England Squad to Tour SA

[SpaceMonkey]

I like the look of Academy side as well. Nice to see Swann there as part of the full time squad. The full time students, as far as I can remember:

Alex Gidman, Saj Mahmood, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior, Ian Bell, David harrison, Kevin piertersen I can't remember the rest.

Part time students: Liam plunket, Luke Wright, James Hildreth, Alistair Cook, David Stiff, Adam Harrison. Again, there is more but I can't remember them all exactly.

i reckon almost all of the full time students mentioned above could be key players in England's future test and ODI set-up. I esepecially like David Harrison and Saj Mahmood. Of the part time students, James Hildreth has a massive future, while Luke Wright has had a decent season.

Once again, though, Dimi Mascarenhas has missed out.

Steven Davies (Worcestershire) got picked for the part time students too...yay

 

[marc71178]

As expected, except from the inclusion of Collingwood over a fast bowler

Which is a stupid move IMO!

 

[marc71178]

Yeah. It's gotta be a financial cop-out to take Collingwood, what with his 12 month contract & all.

That contract hasn't been renewed though!

 

[BoyBrumby]

That contract hasn't been renewed though!

In that case I hope Paul has now given big Dunc the negatives back!!!

 

[Barney Rubble]

Good to see Hildreth at the Academy, I believe the lad has a big future indeed, Michael Vaughan's long-term successor at no4 in the Test team, and will make the ODI team before that I think.

Bit concerned about Luke Wright and Graeme Swann being the only spinners on that list - both are all-rounders, it would be nice to have at least one specialist spinner in there, Giles is 31 after all, and Gareth Batty, although he can do a job, I can never see taking the 100 Test wickets that Giles has.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Good to see Hildreth at the Academy, I believe the lad has a big future indeed, Michael Vaughan's long-term successor at no4 in the Test team, and will make the ODI team before that I think.

Bit concerned about Luke Wright and Graeme Swann being the only spinners on that list - both are all-rounders, it would be nice to have at least one specialist spinner in there, Giles is 31 after all, and Gareth Batty, although he can do a job, I can never see taking the 100 Test wickets that Giles has.

I thought Luke Wright was a medium pacer?

 

[chris.hinton]

Well i think that Ian Bell was very unlucky to be not in the squad as is Kabir Ali who is the 5 th best Seamer in England. Steve Davies has made the first step towards playing for England in 3 years time ( My Prediction)

Good to see Batty also included

 

[gio]

I thought Luke Wright was a medium pacer?

Yeah, he is a medium pacer. James Tredwell and Mark lawson both missed out. A bit of a mistake imo. Alistair Cook is an offie i think, pitty its only part time. What about Samit Patel? He's a spinner, and a former u19 captain.

 

[gio]

Here's the full academy squad:

Academy squad: IR Bell (Warwickshire), R Clarke (Surrey), PJ Franks (Nottinghamshire), APR Gidman (Gloucestershire), DS Harrison (Glamorgan), J Lewis (Gloucestershire), SI Mahmood (Lancashire), K Pietersen (Nottinghamshire), MJ Powell (Glamorgan), MJ Prior (Sussex), OA Shah (Middlesex), GP Swann (Northamptonshire).

Players to attend on a part-time basis: AJ Cook (Essex), S Davies (Worcestershire), A Harrison (Glamorgan), J Hildreth (Somerset), LJ Plunkett (Durham), DJ Stiff (Kent), LJ Wright (Sussex).

 

[a massive zebra]

How many chances are Paul Collingwood and Simon Jones going to get before the selectors finally realise they are not up to it???

Is Kevin Pieterson still unavailable?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

How many chances are Paul Collingwood and Simon Jones going to get before the selectors finally realise they are not up to it???

Is Kevin Pieterson still unavailable?

Collingwoods only played 2 tests...hardly what you can call too many chances? Jones when fully fit has always impressed for me...and can reverse the ball.

Pieterson is avaliable yes. but will probably be picked for the one day side first.

 

[marc71178]

Well i think that Ian Bell was very unlucky to be not in the squad as is Kabir Ali who is the 5 th best Seamer in England.

Selectors clearly disagree.

Named 5, plus Lewis as reserve, and haven't even put him to the Academy...

 

[Barney Rubble]

Yeah, he is a medium pacer.

Oops, my bad. I guess that's even worse then, only one spinner.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Luke Wright is undoubtedly a medium pacer - he's even opened the bowling for the Under 19s this summer.

