***Official England in India***

[Richard]

Just heard Peter Moores being interviewed on the radio - when he was asked about Saj Mahmood he said he'd just had a good season for Lancashire

I'm seriously thinking about writing a Goughy-esque letter to the ECB calling for the resignation of the England selectors. It's one thing thinking you know better than the game itself; it's quite another being incapable of distinguishing bowling well from bowling poorly.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Did he say "good" or "good by Saj's standards"?

 

[fredfertang]

I am afraid the word "good" was not qualified in any way

 

[Richard]

I guess it's a case, for Moores, of choosing between "make sure that now Mahmood is picked, you back him" and "don't make stupid statements that anyone who knows the first thing about the game can tell are inaccurate".

TBH, I'd hope he'd take the latter, but perhaps it's none too surprising that he's opted for the former.

 

[Rant0r]

Because he was 33 when Alec Stewart retired and the hope was that someone who could be around for rather longer than he was ever likely to be would be a better replacement. It was only after all faith was lost in Read (and Jones' substandardness had become glaringly apparent) that he was given a go. It was only ever going to be a short-term role and it was one he performed admirably.

Even if he does, his batting isn't good enough for ODIs. Prior's mentor is Alec Stewart rather than Jack Russell, he was more Geraint Jones.

I'm yet to be convinced Prior's even the best batsman of the county wicketkeepers in the longer game either.

Ambrose is a perfectly decent wicketkeeper and IMO a potentially excellent batsman. Sadly he hasn't scored what he should be doing in his Tests so far.

Riki Wessels is a below-average county player, not even first-choice at his own team. Niall O'Brien is considerably better.

you reckon ireland will ever get test status while he is in his prime ? should have done a joyce perhaps

 

[FBU]

Just heard Peter Moores being interviewed on the radio - when he was asked about Saj Mahmood he said he'd just had a good season for Lancashire

Moores - Saj how did your season go?
Saj - really good, my best so far.
(35 wickets at 32.77

 

[Richard]

you reckon ireland will ever get test status while he is in his prime ? should have done a joyce perhaps

There's certainly plenty of wicketkeeper-batsmen I'd prefer not see playing for England than O'Brien, and if I had the choice between him and Prior (in either game-form, though the longer one is his stronger suit) I'd go for O'Brien every time.

Sadly, though, he doesn't seem to want to play for England and it's a bit late to make the choice now as he'd have to wait 3 years.

 

[Uppercut]

There's certainly plenty of wicketkeeper-batsmen I'd prefer not see playing for England than O'Brien, and if I had the choice between him and Prior (in either game-form, though the longer one is his stronger suit) I'd go for O'Brien every time.

Sadly, though, he doesn't seem to want to play for England and it's a bit late to make the choice now as he'd have to wait 3 years.

What a legend. Totally understandable if he did want to but fantastic of him to stick with Ireland.

Amjad Khan has been brought into the squad over Mahmood as a replacement for Sidebottom. Rashid is travelling with them too. Thoughts?

 

[Richard]

"Oh no, I thought we'd avoided that" on the Rashid front and on the Amjad Khan vs Saj front... well, with Khan I merely think it's very likely he's pretty much a no-hoper. Which is marginally preferable to Saj who I know beyond doubt is a no-hoper.

I'd still much prefer Alan Richardson though. And as I said earlier, it's come to quite something when I'm thinking "I wish Alan Richardson was playing for England".

As for Chris Tremlett, potentially a vastly superior bowler to any of the aforementioned, I don't know what to think. I'm certainly not sorry he's not going to India as I don't think he's bowled well recently and could see doing so doing him nothing but harm. On the other hand, it's worrying that so many utterly useless bowlers are preferred to him.

 

[Uppercut]

"Oh no, I thought we'd avoided that" on the Rashid front and on the Amjad Khan vs Saj front... well, with Khan I merely think it's very likely he's pretty much a no-hoper. Which is marginally preferable to Saj who I know beyond doubt is a no-hoper.

I'd still much prefer Alan Richardson though. And as I said earlier, it's come to quite something when I'm thinking "I wish Alan Richardson was playing for England".

As for Chris Tremlett, potentially a vastly superior bowler to any of the aforementioned, I don't know what to think. I'm certainly not sorry he's not going to India as I don't think he's bowled well recently and could see doing so doing him nothing but harm. On the other hand, it's worrying that so many utterly useless bowlers are preferred to him.

Tremlett's ship sailed with the Patterson incident i believe. Shame because i remember him bowling very well against India before.

My thoughts exactly on Amjad Khan

 

[pskov]

I too think it's a bit early for Rashid, but when you think about he took the second most wickets in the County Championship last season (James Tomlinson of Hampshire took the most), and as a spinner who can bat he could be a handy pick in Indian conditions. That said I would still be against him playing, I'm only saying that it's not an outrage if he does make his debut.

