*Official* Fifth Test at The Oval

[four_or_six]

No.3 watch... lunch on day 1.

Rob Key has 56* against Northants (van der Wath, Lucas, Wigley, Panesar and Boje)

Samit Patel 24* against Warwks (Rankin, Tahir, Shreesanth, Woaks and Trott)

Owais Shah lbw Napier 8

Carberry c Bresnan b Shazad 23

Bopara and Trott in the field. Surrey not playing.

 

[Uppercut]

Thought it was Flintoff's knee that was the problem, not his feet.

If our England fans could choose a type of pitch to maximise their chances at The Oval, what ould it be?

Pre-series the talk was England's superiority in spin. They played two at Cardiff but it didn't really work out, though the turn there was low and slow. Also, although I agree Swann > Hauritz, is the difference given the way Swann has bowled great enough to go the way of preparing a bunsen?

Likewise, it seems to me England's attack relies a little more on atmospherics rather than what's in the wicket. Given what happened at Headingly and indeed in SA where Australia's attack excelled when there was something in the deck but has struggled in recent times when it's flat, do they risk a green-top, especially given their batting issues atm?

Slow and low would be a major error. The difference in ability between Swann and Hauritz wouldn't account for the vast, vast chasm of class in the batting lineups at playing on a surface like that.

On the other hand, you won't make a pitch with fast, bouncy turn that offers nothing to the seamers. Especially if skies are grey.



England should make a pitch with a lot of pace and carry in order to ensure a result. Then- in a change of policy from all this "which pitch?" crap- they should try to win the game of cricket by playing better than Australia. They've done it once already and they can do it again.

 

[GIMH]

Result pitch is a must as you say. Might as well lose the series as draw it.

 

[wpdavid]

No.3 watch... lunch on day 1.

Rob Key has 56* against Northants (van der Wath, Lucas, Wigley, Panesar and Boje)

Samit Patel 24* against Warwks (Rankin, Tahir, Shreesanth, Woaks and Trott)

Owais Shah lbw Napier 8

Carberry c Bresnan b Shazad 23

Bopara and Trott in the field. Surrey not playing.

Patel isn't a candidate for number 3, although I think he may still have time to play himself into the SA squad. A FC average of 45 playing your home games at Trent Bridge isn't to be sniffed at.

 

[Uppercut]

Rightly or wrongly, it's all down to whether he can lose weight.

 

[GIMH]

Key now 78*

 

[wpdavid]

Key now 78*

And lbw to Hall for 90

 

[wpdavid]

Given the apparent fitness of Fred & Anderson, I reckon we may be looking at:

Strauss
Cook
Key
Trott
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

 

[Pizzorno]

Given the apparent fitness of Fred & Anderson, I reckon we may be looking at:

Strauss
Cook
Key
Trott
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Onions

And almost immediately that line-up looks a lot healthier.

Still think we should call up our superstar all-rounder Tom Smith to be fair.

 

[Athlai]

Honestly don't think they'll drop both Bopara and Bell, reckon they will only get rid of one.

 

[wpdavid]

Honestly don't think they'll drop both Bopara and Bell, reckon they will only get rid of one.

Usually I'd agree. But with Bopara actually getting worse as the series progresses, and Bell lasting about 3 balls against Johnson, there isn't a lot to be lost be making two changes.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Interesting to read that Trescothick hasn't actually completely ruled out a comeback (from the BBC):

"If I was asked, I don't know," said Trescothick. "If they threw questions at me, I would listen. But until they do I can't answer. I am just carrying on what I am doing at Somerset, carrying on playing. Anything else is so hypothetical at the moment.

"It's always nice to be thought of - of course it is. But people are talking about it more than I am thinking about it."

 

[four_or_six]

Interesting to read that Trescothick hasn't actually completely ruled out a comeback (from the BBC):

"If I was asked, I don't know," said Trescothick. "If they threw questions at me, I would listen. But until they do I can't answer. I am just carrying on what I am doing at Somerset, carrying on playing. Anything else is so hypothetical at the moment.

"It's always nice to be thought of - of course it is. But people are talking about it more than I am thinking about it."

Groan...

Can we actually pick someone as a one-off? I mean... what happens if he scores a century? Do we let him play next summer?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Groan...

Can we actually pick someone as a one-off? I mean... what happens if he scores a century? Do we let him play next summer?

Don't see any reason why we couldn't bring Tres back for one test. It's not ideal (to be polite), but it is the most important game we'll play for some little time. Desperate times and all that.

Might become more of an issue if we only used him for home tests in future tho, I suppose. Although, given his history of depressive illness, it'd be pretty harsh if any of hs team-mates whinged about preferential treatment.

 

[four_or_six]

Don't see any reason why we couldn't bring Tres back for one test. It's not ideal (to be polite), but it is the most important game we'll play for some little time. Desperate times and all that.

Might become more of an issue if we only used him for home tests in future tho, I suppose. Although, given his history of depressive illness, it'd be pretty harsh if any of hs team-mates whinged about preferential treatment.

I don't think they'd winge but... you kind of want a level playing field for all players.

And I'm not sure 'desperate times call for desperate measures' is the impression we want to be giving out either to the Aussies, or the rest of the England players.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I don't think they'd winge but... you kind of want a level playing field for all players.

And I'm not sure 'desperate times call for desperate measures' is the impression we want to be giving out either to the Aussies, or the rest of the England players.

No, true. As I said it isn't ideal, but it'd be folly to pretend the garden was rosy too. We can't escape the fact that our middle order just didn't function at Leeds.

For me, and this almost certainly qualifies as a "desperate time", the team we pick should just be about winning the fifth test. If that team includes Tres & Ramps with all the baggage and issues their selection brings, then so be it.

 

[four_or_six]

No, true. As I said it isn't ideal, but it'd be folly to pretend the garden was rosy too. We can't escape the fact that our middle order just didn't function at Leeds.

For me, and this almost certainly qualifies as a "desperate time", the team we pick should just be about winning the fifth test. If that team includes Tres & Ramps with all the baggage and issues their selection brings, then so be it.

I wonder what the rest of the team would think if Ramps and Tres were picked. I've got no idea.

 

[GIMH]

If Trescothick was prepared to play it would be madness not to. Like Ramps, he has been performing brilliantly domestically but also has the record in Tests to back him up.

Trescothick or Cook at 3?

 

[four_or_six]

If Trescothick was prepared to play it would be madness not to. Like Ramps, he has been performing brilliantly domestically but also has the record in Tests to back him up.

Trescothick or Cook at 3?

It would be madness to pick Trescothick to open and move Cook.

"Sorry Alastair, you might have played for the last three years since Trescothick couldn't play any more, you might have performed your role well, but now it's come to the biggest match in your career, probably the one you've been dreaming of all this time, but we don't think you can cope and we're moving you to accomodate someone else."

 

[GIMH]

Haha, I agree, just remembering that when they did play in the side together, Cook was at 3 (and did well, tbf).

I hope we ask Tresco, and I hope he plays. Stick him at 3, and I believe he's never scored a Test ton against the Aussies, time to put that straight.

Strauss*
Cook
Trescothick
???
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Swann

Not too shabby as long as we make the right pick at 4. I'm still hoping that actually we rushed KP to hospital today to have a super-op that gets him fit for next week, but we're playing it down so the Aussies don't get on to it