tooextracool said:
cant see whats wrong with that, might as well pick someone who has a half decent list A average than pick someone like Vaughan or Kabir Ali.
Talking about List A here is a home truth and a list.
The home truth- It is
very rare for any cricketer (not impossible) to have a higher international average than a domestic average. So stop picking players with an List A average under 30 for a start. There is no way you can expect them to succeed with any regularity.
The List
Of potential England Players
Anderson
S. Jones
Ali
Gough
Lewis
Clarke
Blackwell
Plunkett
Solanki
Read
Shah
Troughton
Prior
Maddy
Knight
Caddick (maybe still a player)
Irani
Hoggard
Kirtley
Mahmood
Key
All have worse ODI averages than List A
Trescothick
Vaughan
Tremlett
ODI and List A near identical
Collingwood
Bell
G. Jones
Harmison
ODI a tiny bit better but not significantly
and only
Pietersen
Strauss
Wharf
with a significantly better ODI av than List A.
And Pieterson averages 46 in List A so he is not a bad player who suddenly has come good at the international level.
3 out of 31 players (9.7%) have a significantly better average in ODIs. Applying this, then if you pick 10 guys with an average of around 30 then only 1 will go on to average 35 in international cricket. Those are not numbers any successful business would tolerate so why does England cricket?
How can you expect to be successful when Vaughan has a List A av of 28, Prior 24, G. Jones 22 and none of Strauss, Solanki, Shah, Collingwood average over 32.
For all that this is my XI
Trescothick
Knight
Afzaal
Pieterson
Joyce
Flintoff
Collingwood
Read
Gough
Tremlett
Anderson
Also in the squad- Blackwell, G. Jones, Ali, Strauss and Sales (always liked him)
Criticise me for Knight if you want but I was tempted to find a place for Hick (but maybe he is just a fraction too old). At the end of the day (anyone doing a cliche watch?), youth means nothing if you cant play.