Mr Mxyzptlk said:
Read started his career very ordinarily. His year-by-year stats would suggest he's gone from strength to strength as far as batting concerned. Mind he started young.
1997-98 (Kenya) 1 0 0
1997-98 (Sri Lanka) 3 3 0 61 24 20.33 0 0 7
1998 (England) 13 22 6 401 76 25.06 0 2 39 3
1998-99 (South Africa) 2 3 1 84 38 42.00 0 0 5
1998-99 (Zimbabwe) 3 5 1 70 47 17.50 0 0 6 1
1999 (England) 19 31 1 653 160 21.76 1 1 59 2
1999-00 (South Africa) 3 2 1 29 15* 29.00 0 0 7
2000 (England) 16 23 3 479 56* 23.95 0 3 40
2000-01 (West Indies) 5 6 1 90 29* 18.00 0 0 12
2001 (England) 16 27 5 666 78 30.27 0 5 43 1
2002 (England) 18 28 5 797 127 34.65 1 4 66 2
2002-03 (Sri Lanka) 3 6 0 153 80 25.50 0 1 5 2
2003 (England) 13 23 3 619 94* 30.95 0 4 32 3
2003-04 (Bangladesh) 2 3 1 76 38* 38.00 0 0 10
2003-04 (Sri Lanka) 4 7 2 52 18* 10.40 0 0 6 2
2003-04 (West Indies) 5 5 0 45 20 9.00 0 0 8 1
2004 (England) 13 18 2 807 130 50.43 2 6 35 3
seems to me like all hes had is one good domestic season.
its not just his performance that makes me believe hes not good enough, its the fact that his footwork is so ordinary that he wont succeed at the test match level. now he may have improved on that this season, but personally i doubt it.