Craig Kieswetter qualifies for England

[marc71178]

I can see the tabloid headlines: Kieswetter and Prior. 2 South Africans battle for English keeper position.

Well, you've got AB so what are you complaining about - proved right there weren't you.

 

[FBU]

He bowls at between 87 and 90mph consistently, gets abit of movement in the air and off the seam, has a good bouncer (ask Martin Guptill and Anaru Kitchen), is pretty accurate and has a good yorker. He doesn't go for that many runs either, his highest economy rate in List A cricket since 2007 has been 5.40. He's been consistently good for 2 English seasons and in NZ playing domestic cricket there for 2 seasons, and I think he's hugely under-rated tbh. Better option than Sidebottom, Plunkett, Mahmood or Shahzad for me.

I would prefer Plunkett. Collingwood is better as a 6th bowler than a 5th. He has a bowling ODI strike rate of 45.1. Plunkett s/r 34.8.

Kieswetter
Lumb
Strauss
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Flintoff
Swann
Plunkett
Broad
Anderson

 

[Richard]

He bowls at between 87 and 90mph consistently, gets abit of movement in the air and off the seam, has a good bouncer (ask Martin Guptill and Anaru Kitchen), is pretty accurate and has a good yorker. He doesn't go for that many runs either, his highest economy rate in List A cricket since 2007 has been 5.40.

That's supposed to do him credit? From 2007/08 to the day of this post, in England and New Zealand, his one-day economy-rate has been 4.95-an-over! There is no way he's an accurate enough bowler for ODIs, even if that ER is actually a slight improvement on his previous efforts.

As I say, he may have the tools to take plenty of wickets at domestic level however expensive he tends to be, but I don't see him knocking-over ODI top-orders myself. Yes, he does indeed have a better chance of doing that than some of the "wicket-taking" bowlers picked by England in recent times, but I don't think that chance is considerable.

He's been consistently good for 2 English seasons and in NZ playing domestic cricket there for 2 seasons, and I think he's hugely under-rated tbh. Better option than Sidebottom, Plunkett, Mahmood or Shahzad for me.

Being better than Plunkett, Mahmood and the still-very-much-novice Shahzad is no great achievement. There's no way on Earth he's a patch on Sidebottom in my book.

 

[Furball]

Whether he's good enough to be successful, and whether he's good enough to be picked are unfortunately 2 very different things.

 

[Richard]

Of course - and that applies to every player, ever. As a selector, all you can do is pick the best players - you cannot control whether those best players are good enough.

Personally I don't feel Napier is among the best five OD bowlers in the country, though admittedly he is close and has always been closer than quite a few of the bowlers picked for ODIs in the last decade.

 

[Furball]

Of course - and that applies to every player, ever. As a selector, all you can do is pick the best players - you cannot control whether those best players are good enough.

Personally I don't feel Napier is among the best five OD bowlers in the country, though admittedly he is close and has always been closer than quite a few of the bowlers picked for ODIs in the last decade.

Flintoff, Swann, Broad and Anderson (for now) - who else is there in the country though?

Napier might not be ideal but he can't be far away.

 

[Richard]

If Mascarenhas can get back to his best in 2010 I still have hope for him - if not then Napier is indeed a fair candidate if everyone who played last season returns similar figures this, but as I say - I don't expect him to achieve even if he does get the call.

However, as I've noted many times, as a selector all you can do is make the best of what's available and England in ODIs have suffered for 20 years for failing to do that.

 

[The_roc]

And it's the tiny ground rather than the runway-esque deck that makes Taunton most bat-friendly.

Being able to rely on the bounce means batsman have confidence in playing their shots.

Also, the thought of landing one in the river is a tempting site.

 

[The_roc]

Napier might not be ideal but he can't be far away.

Don't know what has happened to Napier. He had a top season 2 years ago, but didn't appear to do a lot last year. Also doesn't appear to be able to cut it in the IPL.

That said I would still prefer to see him ahead of Wright.

 

[Richard]

Being able to rely on the bounce means batsman have confidence in playing their shots.

I realise that - the lack of seam-movement or turn also helps more than a little. But the biggest boon is the fact that if you time one and beat the infield it's a guaranteed boundary, and if you get a decent bit on one in the air it's probably six.