Possible Ashes stating line-ups & England possible touring squad

[aussie]

England's team selection dilemma

It is a dilemma for the selectors for a numbers of reasons at this stage, for the frst 3 test of the Pakistan, England outplayed Pakistan & i was beginning to feel comfortable with England playing an XI of:

Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
KP
Collingwood
Bell
Flintoff
Read
Hoggard
Harmison
Panesar

But after seeing Pakistan batsmen play so well at the Oval you have to think with Australia's batting much stronger they could cause the same havoc to England's bowlers as well, with Hoggard looking a bit out of sorts, Harmison a bit up & down , Panesar likely to be targeted & Flintoff just getting back into the thick of things.

I reckon England will go for 5-bowlers with the Flintoff factor, but if that happesn England tail suddenly becomes very long with Panesar likely to start even if Gilo recovers or not & with the fast-bowlers not likel to last that long even though they can bat, also one of Collingwood/Bell will have to be dropped infortunately. I am not convinced with Mahmood just yet, if Anderson recovers well enough it will do England well. Whoever captains in Freddie or Strauss wont make too much of difference really. So at this stage i guess England may go:

Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
KP
Collingwood/Bell
Flintoff
Read
Hoggard
Harmison
Anderson
Panesar/Giles

 

[Barney Rubble]

Collingwood/Bell

In what way is there any debate left? Bell is clearly the man in possession.

 

[Laurrz]

In what way is there any debate left? Bell is clearly the man in possession.

i wouldn't say that, infact i think Collingwood may start and Bell won't play.. Collingwood is a good player against spin too and he has been in the side longer than Bell so he would deserve to be in the ashes taem

 

[Barney Rubble]

i wouldn't say that, infact i think Collingwood may start and Bell won't play.. Collingwood is a good player against spin too and he has been in the side longer than Bell so he would deserve to be in the ashes taem

Three hundreds in three Tests is undroppable form. Also, having been in the team longer has no bearing on whether he should still be in it!

 

[Laurrz]

well, to be fair his 3 hundreds were against a very depleted bowling attack... Collingwood had done well in Pakistan and India so i think he deserves it more... but thats just me

 

[aussie]

In what way is there any debate left? Bell is clearly the man in possession.

i don't think he has it nailed down by any means. He may have scored 3 consective centuries, which is a great performance but it must be said it was againts a Pakistan bowling attack that really only had one bowler who looked threatening up until the 4th test which was Gul. He has improved his game againts the fast men to a degree since the ashes, during the 3 test that i saw (missed the Old trafford test) he isn't flirting outside off-stump like before, but his play againts leg-spin is still a bit suspect to me, throghout the series he has come in @ number 6 when England are 200 to 300 plus for 4 & has had it easy againts some stuggling fast men & Kaneria who didn't get to attack England when they were under-pressure, at the Oval that was the case & his dismissal just brought back memmories of the ashes vs Warne.

Collingwood on the other hand has had it the hard way, fought his way into the side with his innings in Lahore last winter againts some though bowling & has continued it ever since in India & at home this summer. Plus his fielding & medim-pacers are great utilities to his game. Its not often a bloke score 3 centuries in a series & gets dropped but in this case if i had to choice i'd start Collingwood ahead of Bell in Brisbane if England presumably go for just 5 batsmen.

 

[Salamuddin]

I think this is the X1 that should walk out for England at teh Gabba

Strauss (c)
Trecothick
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
Reid
Hoggard
Harmison
Jones/Mahmood (whoever's fit and in form)
Panesar

For the first test, I'd play conservative and leave Cook out....but of course this is gonna be dependent on the warm up games....if Cook is in great form in those, he 'll probably have to play.
One thing I'm sure of, England can't be defensive - they have to play 4 bowlers + Flintoff beacuse tha's what works for them the best.

 

[aussie]

Jones/Mahmood (whoever's fit and in form).

Dont forget Anderson..

 

[marc71178]

For the first test, I'd play conservative and leave Cook out.

Based on what?!

