him some experiance because White and Flintoff will stay 1st choice all-rounders for a while yet.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
I think McGrath, if selected will bat at 6 and be the 4th seamer (5th bowler)

As such he doesn't really need to do a great amount of bowling, and I think you'll find that looking at his county record, he's equally as good as Freddie, and his slightly slower pace may be a godsend in overcast conditions.
 

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