*Official* England in West Indies

[GIMH]

Flintoff in for Harmison

 

[luckyeddie]

Flintoff in for Harmison

The 'logic' behind the England selection is utterly baffling. Play Harmison on flat, slow pitches, drop him when there's likely to be a bit of bounce.

 

[TT Boy]

Cricinfo - "The heavens have opened and the scene is utterly Brummy. This is Birmingham, not Bridgetown - the clouds grey, the rain wet. You know the story. It's stop-start but it's been pre-tty, pre-tty, pre-tty heavy as Larry David might say."



Seems like perfect conditions to ditch Batty as well. A chance missed.

 

[luckyeddie]

Havent the WI got other more pressing problems to worry about?

They deserved every last jibe. Take it like men ffs.

Sometimes, a smokescreen arrives just when you need it.

 

[TT Boy]

The 'logic' behind the England selection is utterly baffling. Play Harmison on flat, slow pitches, drop him when there's likely to be a bit of bounce.

Scaly?

 

[GIMH]

The 'logic' behind the England selection is utterly baffling. Play Harmison on flat, slow pitches, drop him when there's likely to be a bit of bounce.

I think Harmison is just the easy scapegoat whenever we lose a match lately. People lose sight of it because he's Durham's favourite son, but I think Scaly has a valid point about the way Harmison gets treated of late (though I don't think it's anything to do with a north-south divide, althoguh it is quite annoying when people try and pretend that such a thing doesn't exist in England).

 

[TT Boy]

I think Harmison is just the easy scapegoat whenever we lose a match lately. People lose sight of it because he's Durham's favourite son, but I think Scaly has a valid point about the way Harmison gets treated of late (though I don't think it's anything to do with a north-south divide, althoguh it is quite annoying when people try and pretend that such a thing doesn't exist in England).

More annoying when people overstate it IMO.

 

[luckyeddie]

Scaly?

Heh.

I find that when it comes to Harmison, I agree with Scaly more often than not, and always have done. He has one purpose in life, and that is to be a strike bowler. Bounce is pretty well his only weapon. As far as I'm concerned, you either play him when it suits his style or you don't play him at all - ever.

I like strike bowlers, always have done. Snow, Ward, Willis, Malcolm, Harmison - but you ought to give them the deck that suits. Harmison lacks the heart of the others though, so there might be other things going on behind the scenes. Perhaps he whinges too much.

 

[Uppercut]

Heh.

I find that when it comes to Harmison, I agree with Scaly more often than not, and always have done. He has one purpose in life, and that is to be a strike bowler. Bounce is pretty well his only weapon. As far as I'm concerned, you either play him when it suits his style or you don't play him at all - ever.

I like strike bowlers, always have done. Snow, Ward, Willis, Malcolm, Harmison - but you ought to give them the deck that suits. Harmison lacks the heart of the others though, so there might be other things going on behind the scenes. Perhaps he whinges too much.

The problem with only picking him on surfaces that suit is, 50% of pitches are predicted to have a bit of extra bounce for Harmy to exploit and only about 10% of pitches actually do.

 

[GIMH]

More annoying when people overstate it IMO.

I agree actually - it is mainly a media thing, and not surprising as the media are all absed in the south. I don't think it ever really has too much impact on selection.

 

[Goughy]

I think Harmison is just the easy scapegoat whenever we lose a match lately. People lose sight of it because he's Durham's favourite son, but I think Scaly has a valid point about the way Harmison gets treated of late (though I don't think it's anything to do with a north-south divide, althoguh it is quite annoying when people try and pretend that such a thing doesn't exist in England).

Someone needs to make a final decision about this guy one way or the other. He plays one match, then is dropped and then plays again and is dropped again etc.

Again, as always, there is no consistency of selection.

 

[GIMH]

Yep, spot on. He's hardly going to find any rhythm if he is in and out

 

[Burpmybelly]

Yep, spot on. He's hardly going to find any rhythm if he is in and out

England has to start looking beyond Andrew Flintoff and Harmison. Too much baggage of the past. Flintoff's performances since the Ashes 2005 have not been anywhere near World Class, and yet he is persisted with.

Drop Owaste Shah and bring in Ian Bell.

 

[duffer]

*waves at Precambrian*

 

[TT Boy]

*waves at Precambrian*

So obvious and sad.

Why not try his luck at Planetcricket?

 

[TT Boy]

Looks like we will have some play in the next 5 minutes and it is now a 45 over game.

 

[Scaly piscine]

I agree actually - it is mainly a media thing, and not surprising as the media are all absed in the south. I don't think it ever really has too much impact on selection.

It won't have much impact if you have guys with the necessary character like Duncan Fletcher involved, but how often has England had proper strong, stubborn individuals like him picking the side?

With the selectors now they don't seem to have any character, conviction, consistency or pretty much anything useful.

 

[luckyeddie]

This actually looks a very good, hard, track, which leaves me even more baffled.

I can't think of anything else constructive to say myself, so here's a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head. I understand that it's being put forward as the new chairman of selectors.

 

[roseboy64]

Well of course it must have been bad eyesight ie something that couldn't be helped, it couldn't possibly be anyone in the WI camp's fault!!

Honestly Xav, I don't know when you're more one-eyed, when it's following the West Indies or Manchester United. And bearing in mind that this is coming from ME...

Did you miss the point of my statement? Guess you did. It was nothing to do with math. There were no calculations to be made. Dyson was just looking in the wrong column............Not sure what you're on about anyway. Have criticised the WI plenty.

 

[TT Boy]

Some nice pace and carry in the wicket. Ravi nearly done shoulder before wicket.