England 17-man squad

[pasag]

Yeah, not sure why such a big squad is needed. Even bigger than Australia's.

 

[Jarquis]

I'd go for:

Andrew Strauss *
Alastair Cook
Ravi Bopara
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Matthew Prior +
Andrew Flintoff
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
Ryan Sidebottom
James Anderson

Graham Onions
Tim Ambrose
Samit Patel
Ian Bell
Adil Rashid
Stephen Harmison

That is what I'd go for myself.
Patel probably won't be in the squad because of fitness etc.
Would rather have somebody ahead of Harmison but if the only other option is BGresnan he'll have to do.Hoggard ?

 

[King Pietersen]

I considered Hoggard, but Harmison has outperformed him this season. Averages 22 with the ball and is one of the leading wicket-takers in the country. A better option than Bresnan I reckon.

 

[BoyBrumby]

It's like Groundhog Day with the long streak of piss tho, isn't it?

Dire in tests; dropped; takes wickets in county game; recalled; dire in tests; dropped...well you see where I'm going with this.

 

[zaremba]

Harmison cannot be recalled unless the ECB monitor his bowling speed with speed guns. The time to find out that his pace is down is not the first morning of the First Test, it's before the squad is chosen.

If he's bowling at 90+mph then I'd have no problem with him being in the squad. If he's taking cheap county wickets at 78mph then we may as well bring Ian Bell in to open the bowling. At least he can bat and field.

 

[King Pietersen]

It's like Groundhog Day with the long streak of piss tho, isn't it?

Dire in tests; dropped; takes wickets in county game; recalled; dire in tests; dropped...well you see where I'm going with this.

He actually performed very well when he returned to the side last summer. Looked to be bowling with the old Harmison pace and hostility against South Africa, but then that was all forgotten once he'd gone abroad, lost his rhythm and his action and was back to bowling crap. He could definitely be a good option in England, with overs under his belt, he proved that against South Africa last summer.

 

[BoyBrumby]

He actually performed very well when he returned to the side last summer. Looked to be bowling with the old Harmison pace and hostility against South Africa, but then that was all forgotten once he'd gone abroad, lost his rhythm and his action and was back to bowling crap. He could definitely be a good option in England, with overs under his belt, he proved that against South Africa last summer.

My god, you're one of them!

Officer, Officer!!!

 

[iamdavid]

Pothas is eligable isn't he ? Then surely he should be the reserve keeper if one is chosen, given that Prior's position seems relatively safe at the moment so he'd only be needed in the event of an injury, in which case you'd want the best man available irrespective of age (ie Pothas).

 

[BoyBrumby]

Yeah, took out British citizenship last year, I think.

For whatever reason, accident or design, we haven't yet called up anyone who has played for another test nation even when (with Law, Saqlain & maybe even Spearman in ODIs) the temptation must've been there, so his two ODIs for SA might count against him.

Would have no qualms myself tho, tbh.

 

[Richard]

Pothas is eligable isn't he ? Then surely he should be the reserve keeper if one is chosen, given that Prior's position seems relatively safe at the moment so he'd only be needed in the event of an injury, in which case you'd want the best man available irrespective of age (ie Pothas).

Pothas should've been picked in 2007, but wasn't. He should've been picked a fair few times recently, but hasn't been.

For whatever reasons - be it "he's too old", "he's South African", "he's Greek" or whatever, they seem to have decided they're not keen on him and I'd honestly be more surprised to see him picked this summer than Geraint Jones.

 

[Richard]

I considered Hoggard

There's no point doing so though - it was made patently obvious with the selection of Pattinson last summer (and I thought it was pretty obvious before that TBH) that Hoggard's Test days were over after he was dropped in New Zealand.

He is not going to play another Test again come hell or high water. The rights and wrongs are mostly wrongs, but that's the way it is.

 

[Uppercut]

Will be pretty annoyed if Panesar is in the 17.

 

[Richard]

All the same though, there's almost certain to be another spinner in there, and the choice is pretty thin. I hope and pray Adil almost-good-enough-for-county-cricket Rashid won't be in there, and aside from him there's barely another spinner who anyone's even heard of. So if someone other than MSP gets into the 17 it'll be a quite major shock.

And I suppose it'll also be Gary Keedy.