 

[Richard]

My thoughts on Rashid are along the lines of "I want to wait as long as it takes for there to be a convincing case he's Test-class before he plays".

I think the potential he has as an all-rounder is too valuable to risk being wasted by picking him at a time he's clearly still no more than "might be". I'm willing to take a small, possible, slight hit to the chances in this one two-Test series in order to improve the longer-term prospects. As it is, I still highly doubt he's as good as either Swann or MSP right now.

And as for his Championship form last season, well, it's out-and-out silly to say it was particularly good IMO. He did well in the last 4-5 games, after being very poor indeed for most of the season. A bit like Beau Casson in 2007/08, though Rashid did rather better when he did do well than Casson did.

 

[Uppercut]

My thoughts on Rashid are along the lines of "I want to wait as long as it takes for there to be a convincing case he's Test-class before he plays".

I think the potential he has as an all-rounder is too valuable to risk being wasted by picking him at a time he's clearly still no more than "might be". I'm willing to take a small, possible, slight hit to the chances in this one two-Test series in order to improve the longer-term prospects. As it is, I still highly doubt he's as good as either Swann or MSP right now.

And as for his Championship form last season, well, it's out-and-out silly to say it was particularly good IMO. He did well in the last 4-5 games, after being very poor indeed for most of the season. A bit like Beau Casson in 2007/08, though Rashid did rather better when he did do well than Casson did.

I don't think a two-test series in India will do him any harm, although given the security concerns i really shouldn't be saying that. It'll present a type of pitch he probably hasn't seen before, against the best players of spin around, but it won't be demoralising enough to ruin his prospects.

The only concern is that he bowls well and is retained for less spin-friendly pitches. But if he's going to replace Monty on such pitches then that's probably a good thing.

 

[Richard]

I don't know. To EVER take for granted that premature exposure will do little to no harm is dangerous. It depends on the player. For some it's a complete irrelevance; for some it does plenty of damage.

I don't think the length of the series is particularly massive either. If it was longer, he'd probably just be dropped at some point if his performance was especially poor.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't know. To EVER take for granted that premature exposure will do little to no harm is dangerous. It depends on the player. For some it's a complete irrelevance; for some it does plenty of damage.

I don't think the length of the series is particularly massive either. If it was longer, he'd probably just be dropped at some point if his performance was especially poor.

Don't know if you've read this before, but Martin Crowe had some interesting stuff to say on the subject.

 

[Woodster]

The selction of Adil Rashid will naturally provide great excitement. A potentially very handy legger and continually developing batsman, that is an exciting prospect. However, like Richard says, it's one to approach with caution. I personally would be happy for him to build a compelling case in County cricket, 'A' team tours, etc, before handing him a start in a Test match.

What he may bring to the England side in the future is of such importance that it is not worth risking any damage to his development. However, people in the know will be aware the kind of person Rashid is, whether he truly believes himself that he should be playing Test cricket and whether any negative performances will have a long-term effect.

Crucially for me, it comes down to whether his inclusion in Test cricket at this stage in his career is going to speed up his development, enhance his experience in a positive way, and importantly strengthen the England side. All things for the management to weigh up.

 

[Richard]

Don't know if you've read this before, but Martin Crowe had some interesting stuff to say on the subject.

I had seen some of that before, but I'd never read the bit in question. Yeah, that's very interesting:

How did you come out of that slump at the start of your career?

It was not a slump. The fact was that I should not have even been there. Just 18 first-class games and I'm in the team. How ridiculous is that? Eighteen first-class games against basically club cricketers, and then suddenly playing Lillee, Alderman and Thomson.

The Achilles heel of New Zealand cricket for over 17-18 years has been our selection. It's people with big egos trying to be the one that found the wonder boy, the next Sachin Tendulkar. Cairns, Parore, me, Rutherford, we were not mature enough. We just haven't grown up.

I've heard one or two of our Kiwi posters say this about John Bracewell before now. I'd never really given it much thought, but yeah, it would certainly explain why selectors repeatedly make such stuff-ups with young players who look pretty obviously going-to-be-Test-class-at-some-point and pick them too early. I guess the "I spotted the kid first" thing must be quite appealing.

 

[pskov]

I'm not sure it's that so much as 'this guy is clearly talented, he could be world class so let's get him in the team ASAP'. It's not much good as a coach saying you won't pick him for two seasons because you might be out of a job by then.

 

[TT Boy]

Pretty much a given Amjad Khan would get the call, his not English...

 

[Richard]

I'm not sure it's that so much as 'this guy is clearly talented, he could be world class so let's get him in the team ASAP'. It's not much good as a coach saying you won't pick him for two seasons because you might be out of a job by then.

As a coach, your responsibility to the team is not entirely restricted to your tenure.

Also, as a coach, your aim should always be to keep doing the job. A good coach can go on for as long as he wants. IMO it's something of a shame Duncan Fletcher didn't get to do such a thing.