***Official*** India in England 2014

[King Pietersen]

If we're falsifying any records at the minute, surely it should be the best spinner in the Country this year? This guy. Absolutely ridiculous that we can't pick him. Sort it out Downton.

Tres +
Robson
Ballance
KP *
Bell
Root
Moeen
Broad
Plunkett
Ajmal
Anderson

If this isn't the team picked, I'm going to be hugely disappointed.

 

[Viscount Tom]

They're obviously trying to get in touch with Sidebottom to persuade him to unretire. Only his hair is capable of outdoing Sharmas.

 

[Dan]

England recruiting Jeets as we speak.

grecian completely on the money with the Will Gidman call though. Forget the imports, get Gidman in there for Stokes.

 

[cover drive man]

I wonder how much Michael Vaughan's harsh words are to do with getting his name in the papers and propping up his commentary career...

 

[wpdavid]

"I have seen fewer hookers in Soho on a Saturday night."

Is Bob Willis the greatest man ever to have lived?

I would imagine there's more than one version of this doing the rounds aka 'least convincing hooker since Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman', etc, etc.

Reminds me of a few years ago in Pakistan when 4 or 5 of them got out to ill-judged sweep shots, and the comment was 'least convincing sweeps since Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins'.

 

[Prince EWS]

England recruiting Jeets as we speak.

grecian completely on the money with the Will Gidman call though. Forget the imports, get Gidman in there for Stokes.

We joke about Gidman but he probably would've cleaned up at Lords on Day 1.

 

[wpdavid]

We joke about Gidman but he probably would've cleaned up at Lords on Day 1.

Which raises the question what sort of pitch will be expect at Southampton?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Swann just said in an interview that one of the main reasons England are losing is because of the lack of grass on the pitches.

I can't even... I thought Swann was supposed to be a smart guy

 

[G.I.Joe]

Must have been misquoted. Pretty sure he meant a lack of "class on the bitches".

 

[Viscount Tom]

Nick Hoult @NHoultCricket · 4m
Sounds like only change is Buttler for Prior.



Sorry to all thee who wanted yet more non-Ravi Essex boys in the team.

 

[Raffski]

Because Essex have been in division two forever despite always being tipped for promotion. I don't know if he is a good captain or not but his record is poor.

Essex struggle mostly because the batting lineup is weak, not due to Foster's captaincy IMO- from what little i've seen of it he tends to be very proactive, if sometimes a little unnecessarily.
The fact that Foster as captain is even a semi serious option however just shows how dire the situation is.

 

[grecian]

Meh.....

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Absolute joke.

Come on India.

 

[dermo]

at least when australia was **** we were debuting ****s all over the place so it always gave you some hope

 

[harsh.ag]

Tbh, England may have won the test with better catching.

 

[grecian]

at least when australia was **** we were debuting ****s all over the place so it always gave you some hope

Which is kind of what we've done this year isn't it? Ali, Jordan, Robson, Ballance, now Jos, a fair few.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Problem is its the ****s who are doing all the work.

 

[honestbharani]

Fair enough on the post dropping behaviour. But I do feel that it was at least somewhat justified given the, IMO, clear double standards on how long a player was allowed to go through a rut before the cutting of the throat. There was obviously something more to it and the obvious things to think of are batting style or personality. Given the subsequent way Root batted in the Ashes series that followed, I'm more inclined to think that it may have been the latter.

If he was actually dropped because a coterie of senior players didn't like how he was more than his actual performances, then there is more than enough reason to spit the dummy coz this lot ain't gonna change their mind and he might play for England again if he is doing well and a different regime is ushered in...

 

[GIMH]

Absolute joke.

Come on India.

Buttler, or the fact he's the only squad change?

We could see Woakes for Stokes, or Kerrigan come in or whatever so wouldn't assume that will be the only actual change.

 

[grecian]

If he was actually dropped because a coterie of senior players didn't like how he was more than his actual performances, then there is more than enough reason to spit the dummy coz this lot ain't gonna change their mind and he might play for England again if he is doing well and a different regime is ushered in...

I presume you are talking about KP. The doing well thing is going to be hard, as he's not playing any proper cricket all year is he? Hence this all being tired rhetoric. The fact is there's definitely a reasonable case to be made that he was unjustifiably a scapegoat. The case for him being recalled now seems as strong as Piers Morgan's sense of humility.