 

[zaremba]

Pothas should've been picked in 2007, but wasn't. He should've been picked a fair few times recently, but hasn't been.

For whatever reasons - be it "he's too old", "he's South African", "he's Greek" or whatever, they seem to have decided they're not keen on him and I'd honestly be more surprised to see him picked this summer than Geraint Jones.

1. Big mouth.
2. Big nose.

 

[GIMH]

Harmison cannot be recalled unless the ECB monitor his bowling speed with speed guns. The time to find out that his pace is down is not the first morning of the First Test, it's before the squad is chosen.

If he's bowling at 90+mph then I'd have no problem with him being in the squad. If he's taking cheap county wickets at 78mph then we may as well bring Ian Bell in to open the bowling. At least he can bat and field.

That's news to me

 

[Manee]

Harmison cannot be recalled unless the ECB monitor his bowling speed with speed guns. The time to find out that his pace is down is not the first morning of the First Test, it's before the squad is chosen.

If he's bowling at 90+mph then I'd have no problem with him being in the squad. If he's taking cheap county wickets at 78mph then we may as well bring Ian Bell in to open the bowling. At least he can bat and field.

It is an extremely good point, when you have such a clear correlation (even admitted by Harmison) that he is average at 80mph and top drawer at 90mph, it would be silly not to use the speedo to moniter his progress.

 

[Woodster]

Harmison's speed and penetration is key. As said previously, we don't want to select him for him to chuck down deliveries on average around 83-85 mph. There are better bowlers at this pace that do more with the ball, and are much more accurate. Harmy must be charging in, knees and arms pumping, hitting the deck hard and the splice of the bat similarly so. Five wickets today will certainly help towards his case in selection.

 

[Richard]

It is an extremely good point, when you have such a clear correlation (even admitted by Harmison) that he is average at 80mph and top drawer at 90mph, it would be silly not to use the speedo to moniter his progress.

It seems Harmison bowls at 90mph so rarely these days that people forget he's mostly useless even when he does so.

 

[Burgey]

Has a rationale been given for this squad being named at 17 players? I mean, are there obvious injury worries, or is there just a large measure of uncertainty concerning who will play? I'd have thought England's twelve (or at worst 13) would be fairly well settled by now.

 

[rivera213]

In principal, I don't see the point naming a 17-man squad. But realistically, not many more will have a realistic chance of being picked for the 1st Ashes test.

There is only 1 place up for grabs for the 1st test (providing Flintoff is fit) and that is for the 4th seamer/2nd spinner role. Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Flintoff, Prior, Broad, Swann and Anderson will be in the XI barring injury.

The other 1 has basically shoot-outs between Rashid and Panesar for the 2nd spinner spot if they go down that route (and I hope it isn't Panesar after the start he's had) and Onions or Sidebottom for the 4th seamer if they go down that route.

That's a 14-man squad sorted already so including a 2nd keeper, which given his quality in the T20 WC with the gloves, may very well be Foster you only need to find 2 sub batsmen (who will more than likely be 2 who have played against Australia already, so Vaughan and Bell).

Harmison shouldn't be let within a mile of the England squad, even if he has a ticket for 1 of the tests. His 'can't be bovvered' attitude shouldn't be rewarded.

He wasn't even that great when on form IMO. He was comfortably the 4th best bowler in 2005 for me and that was 4 years ago and he continually fails to impress after 2nd chances.

Hoggard has upset someone high up in the ECB I think. There's no other reason for ending a bowler's test career after 1 bad test in NZ (for which his reasons are completely justifiable) after 7 @ 29.29 in Sri Lanka.

Mahmood will continually be too inconsistent to be international class til he retires. The same guy who can bowl bullet straight 94mph deliveries also serves up 83mph half-volley's. That's not good enough.

Doesn't really leave many options, so the squad (not mine, but what I think it'll be):

BAT:
Strauss*
Cook*
Bopara*
Pietersen*
Collingwood*
Vaughan
Bell

AR:
Flintoff*
Broad* (in the eyes of the ECB, not me. Lol)

WK:
Prior*
Foster (or Ambrose, but I doubt it after being dropped for Prior)

SEAM:
Anderson*
Sidebottom
Onions

SPIN:
Swann*
Rashid
Panesar


Fin!