Who to replace Kevin Pietersen

[Goughy]

Ah, I misread the vote. I assumed we were talking about Benham not Benning.

My mistake.

TBH, Ive not seen Benning play either. Though looking at his record it is far superior to Bosman's but I cant comment on him as a player.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

The worst decision would be to callup Cook. A player of limited OD ability.

I know a lot of people dont like to look at Domestic OD stats but Cook has a poor OD record. No 100s and an average under 30.

.

You didn't actually check how many matches he's played?

25.

That's quite a low amount of matches to determine domestic OD quality in.

His scores in OD cricket since the 2005 season began: 29, 28, 21, 62, 94, 46*, 11, 91*, 39, 41. That's 462 runs @ 57.75. Of course that's few matches as well, but what's weighing down on Cook is a lot of failures in very unfamiliar conditions in Sri Lanka when aged 20 and for Essex aged 19 (no batsman except maybe SRT was mature at that age)

For comparison, Mal Loye's batting average after 49 games (a figure chosen, admittedly, to show his lowest average) was 28.87.

 

[Goughy]

You didn't actually check how many matches he's played?

Of course I did. Hence the point I mentioned about not calling him up until he has proved this aspect of the game. He may or may not do that. However, he has not shown anything to be promoted to the ODI team yet.

Other guys may have a bad average over a selected period of time but

a) Its not their whole career

b) They have shown at some point that they are capable of playing big innings and scoring consistently.

I have a strong philosophy, unless exceptional circumstances and talent, dont pick 'em until they have proven themselves.

A national position must be earned not given away in a guessing game competetion.

 

[TT Boy]

Ah, I misread the vote. I assumed we were talking about Benham not Benning.

My mistake.

TBH, Ive not seen Benning play either. Though looking at his record it is far superior to Bosman's but I cant comment on him as a player.

TBF to Loots, he would probably kill it at The Oval, Rikki Clarke does...

 

[age_master]

I agree with most and think that Cook would be a bad idea, he did OK in the tests but really didn't score particlularly quickly. Aside from that England already have enough people trying to work the ball, they need someone like Pietersen who can clear the boundaries.

 

[Tim]

I reckon it'll be Mal Loye. He's playing for Auckland in the domestic comp here so he's already been playing quite a bit of OD cricket. Although he has been injured through a number of games.

 

[TT Boy]

Not seen much of Ed Joyce, never lasts too long but I wouldn’t mind seeing him getting a go, at least before someone else comes in. The guy has a pretty impressive record in both forms of the game and at least give him a few games (on a consistent basis) to show his worth. How many games did Matt Prior get? And lets not forget that we couldn't win a game with KP in the side, so bringing a man who can a hit a couple of sixes is not going to improve anything in the long run, Joyce might. Stick Strauss at four.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Of course I did.

Sorry. That was a condescending remark by me.

Other guys may have a bad average over a selected period of time but

a) Its not their whole career

b) They have shown at some point that they are capable of playing big innings and scoring consistently.

I have a strong philosophy, unless exceptional circumstances and talent, dont pick 'em until they have proven themselves.

A national position must be earned not given away in a guessing game competetion.

Can England afford to pick OK domestic performers at this time though? They've done that with Nixon, look how well he batted. Domestic veterans who get picked at the age of 30 rarely do anything in international cricket (except Aussie domestic veterans, but that's because the depth is so strong. The English cricket pool, by comparison, is spread as thin as a layer of oil.)

IMO Cook won't get the chance to prove his OD credentials, because he's too preoccupied with playing the Test team, and Essex aren't playing him because it may disrupt team spirit (or because they believe he's not good enough). Yes, I realise this is a game of hypothesis, but if Cook had played OD cricket for Essex instead of impressing in international cricket he might have averaged more (as his record over the past two seasons show). Loye hasn't - and not playing international cricket is somehow an advantage for him?

 

[Salamuddin]

Been lokking forward to seeing Ed Joyce play.......

I hope England pick both Mal Loye and Rikki Clarke as cover tho

 

[adharcric]

Solanki. Rajasthan doesn't want him anymore ...

 

[open365]

Mal Loye, though being brutally honest i think England have missed their chance to get the best out of him, he should have been in the team last summer and for the champions trophy when he was playing domestic cricket and in touch.

I wouldn't mind Cook being picked, but i think that in the short term at least we need a player to replace KP, not just another space in the side.