I never expected Bell to make the squad, and personally I'm totally happy with all 16+12+7=35 selections. The reason that there are so few spinners amongst the students is because, well, none of them are any good.

Delighted to see no Kabir anywhere, and can understand the inclusion of Collingwood in the name of balance. Should Flintoff be injured, he would definitely be the first man into the breach. Key covers the top six, Batty covers Giles, Read covers Jones, and Anderson/Jones cover the seamers. That's your sixteen.

Jones not up to it? Who's better?! Still want Fletcher out?

 

[Tom Halsey]

Kabir should be in the Academy at least IMO, I think he has talent.

Tredmill should be in for Batty, because he's talented, and turns it a bit.

Apart from that, I'm happy.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Kabir should be in the Academy at least IMO, I think he has talent.

Tredmill should be in for Batty, because he's talented, and turns it a bit.

Apart from that, I'm happy.

I'm not a fan of random players into the Test squad.

What's Tredwell done this season?

 

[a massive zebra]

Jones not up to it? Who's better?! Still want Fletcher out?

If you look at it series by series you can see that Jones has never been successful against any team.

Series Win Mat O R W BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 5w 10

India in England, 2002 [Series]
- 1 38 129 4 2/61 4/129 32.25 3.39 57.0 0 0
The Ashes (Aus/Eng) in Australia, 2002/03 [Series]
Aus 1 7 32 1 1/32 1/32 32.00 4.57 42.0 0 0
The Wisden Trophy (Eng/WI) in West Indies, 2003/04 [Series]
Eng 4 94 374 11 5/57 6/101 34.00 3.97 51.2 1 0
New Zealand in England, 2004 [Series]
Eng 1 46 146 4 3/82 4/146 36.50 3.17 69.0 0 0
The Wisden Trophy (Eng/WI) in England, 2004 [Series]
Eng 1 25 99 1 1/70 1/99 99.00 3.96 150.0 0 0

And in county cricket he is far from being Glamorgan's most successful bowler.

Collingwood is a quality fielder but that should not be enough to gain selection, his batting and bowling leaves a lot to be desired. Like Jones, he has never performed consistently well at any level of professional cricket.

It would be ludicrous to sack Fletcher after 10 wins in 11 matches, although admittedly the opposition was not the greatest.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I'm not a fan of random players into the Test squad.

Says the person who wanted Fulton in just over 2 years ago...

 

[Neil Pickup]

If you look at it series by series you can see that Jones has never been successful against any team.

Series Win Mat O R W BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 5w 10

India in England, 2002 [Series]
- 1 38 129 4 2/61 4/129 32.25 3.39 57.0 0 0
The Ashes (Aus/Eng) in Australia, 2002/03 [Series]
Aus 1 7 32 1 1/32 1/32 32.00 4.57 42.0 0 0
The Wisden Trophy (Eng/WI) in West Indies, 2003/04 [Series]
Eng 4 94 374 11 5/57 6/101 34.00 3.97 51.2 1 0
New Zealand in England, 2004 [Series]
Eng 1 46 146 4 3/82 4/146 36.50 3.17 69.0 0 0
The Wisden Trophy (Eng/WI) in England, 2004 [Series]
Eng 1 25 99 1 1/70 1/99 99.00 3.96 150.0 0 0

And in county cricket he is far from being Glamorgan's most successful bowler.

Collingwood is a quality fielder but that should not be enough to gain selection, his batting and bowling leaves a lot to be desired. Like Jones, he has never performed consistently well at any level of professional cricket.

It would be ludicrous to sack Fletcher after 10 wins in 11 matches, although admittedly the opposition was not the greatest.

I'm not the person I was two years ago.

Please stop judging players on numbers alone. What I've seen, I like, and that's enough for me - and enough for the men in charge too, and I'm happy enough with that.

 

[superkingdave]

Delighted to see no Kabir anywhere, and can understand the inclusion of Collingwood in the name of balance. Should Flintoff be injured, he would definitely be the first man into the breach. Key covers the top six, Batty covers Giles, Read covers Jones, and Anderson/Jones cover the seamers. That's your sixteen.

No i cant understand Collingwood, If cover for Flintoff is needed surely Bell is the better option, being a better batsman and good fielder and probably a better bowler at the moment - when was the last time Collingwood bowled a decent amount? - if you arent expecting Flintoff's replacement to bowl then its a no brainer