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***Official*** South Africa in England

Should Freddy be included in team for the second Test?


  • Total voters
    44

tooextracool

International Coach
IMO, though, if you're going to pick someone on potential, it's best to pick a player who can be erratic at times but who still poses a genuine threat- think early Dale Steyn. Broad sometimes keeps it fairly tight, but i have not seen one unplayable delivery from him. That's not the type of player who should be picked speculatively.
Accuracy is one of the hardest things to teach a bowler. Bowlers have gone through entire careers being unable to bowl accurately enough for a consistent period of time. IMO learning how to swing the ball is often a far easier skill and requires much less work in practice to produce and we've seen bowlers like Flintoff and Simon Jones learn the trade fairly quickly. There are of course some bowlers like Harmison who will probably never be able to swing the ball and it would probably jeopardise their natural bowling style anyways. Broad is not just accurate, he bowls at a fairly decent lick and from reports he has a fairly keen mind. Id much rather someone like Stuart Broad in the side than Plunkett or Mahmood.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
If I'd picked the Test team for tomorrow, this is what I'd have picked:
Strauss
Cook
Shah
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Ambrose
Flintoff
Anderson
Sidebottom if he was fit
Panesar \ Hoggard
The prospect of going in with 3 bowlers that are almost completely reliant upon conventional swing fills me with dread tbh. Personally, I dont see a place for Hoggard as long as Anderson and Sidebottom are in the same side unless the ball is bending around corners because they all pose the same threat. Hoggard is easily the best bowler out of all of them, but neither Sidebottom nor Anderson have a case for being dropped so I dont see that happening anytime soon.
 

Uppercut

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The prospect of going in with 3 bowlers that are almost completely reliant upon conventional swing fills me with dread tbh. Personally, I dont see a place for Hoggard as long as Anderson and Sidebottom are in the same side unless the ball is bending around corners because they all pose the same threat. Hoggard is easily the best bowler out of all of them, but neither Sidebottom nor Anderson have a case for being dropped so I dont see that happening anytime soon.
Well Sidebottom's not fit it seems, so Hoggard should have replaced him instead of Harmison.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
The prospect of going in with 3 bowlers that are almost completely reliant upon conventional swing fills me with dread tbh. Personally, I dont see a place for Hoggard as long as Anderson and Sidebottom are in the same side unless the ball is bending around corners because they all pose the same threat. Hoggard is easily the best bowler out of all of them, but neither Sidebottom nor Anderson have a case for being dropped so I dont see that happening anytime soon.
It doesn't fill me with massive confidence either TBH, but I don't see anyone doing better. Harmison? Never rated, as all know. Tremlett? Been poor this season and playing would be the last thing he needs. Broad? Already mentioned, not that good currently. There's probably a few others you could go through but I don't think any of them have the potential quality of Hoggard and Sidebottom or the current incontriveable place Anderson does.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
:laugh:

No bookies will give odds on that. Maybe they'll offer odds on which of the four slips catch it though.
Fourth slip... but off the bat. And not taken, but missed.

Rubbish ball, rubbish shot, rubbish fielding.

Smith's 3rd let-off of the series, will he make this count like he did the previous 2?

Just imagine if Kevin Pietersen's Test captaincy debut had been a wicket 1st ball?
 

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