Well when you put it like that.Look, with all due respect, **** off. .
But I would still rather have Geraint Jones in my team
I would have thought Boucher would be a better keeper too.Mark Boucher > Geraint Jones any day in my opinion. Better batting, and fairly equal keeping. I would much prefer Boucher coming in at number 7 if we collapsed to 5/100, where Jones would just crumble. I am looking forward to seeing him get selected for the 2009 Ashes (if he does, that is) and come in a massive pressure situation. He will more than likely fail.
Yet its not Australia's. Yeah sure they wanted to win the Ashes back bad, but they happened to do their best to win every series beforehand. They didn't take SA easily, and when they were playing SA that was all that was mentioned.The fact is that most England fans care more about the Ashes than anything else (I wouldn't be all that unhappy with mediocrity against all comers provided England won the Ashes). For this to be England's priority seems to me to be completely rational.
In the current line up though, even if the keeper isn't much of a batsman if he's at number 8 behind Flintoff an average of 20-25 is fine.No. You can't ignore batting (in)ability. A keeper needs to score some runs to be worthy of his place. That's why Alan Knott > Bob Taylor. Taylor was the better keeper, but Knott the more valuable player overall.
Done more than Collingwood ever did for the Ashes.Hope his surgeon gets a gong too
The Knott/Taylor debate isn't particularly relevant to the current situation. Whichever player personal opinion puts as the better, no cricket writer will dispute that they were both keepers of the highest possible class. Currently they're just juggling a number of totally inadequate keepers who they hope will score runs.I sense a fruitless debate on the Knott/Taylor front. To be honest they were both a bit before my time and even if I'd been around I wouldn't be well-qualified to make any meaningful assessment of their respective keeping skills.
But certainly most cricket writers that I've read would subscribe to the view I expressed above.
Big fan of the poster. The cricketer, not so much.
They draw the short straw.How does anyone end up with Geraint as a hero anyway?
I'm sure I have said plenty of times on CW that Geraint isn't actually my hero and nor was he back thenHow does anyone end up with Geraint as a hero anyway?
I'm sure I have said plenty of times on CW that Geraint isn't actually my hero and nor was he back then
Ambrose isn't totally inadaquete nor an embarrasment to the position. He may not be Alan Knott or Bob Taylor but he's perfectly acceptable. If he'd scored more runs no-one would ask any questions about his place in the team.I don't agree that Taylor was a better keeper than Knott, but even if you take that point of view it's marginal and both are all time greats on their on keeping alone. This present bunch are nowhere near good enough with bat or gloves, in fact they're an embarrassment to the position.
Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but I just stuck that username in for a laugh. Never really expected to stick around and post tbh, that worked out wellYou probably have but I missed it. Interesting choice for a random user name though.