 

[BoyBrumby]

From left-field, I reckon if young Broad shows some form in the ODIs v Pakistan (or whoever! ) he might just be a chance for that difficult-to-fill no.8 slot. Looks to have a rock-solid temperament & has hopefully inherited some of his old man's batting genes too.

 

[Barney Rubble]

From left-field, I reckon if young Broad shows some form in the ODIs v Pakistan (or whoever! ) he might just be a chance for that difficult-to-fill no.8 slot. Looks to have a rock-solid temperament & has hopefully inherited some of his old man's batting genes too.

Not sure even Big Dunc would take a gamble that big. Making your debut in an Ashes Test at Brisbane? Tough ask.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Based on what?!

His inability to pick quality wristspin?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

From left-field, I reckon if young Broad shows some form in the ODIs v Pakistan (or whoever! ) he might just be a chance for that difficult-to-fill no.8 slot. Looks to have a rock-solid temperament & has hopefully inherited some of his old man's batting genes too.

I'll go bold and say that Stuart Broad is not the answer to England's bowling department problems. And further more, he probably won't be the answer for another 3-4 years, if at all.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I'll go bold and say that Stuart Broad is not the answer to England's bowling department problems. And further more, he probably won't be the answer for another 3-4 years, if at all.

I've only seen him twice (well, three times if you count the 20/20 semi & final as seperate occasions), but in those finals he really impressed me. The best bowler on show, by a distance too. He might look like he should be delivering newspapers still, but he wasn't afraid to give the batters the eye either. I like a bit of devil in my fast bowlers.

We'll see how he goes, but I'd have him over Plunkers or Saj just now.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I've only seen him twice (well, three times if you count the 20/20 semi & final as seperate occasions), but in those finals he really impressed me. The best bowler on show, by a distance too. He might look like he should be delivering newspapers still, but he wasn't afraid to give the batters the eye either. I like a bit of devil in my fast bowlers.

We'll see how he goes, but I'd have him over Plunkers or Saj just now.

I'd have half of England - batsmen, wicketkeepers, bowlers, footballers, paperboys, Kate Moss - over Plunkett and Mahmood atm.

Broad may look impressive in terms of action and composure and whatnot, but he hasn't done much worthwhile in terms of results at domestic level. That's telling, for mine. Look at Adam Sanford - beautiful action, but substandard international bowler.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I'd have half of England - batsmen, wicketkeepers, bowlers, footballers, paperboys, Kate Moss - over Plunkett and Mahmood atm.

Broad may look impressive in terms of action and composure and whatnot, but he hasn't done much worthwhile in terms of results at domestic level. That's telling, for mine. Look at Adam Sanford - beautiful action, but substandard international bowler.

Yeah, fair enough. Big Dunc does have a fairly decent record of seeing past the domestic figures & going by what he sees in a player tho: Tres, Vaughan, Simon Jones & even Freddie himself all have/had fairly ordinary domestic records.

Hope this is one of those.

 

[marc71178]

His inability to pick quality wristspin?

In that case, which of England's middle order will be picked then?!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

In that case, which of England's middle order will be picked then?!

In fairness, Cook is probably the worst of the lot and he'd probably admit it too.

 

[James]

I agree with Aussie's lineup, that's four front-line bowlers with Collingwood able to throw in the odd over here and there, much like Nathan Astle and Scott Styris does for us kiwis.

Lengthing the tail for the inclusion of Anderson/Mahmood/Broad just isn't worth it I wouldn't have thought, especially as Bell and Collingwood have done pretty well with the bat recently.

Trescothick
Strauss
Cook
KP
Collingwood
Bell
Flintoff
Read
Hoggard
Harmison
Panesar

 

[marc71178]

I agree with Aussie's lineup, that's four front-line bowlers with Collingwood able to throw in the odd over here and there, much like Nathan Astle and Scott Styris does for us kiwis.

Difference being that Astle and especially Styris actually look threatening when they bowl.

Collingwood is the "partnership breaker" who doesn't take wickets.