England Wicket-Keeper Dilemma

Other than the big debate to have pietersen in Englands side for the ashes, another interesting dilemma is who should be the wicket-keeper?, Jones for me looks to be the best one but his keeping isn't that great and many are saying that he could make a big mistake behind the stumps for England which can cost us the ashes, but with the ECB appointing Jack Russel to assist geraint with his keeping ability, lets hope that helps the lad because i see him has the long term keeper for england. Undoubtebly Read is the best glovesman in the country but has we all know its his batting ability which cause him to be excluded from the england team, but he had a fair season with the bat for the notts scoring 807 runs in 13 matches at an average of 50 with two centuries but i dont know if the selectors will go for him, while Matt Prior has been doing well of late on the englad (a) tour of the sub-continent also had a good season all-round for sussex scoring over 1000 runs with an average in the mid 40's, and been selected in the MCC side to play warwickshire next month and if he does well, that will give dave graveney and his blokes something to thing about.

Matt Prior for me. He is a better keeper than Jones (about par with the bat) and better batsman than Read (obviously Read is the better keper) so is better allround. He is young so can be around for another 10-12 years. it is good to see that Read is getting runs because it seems Jones is being given absolutely no competition

I might just retire if I were Read and saw Prior picked ahead of Geraint Jones. I'd stop short of suicide, but I'd be seriously reconsidering my career goals.

aussie

Mr Mxyzptlk said:

I might just retire if I were Read and saw Prior picked ahead of Geraint Jones. I'd stop short of suicide, but I'd be seriously reconsidering my career goals.

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thats would be a good option for chris read cetainly, but if he seriously wants to play for england he wont or shouldn't even think like that, he should keep performing and hope the selectors someday look in his direction

aussie

i still believe that Jones is the best option, if Jack Russel can help him fine tune his keeping flaws i see him being England's first choice for years to come

aussie said:

thats would be a good option for chris read cetainly, but if he seriously wants to play for england he wont or shouldn't even think like that, he should keep performing and hope the selectors someday look in his direction

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Granted, but he'd still be feeling extremely "cruel life".

geraint jones is definetly running on borrowed time in ODIs. in tests id give him one more series, if he continue to be the complete numskull that we witnessed in SA, id drop him in a heartbeat. read should be ahead of every one else in ODIs, but unless hes made huge strides in terms of his technique he still isnt good enough to play test cricket.

Mr Mxyzptlk said:

Granted, but he'd still be feeling extremely "cruel life".

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if you're talkin about tests then no, he deserved to be dropped. he got 11 tests after which hes averaging 15, and that would be considerably lower if it werent for that series against b'desh.

tooextracool said:

if you're talkin about tests then no, he deserved to be dropped. he got 11 tests after which hes averaging 15, and that would be considerably lower if it werent for that series against b'desh.

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If you're picking Geraint Jones over him because of superior batting then fair enough, but if you decide to go with a superior gloveman instead and go with an uncapped third party, that's just cruel. Especially so when you've matched that person as far as runscoring goes over the last season.

aussie

tooextracool said:

geraint jones is definetly running on borrowed time in ODIs. in tests id give him one more series, if he continue to be the complete numskull that we witnessed in SA, id drop him in a heartbeat. read should be ahead of every one else in ODIs, but unless hes made huge strides in terms of his technique he still isnt good enough to play test cricket.

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come on tec, the way jones performed in south africa can be know way termed to be one of numskull proportions, he''s keeping was bad but he made a few vital contributions in the test while i know his one-day batting was that great, while i think he has a enough technique for test cricket, its not perfect but it got him a fair record so far at the highest level

Admittedly I don't get the chance to see much FC cricket, what with my having to work & it hardly ever getting a look in on telly, but Read averaged more than Jones or Prior with the bat last summer.

He'll always have an unconventional style (which partly makes him so effective as an OD player), but I still think he may get another chance in tests too. He's certainly the superior keeper of the 3.

That said I have visions of Geriant carving Bangladesh for some serious runs in quick time to further cement his place. Big Dunc is also an extremely loyal coach; to the point of distraction sometimes, witness his persistence with Jones opening in ODIs. I don't really think anyone else can see much merit in it.

Geraint Jones needs to open his mouth and try his best to stop the "Geraint is a great opening option in ODIs" syndrome. He's far more useful down the order. Let Bell open.

Mr Mxyzptlk said:

If you're picking Geraint Jones over him because of superior batting then fair enough, but if you decide to go with a superior gloveman instead and go with an uncapped third party, that's just cruel. Especially so when you've matched that person as far as runscoring goes over the last season.

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problem is read is a proven failure in tests with the bat, it does appear as though the selectors have realised that he wasnt capable of batting in test match cricket(but they seemed to have forgotten that he could in ODIs). i dont see anything wrong in picking prior for tests if he has a good enough technique and has been scoring runs. prior averages a lot more than read with the bat in domestic cricket so i dont see any reason why read should even be considered for tests.

aussie

Mr Mxyzptlk said:

Let Bell open.

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No way mate, the best partner for trescothick is strauss without doubt

aussie said:

come on tec, the way jones performed in south africa can be know way termed to be one of numskull proportions, he''s keeping was bad but he made a few vital contributions in the test while i know his one-day batting was that great, while i think he has a enough technique for test cricket, its not perfect but it got him a fair record so far at the highest level

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no his performances in SA tests or ODIs were extremely disappointing because he refused to use even a part of his brain for most of it. his 2 successful innings came not with him having to do the grafting, but with thorpe and flintoff doing the hard work so that he could play one of his usual carefree innings.

aussie

tooextracool said:

problem is read is a proven failure in tests with the bat, it does appear as though the selectors have realised that he wasnt capable of batting in test match cricket(but they seemed to have forgotten that he could in ODIs). i dont see anything wrong in picking prior for tests if he has a good enough technique and has been scoring runs. prior averages a lot more than read with the bat in domestic cricket so i dont see any reason why read should even be considered for tests.

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those are options but knowing duncan fletcher he would rather have one keeper in both forms of the game, which for me should be Jones

aussie

tooextracool said:

no his performances in SA tests or ODIs were extremely disappointing because he refused to use even a part of his brain for most of it. his 2 successful innings came not with him having to do the grafting, but with thorpe and flintoff doing the hard work so that he could play one of his usual carefree innings.

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well i cant disagree there mate, what u have written thier is quite true, but has i'm sayin all along he is the better of the three bats and i think he can improve on his batting ability.

aussie said:

No way mate, the best partner for trescothick is strauss without doubt

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Well if they're unwilling to let Strauss open and they insist on playing Bell (which they should), let Bell open. Don't bat Bell down the order and let Jones fail in the opener's spot.

tooextracool said:

problem is read is a proven failure in tests with the bat, it does appear as though the selectors have realised that he wasnt capable of batting in test match cricket(but they seemed to have forgotten that he could in ODIs). i dont see anything wrong in picking prior for tests if he has a good enough technique and has been scoring runs. prior averages a lot more than read with the bat in domestic cricket so i dont see any reason why read should even be considered for tests.

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Read started his career very ordinarily. His year-by-year stats would suggest he's gone from strength to strength as far as batting concerned. Mind he started young.

its read or jones its that simple, there is no delimma, it is a simple choice between the two. if read can improve with the bat to the extent of jones ability then he should be picked. jones is good batsman, read is good keeper, prior should not really get a look in. as long as read and jones are fit and playing better than badly then i seriously doubt that prior will ever get a look in