***Official** West Indies in England***

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I rahter have Mahmood in the team than Harmison, Anderson and Plunkett.

Harmison has his demons to sort out, but Anderson is so far superior a bowler to Plunkett and Mahmood, it's hardly worth talking about. I didn't think any realistically rated Mahmood as anything other than a very poor bowler with a bit of potential.

 

[gettingbetter]

He, in my opinion can potentially be one of England's most deadliest.

Other than Panesar, I can't see England have any real wicket-takers. No disrespect to Hoggie, he is easily Engalnd's best bowler, but in true terms of wicket taking ability, Mahmood is the guy you have to pick.

In saying that though, give him 5-10 tests (I guess that's the summer) and if he doesn't perform, its time to try a new breed (that will take him up to approx 15-20 tests, and I believe that's a suitable amount to establish yourself at that level).

 

[marc71178]

If they go with 6 batsmen I for one would like to see Read in at 8.

As a former keeper, I wonder what Moores' impact on that selection debate will be...

 

[simmy]

I can't wait for the first test match now and announcement on what the squad will be.

I reckon we could be in for some controversary.

 

[Richard]

Dicko, I thought it was your custom not to post in official threads.

My only custom is about threads that move too fast. *Official* threads are not an issue at all.

 

[Richard]

* Luckily the Aussies know the difference between Tests and ODIs.

Fuller might dispute that to an extent...

 

[Richard]

I simply can not believe how many people here are picking Read as wicketkeeper! Is it not obvious enough now that he's not Test class or remotely close to 't with the bat?

James Foster is such a ridiculously obvious choice.

I'm also astounded at the Lewis generalisations. Sure, the man's more worthy of a place than Mahmood et al, but the amount of "Lord's + May = swing-bowler's paradise" amazes me. We've seen it a fair few times now, and it's been very much 50\50. I'm also surprised how few people seem to have noticed that Lewis bowled absolutely terribly, barely swinging a single delivery, in his only Test to date. Why that should be is not something I could tell you, as Hoggard swing it around corners at the same time, but consistency has never been Lewis' middle-name. To me he seems just a little overrated on this board.

I honestly can't see him making much of a success in Test cricket, even if he's almost certainly a better bet than Plunkett.

 

[FBU]

Team for the 1st Test -
Firstly I would give Flintoff 6 months off.
Keep Trescothick for ODIs until he feels able to take on longer tours
Vaughan has been out of the game too long just to walk back in. Maybe play county cricket until the next series later on in the summer. It will also motivate the batsmen knowing he is coming back and we saw what happened last time there was the possibility of one of the batsmen dropping out - Collingwood, Cook and Bell were making 100s by the hatful.

1 Strauss (c)
2 Cook
3 Pietersen
4 Bell
5 Joyce
6 Collingwood
7 Read (maybe without the black cloud of Fletcher and given a run he can prosper) - If not Read Foster would be the next best.
8 Plunkett (needs to become like Franklin of NZ and start making 50s and more)
9 Harmison
10 Panesar
11 Hoggard

 

[Prince EWS]

Fuller might dispute that to an extent...

I certainly would, given Andrew Symonds repeated selection in the test side.

 

[honestbharani]

Windies have nothing to lose going into this series. I guess they might like that feeling of no pressure and do really well in this series, esp. because majority in this side didn't seem to have much respect for Lara and I guess with him gone, it might help the side unite or something, esp. if they drop the other few Lara supporters from the side.

 

[Scaly piscine]

He, in my opinion can potentially be one of England's most deadliest.

Other than Panesar, I can't see England have any real wicket-takers. No disrespect to Hoggie, he is easily Engalnd's best bowler, but in true terms of wicket taking ability, Mahmood is the guy you have to pick.

In saying that though, give him 5-10 tests (I guess that's the summer) and if he doesn't perform, its time to try a new breed (that will take him up to approx 15-20 tests, and I believe that's a suitable amount to establish yourself at that level).

Panesar is a wicket taker?!?!?!?!?!?

Never in a million years is he more of a wicket-taker than ANY seam bowler that England might care to pick. If he's lucky West Indies might be abject enough to hand him a few wickets like what happened when they faced Giles.

 

[gettingbetter]

Are you serious?

With the form of the England bowlers, they are looking similar to the Soith African bowling attack - 'brand' names, but they lack penetration. Also, add to the matter that they are all bowlers who bowl right-arm 130-140, it looks really bleak.

That in itself makes Monty more of wicket-taking threat than the other bowlers.

 

[wpdavid]

If they go with 6 batsmen I for one would like to see Read in at 8.

As a former keeper, I wonder what Moores' impact on that selection debate will be...

The only problem with Read at 8 is we're relying on Flintoff staying fit for the forseeable future, which is hardly a given. Whichever keeper we play at 8 in the six-batsmen-then-Flintoff lineup must, imo, be able to bat at 7 if needed. Which means we're probably looking at Foster, Prior or Pothas.

 

[wpdavid]

Panesar is a wicket taker?!?!?!?!?!?

Never in a million years is he more of a wicket-taker than ANY seam bowler that England might care to pick. If he's lucky West Indies might be abject enough to hand him a few wickets like what happened when they faced Giles.

IIRC Panesar did take more wickets in our home tests than any other England bowler last summer. Admittedly he was one of the few to play in all 7 tests, but even so. And obviously we're talking tests, not odi's here.

 

[Prince EWS]

Are you serious?

With the form of the England bowlers, they are looking similar to the Soith African bowling attack - 'brand' names, but they lack penetration. Also, add to the matter that they are all bowlers who bowl right-arm 130-140, it looks really bleak.

That in itself makes Monty more of wicket-taking threat than the other bowlers.

Haha, dire comment. South African bowlers may struggle a tad on slow, flat wickets in one day cricket, but on a decent test wicket, they have a very good attack.

 

[gettingbetter]

but on a decent test wicket, they have a very good attack.

As would most teams right?

 

[Prince EWS]

As would most teams right?

Well, no. Not as good as South Africa anyway.

 

[simmy]

Hopefully Simon Jones will return and give us a decent "balanced" attack which carried us between 2003-05. (With Harmison replaced with someone that bowls the ball on the square, preferably Broad or Anderson)

I think Hoggard will pick up a lot of wickets, with the ball likely to swing in early May and the Windies hardly accustomed to playing it.

 

[pup11]

I don't think English team would be tested at all against West Indies and India in the test series this summer because i don't think both these teams play too well in English conditions.


So i would probably back the same English team that played in the recent Ashes series to do the job for England, though i would like to see Tresco and S.Jones back in the English side.

 

[simmy]

Yeah I agree with Pup. I will be surprised if we lost more than one test all summer.