 

[chaminda_00]

England should pick Stuart Law, i can't see Mal Loye doing much at international level. Fair enough you want an explosive batsmen, but what is the point of one that isn't going to average over 30, his not going to make the most of the power plays in the stands.

Really with KP out Ed Joyce will come in anyway and Flintoff will bat further up the order, so who ever gets picked will just be a back up player. With that in mind you might as well give a younger player a go in the squad.

 

[grecian]

Does anyone know what Law is doing this winter? Playing any cricket in the southern hemisphere perchance.

 

[social]

I get your point but I just disagree that a strokemaker is what is needed necessarily. You need whoever can score runs consistently, defensively and otherwise. And if you already think Cook is going to be a long term ODI player, and he is already established in the Test side, then give him a shot in ODIs. He may suprise you sooner rather than later.

Frankly, the English ODI side cannot get much worse, and you need to just find six best batsmen, period. Strokemakers are way overrated in all forms of cricket, and IMO while nice to have, they shouldn't play if there are better cricketers available.

It's almost like someone giving me the opportunity to remove all strokemakers in favor of consistent defensively oriented batsmen (say Sehwag, Ganguly, et all for a bunch of Dravid's). I don't know who would consider that a bad tradeoff. Yea, we may not score 400 in a match, but I bet because of the consistency, we'd still have the best batting in the world.

If that batsman is not Cook, then fair enough. I don't know as much about county cricket as some, so I'll defer to your judgement on that. But to say you necessarily need a stroke maker is not right IMO.

Agreed plus how the fwark is Cook supposed to learn if he isnt given any experience?

Please dont say the county circuit because that's the equivalent of Tassie grade comp

 

[TT Boy]

Does anyone know what Law is doing this winter? Playing any cricket in the southern hemisphere perchance.

His doing the Ashes highlights on Sky, with Charlie boy and Nick Verity Knight.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Whilst I agree that it's about picking the best players in the circumstances, I don't think there's any sense in us doing that while the players around clearly aren't very good. We need to find some players who are going to be able to provide something different to our ODI lineup in years to come, and to that end I've gone for Benning ahead of Loye.

I'd play Benning at the top of the order with Vaughan, taking the pressure off the captain and allowing him to play at his own rate rather than have to force the pace, and I'd move Strauss down to 3 or 4, where it's been fairly obvious for a long time that he's more comfortable in ODIs.

Benning has the priceless ability to hit the ball hard, cleanly, and a long, long way - something we lack dearly when KP isn't around. He's the right side of 30, and the bottom line is that we have got to stop picking players who are past the developmental stage of their careers in the vain hope that they will come good eventually, particularly in ODI cricket.

That means no more Rikki, no more Shah, no more Blackwell, no more Key, and definitely no more Vikram Solanki.

Which means it'll be Solanki on the plane tomorrow.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Domestic veterans who get picked at the age of 30 rarely do anything in international cricket (except Aussie domestic veterans, but that's because the depth is so strong.

...or unless your name is Vasbert.

The man averaged <25 after 30.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Benning has the priceless ability to hit the ball hard, cleanly, and a long, long way - something we lack dearly when KP isn't around. He's the right side of 30, and the bottom line is that we have got to stop picking players who are past the developmental stage of their careers in the vain hope that they will come good eventually, particularly in ODI cricket.

Dwayne Smith also has the ability to hit the ball hard, cleanly and a long, long way. Sadly for Benning, he plays a fair few Dwayne Smith shots to get himself out. I don't think he's ready for the big stage, and certainly not ready to face Australia.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Dwayne Smith also has the ability to hit the ball hard, cleanly and a long, long way. Sadly for Benning, he plays a fair few Dwayne Smith shots to get himself out. I don't think he's ready for the big stage, and certainly not ready to face Australia.

That could well be right, but the time has come now where we have to stop only picking players we think are ready, because there simply aren't enough of them left with any talent. Dwayne Smith had to at least be given a chance before people knew he wasn't good enough - Benning might not last too long in the international arena, but the potential good outweighs the bad when it comes to picking him IMO. If we pick him over Solanki and he fails, we've barely done much worse than we would have done with Solanki - if he succeeds, we've got ourselves a handy player.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

...or unless your name is Vasbert.

The man averaged <25 after 30.

...or unless you have the fortune to bowl at the Canadian tail or get the new ball against Bangladesh in murk.